Harvesting of the high-yielding BINA-17 rice variety has begun in Naogaon. With good yields, farmers expect bigger profits from growing it.

The harvest of the new variety began on Sunday afternoon (17 October) in the Mirzapur field of Badalgachhi upazila, under the overall supervision of the upazila agriculture office.

Mirza Mofazzal Islam, director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), opened the harvest virtually. Shamsul Wadud, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Naogaon, Manjurul Mondal, CMO of the BINA-17 project, and upazila agriculture officer Hasan Islam were among those present.

Agriculture officials said this rice needs comparatively very little fertiliser and pesticide, and can be harvested within 110 to 115 days. As BINA-17 is an early variety, winter vegetables can also be grown after the harvest.

At the event, Bhabesh Chandra Mondal, a BINA-17 grower from Mirzapur, said he planted the variety on one and a half bighas because it is new. The yield came to 24 maunds a bigha.

Source: Banglanews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.