In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and national visions for 2021 and 2041, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has drawn up Rice Vision 2050 and a strategic plan, Doubling Rice Productivity, to double productivity by 2030. If production keeps growing, rice output would reach 46.9 million tonnes in 2030, 54.1 million in 2040 and 60.9 million in 2050, leaving surpluses of 4.2, 5.3 and 6.5 million tonnes.

BRRI Director General Dr Md Shahjahan Kabir and senior communication officer M Abdul Momin said agriculture is the foundation of Bangladesh's economic progress and rice is inseparable from its life and culture. BRRI was founded on 1 October 1970. In 1970-71 the country produced only 11 million tonnes of rice for 71.2 million people. Bangladesh is now third in the world in rice production and first in South and Southeast Asia in average yield. Self-sufficiency was first reached in 1999, after measures including cheaper fertiliser and fuel, mechanisation, irrigation, hybrid rice and wide spread of BRRI dhan28 and 29; by 2013 the country had a surplus.

BRRI has developed 106 varieties, with a focus on location-specific ones. Those developed from 2009 to 2021 include drought-, flood- and salt-tolerant, zinc-rich, premium-quality and diabetic-friendly types. BRRI has released 12 salt-tolerant, three drought-tolerant, three flood-tolerant, two tidal-submergence-tolerant and three cold-tolerant varieties, with a heat-tolerant variety close to release.

Salt-tolerant varieties have brought about 35 per cent of saline areas under rice and raised production there by about 12 per cent; drought-tolerant varieties expanded area by 12 per cent and output by about 10 per cent; submergence-tolerant ones added 26 per cent of area and about 9 per cent output. Tidal-tolerant BRRI dhan76 and 77 cover about 57,000 hectares on the coast. In 2018-19 high-yielding varieties covered 80 per cent of land and gave about 91 per cent of production, and output grew by 600,000 tonnes a year from 2010 to 2019.

To avoid unhealthy over-polishing, BRRI has bred premium varieties such as BRRI dhan50 and 90, six zinc-rich varieties including Bangabandhu dhan100, and varieties rich in protein, iron, antioxidants, GABA and beta-carotene. Raising protein by 1 per cent can meet 6.5 per cent more of the body's needs; older varieties had 8-9 per cent protein and newer ones 9-10 per cent, with a target of 12-13 per cent. BRRI dhan84 has 10 ppm iron, and the "Healthier Rice" programme aims for 45 ppm zinc and 15 ppm iron. Golden Rice, awaiting release, could meet 30 to 50 per cent of vitamin A needs; vitamin A deficiency affects more than 20 per cent of pre-school and school-age children.

Source: Amader Shomoy. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.