In Kanihati village of Hajipur union, Kulaura upazila, Moulvibazar, two bighas of rice are drawing great interest. This is no ordinary rice: planted once, the plants have produced five harvests in a year.

The new rice was developed by Australia-based rice researcher and geneticist Abed Chowdhury. He told Samakal that the rice, planted as Boro at the start of the year, ripened after 110 days. The same plants then ripened again every 45 days, giving one Boro, two Aus and two Aman harvests. Scientists say five harvests from one plant is rare in the world. He plans to try for a sixth harvest from the same plants and to test whether the rice can be grown across the country through trials in various districts.

A native of Kanihati, Abed Chowdhury studied agriculture in the United States and spent 20 years researching rice genes as chief rice scientist at Australia's national research organisation, developing about 300 new types of rice. He has also built a farm in his home village. "I could not accept that rice plants, unlike mango or jackfruit trees, cannot survive year after year," he said.

He spent 14 years experimenting with the rice plant's "second life". In December 2010 he began research with 20 varieties on a 25-square-metre plot in Kanihati, including varieties from China, the Philippines and local ones. He selected those that produced new panicles after harvest, identifying 12 varieties. After three years he found they regularly gave a second crop, then succeeded with a third, but all except four varieties died after the fourth harvest. These four have now given five harvests and have been studied for 10 years.

In January this year the four Boro varieties were planted on two bighas with measured urea, proper irrigation and care. Within 110 days, plants 85 cm to 1 metre tall bore grain, and the rice was cut deliberately 35 cm above the ground.

• The first harvest, in early May, yielded 4 tonnes a hectare.
• Each subsequent harvest, every 45 days, yielded 2 or 3 tonnes a hectare.
• In total, the varieties yielded about 16 tonnes a hectare.

Later harvests yield somewhat less than the first, he said, but combined the five give nearly five times as much, and the rice ripens quickly with high output and low cost. The varieties were developed by crossing local varieties with high-yielding varieties and with local hybrids, and were identified 10 to 12 years ago as suitable for second or third harvests.

Source: Samakal. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.