Zinc-enriched Boro getting popular

Zinc-enriched Boro paddy BRRI-62 and BRRI-74 varieties invented by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) see successful farming at different villages of the district.

The varieties give the expected yield within 100 days and those have been found to be safe from blast disease attack, said farmers, adding that many more people will cultivate the varieties if they get seed in the open market.

Local NGO NAZIR is implementing the zinc-enriched paddy farming project of “Harvest Plus Bangladesh” with the direction of International Rice Research Institute. Harvest Plus, Colombia, provides fund for the project.

This year 1,500 farmers have cultivated zinc-enriched Boro paddy on 1,300 bighas of land at 65 villages of 18 unions in four upazilas of the district while only 50 farmers cultivated the variety when the project started in Lalmonirhat in 2013, NGO official sources said.

“The zinc-enriched Boro paddy can be harvested within 100 days of planting and may yield up to 25 maunds per bigha if nurtured properly. Many farmers have expressed eagerness to cultivate it in the next season as it is safe from blast disease,” said Mosarof Hossain, agriculture coordinator of the NGO.

BRRI-62 and 74, developed through cross pollination with local variety, are resilient enough to fight climate change, said Nurul Haque Sarker, executive director of NGO NAZIR.

“The local varieties contain 9 to 12 milligrams of zinc per kg while the newly invented zinc-enriched variety contains around 24 milligrams. It will prevent zinc deficiency in human body,” he said, referring to researchers' notes.

“I have cultivated zinc-enriched Boro paddy on a two-bigha land and got 46 maunds of yield. We are happy as the new variety matures within 100 days although it does not cost more than the local variety,” said schoolteacher Amzad Hossain, 52, at Sreekhata village of Kaliganj upazila.

“We are highly interested to cultivate zinc-enriched variety of rice but seeds are not that available in the open market,” said Mamtaz Ali, 58, a farmer of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila's Khochabari village.

Newly invented zinc-enriched rice will play a vital role in fighting zinc and protein deficiency in human body, especially for children and women, said Lalmonirhat Civil Surgeon Dr Kashem Ali.

“Eating this rice could provide useful food value for zinc enrichment for people and it will be especially helpful to prevent and cure diarrhoea and pneumonia in children,” he said.

Of course many farmers will cultivate zinc-enriched paddy if the seeds are available in the open market, said Bidhubhuson Roy, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Lalmonirhat.

Sohel Rana, assistant director (Seed) of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, said the corporation is yet to go for marketing of zinc-enriched paddy although it is being cultivated in the farmers' exhibition plots.