Bangladesh Agricultural University Correspondent:

Rice is the staple food of Bangladesh contributing to about 95 per cent of the total food grain production in our country. About 11 million tons of rice is being produced in the country, of which 55 per cent is obtained during the Boro season.

Professor Md Moshiur Rahman, teacher and researcher of Agronomy department of Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh along with his team, developed the ‘Dry Direct Seeded (DDS) system’ for Boro rice cultivation. The new technology to save water can also reduce national expenditure by Tk 3,000 crore annually.

‘The technology needs direct sowing of seeds in the dry field with plough furrows and does not require a puddle, as is the case in the prevailing system. The land should be prepared like a wheat field through dry cultivation at “Joe condition”,’ he says. Joe condition means that field capacity will contain about 80 per cent moisture.

In the dry direct seeded Boro rice technology, Rahman says, farmers would need to keep the seeds soaked in water for 24 hours and then incubate the soaked seeds for another 30 to 48 hours prior to sowing them in the paddy field. It can help improve germination percentage, early emergence and disease tolerance, the scientist says. So only ankle-deep water may be required in the field during the panicle initiations and grain-filling periods, he says.

inn2This system also saves labour hours required for planting compared with puddle transplanted system. However, this process does require more fertiliser. ‘Farmers may accept DDS as an attractive irrigation system for Boro rice cultivation as it reduces irrigation water and labour costs,’ says Rahman.

The method comes at a time when the agricultural land of our country is gradually decreasing by about one per cent per annum while the population is increasing by 1.36 per cent. The projected population of the country by 2050 will be 233.2 million against the present population of 152 million. The food requirement will be 55 million in tons by 2050 against the present requirement of 33 million tons.

According to recent surveys, there are about 4.8 million hectares of land for Boro rice cultivation in Bangladesh. Production cost for one hectare of Boro cultivation is about Tk 65,000 and around 20 per cent of the cost of production goes into irrigation.

‘In our country, Boro rice is mainly cultivated in puddle transplanted system and it requires full irrigation,’ says Rahman. ‘The prevailing system requires 14 million litres of irrigation water to produce Boro rice in a hectare of farmland in Bangladesh. On an average about 3,500 litres of water is required to produce a kilogram of rice, he adds. Nearly 90 per cent of the quantity of water, required to produce Boro rice, comes from underground sources lifted through deep tube well and shallow pumps. Nearly 70 per cent of these are operated by diesel and 30 per cent by electricity,’ informs the scientist.

He also notes that the daily electricity consumption for irrigation is 1000 MW. The unavailability and high price of both electricity and diesel makes irrigation expensive. So, farmers are gradually losing their interest from Boro rice production.

But the water saving abilities of DDS can change this scenario, he says. Rahman initiated the research programme in 2007 with limited funding from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC). Subsequently he received further funds from Ministry of Science and Technology to establish suitable water saving Boro rice production.

Later, he received another funding from aid agencies to ascertain the effectiveness of the technology in farmlands of six different districts including Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Tangail, Dinajpur and Netrokona. After nearly a decade of research, Rahman now has the statistical evidence that the DDS method can save at least 50 to 60 per cent irrigation water.

‘We need such methods to sustain Boro rice production and ensure the food security,’ the scientist adds. According to the scientist and his team, the Ministry of Agriculture has shown ‘a great deal of interest’ in the DDS. Rahman has already presented the technology and its benefits through a presentation to the agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury in the capital on June 9.

News Source: New Age