Barishal: The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has released six newly developed stress-tolerant rice varieties, which have recently gained approval from the National Seed Board (NSB). Agricultural scientists believe these new rice varieties will significantly boost food production and help bring an additional 20 to 25 percent of the country’s fallow land under cultivation.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, about 0.47 million hectares, equivalent to 5.5 percent of Bangladesh’s total land area, currently remain fallow. Of this, 18 to 20 percent has already been cultivated using 32 existing stress-tolerant rice varieties developed by BRRI. With the introduction of the six new varieties, experts are hopeful that more uncultivated land will be converted into productive farmland, potentially transforming the country’s rice production landscape.
The newly developed varieties have been specifically engineered to withstand various climatic and environmental challenges, such as tidal waves, floods, salinity, and diseases like blast. These challenges have increasingly affected agricultural output across Bangladesh due to the growing impacts of climate change. BRRI Director General Dr. Mohammad Khalequzzaman emphasized that the institute has been prioritizing the innovation of stress-tolerant varieties to combat these emerging threats, particularly flash floods, salinity, and droughts.
Among the new varieties is BRRI Dhan-109, which is resistant to tidal waves and developed through hybridization between BRRI Dhan-44 and BRRI Dhan-52. Field trials conducted between 2020 and 2022 in tidal-prone areas showed an average yield of 6.32 tonnes per hectare in low tide zones, outperforming the average 4.50 tonnes per hectare recorded for comparable varieties.
BRRI Dhan-110 has been designed for flood-affected regions and is capable of withstanding flash floods and submergence. It has a life cycle of 123 days in flood-free areas and 133 days in submerged areas, offering a 20.5 percent higher yield than BINA Dhan-11, a commonly grown variety in similar regions. BRRI Dhan-111, a Joly Aman variety, performs well in lowland conditions, surpassing the yield levels of both BRRI Dhan-91 and traditional local Aman varieties.
The introduction of BRRI Dhan-112, a saline-tolerant transplanted Aman variety, marks a significant advancement, as it is resistant to lodging and can tolerate saline conditions for up to three weeks. For the Boro season, BRRI has released BRRI Dhan-113, a high-yielding variety that serves as a stronger alternative to the widely cultivated BRRI Dhan-29, demonstrating an average yield of 8.15 tonnes per hectare, which is 11.5 percent higher than BRRI Dhan-88.
Another significant addition is BRRI Dhan-114, a long-duration Boro variety equipped with the Pi9 gene, providing strong resistance to blast disease. Its average yield stands at approximately 7.76 tonnes per hectare. Dr. M Abdul Momin, protocol officer at BRRI, noted that the new varieties outperform earlier stress-tolerant strains in both lifespan and yield, with the saline-tolerant BRRI Dhan-113 yielding over 12 percent higher than BRRI Dhan-88, averaging about 7 tonnes per hectare in saline zones.
BRRI’s Chief Scientific Officer and Head of the Plant Breeding Division, Dr. Khondoker M Iftekharudowla, identified Barishal, Sylhet, Rangamati, Cox’s Bazar, and Bhola as suitable zones for expanding these new stress-tolerant varieties. However, he cautioned that it remains too early to accurately predict the total land area that will be cultivated using these new strains.
Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Saiful Alam expressed optimism that the new varieties will play an essential role in expanding crop production by converting previously fallow land into productive farmland, thereby contributing to national food security.
Official data indicates that Bangladesh has a total land area of 14.84 million hectares, with approximately 3.74 million hectares, or 25 percent, unavailable for agriculture due to urban expansion, infrastructure development, and homesteads. Although the net cultivated area has decreased from 8.85 million hectares in 1985 to 7.84 million hectares in 2011, the total harvested crop area has increased to 14.95 million hectares due to intensified farming practices, including double, triple, and even quadruple cropping on the same land annually.
With the release of these six new varieties, BRRI has now developed a total of 121 rice varieties, including eight high-yielding or hybrid types.