Binakhesari-1, a grass pea (khesari) variety developed by the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) that is safe for the human body, has given a bumper yield in Gopalganj.

The variety produced 1,600 kg a hectare, according to a field day organised by the BINA Gopalganj sub-station. Ramesh Chandra Brahma, deputy director of agricultural extension in Gopalganj, gave the figure as chief guest at the field day, held on Thursday (12 March) in Patgati Sardarpara village of Tungipara upazila.

The field day was chaired by Md Morshedul Islam, scientific officer at the BINA Gopalganj sub-station. Speakers included Nazmul Haque Shahin, assistant professor of agriculture at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University; district seed certification officer Hasan Md Warisul Kabir; Tungipara upazila agriculture officer Md Jamal Uddin; BINA farm manager Md Alamgir Kabir; and farmer Baka Sheikh.

Farmer Baka Sheikh told the field day that the seedlings had come up after sowing when Cyclone Bulbul struck, and water stood at the base of the plants for seven days, yet they did not die. He then applied fertiliser and tended the field on the agriculture department's advice, and Binakhesari-1 gave a bumper yield. Local grass pea plants, however, died in the rain.

Rahmat Ali, a farmer from the same village, said the stress-tolerant Binakhesari-1 had yielded well and they would grow it next year.

Md Morshedul Islam said the variety contains 0.23% of the neurotoxin harmful to the human body, a tolerable level, so eating it carries no risk of lathyrism. The variety resists disease, has a life cycle of 115 to 125 days and yields almost twice as much as local varieties, so farmers profit from it. If its cultivation spreads, the country's pulse production will rise.

Ramesh Chandra Brahma said every crop variety developed by BINA is high-yielding, its seed can be saved for the next year's planting, and the varieties tolerate adverse conditions. Gopalganj farmers are therefore changing their socio-economic condition by growing BINA varieties.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.