Bangladesh: Rice developed by female Bagerhat farmer creates a buzz

DAE official Motahar Hossain said this type of rice can be harvested within 150 to 155 days of planting UNB
 

Two years ago, a woman in a remote countryside accidentally stumbled upon some highly potential sheaves of paddy, which held much more grains than the common rice varieties. 

Fatema Begum, now 65, of Bagerhat’s Fakirhat upazila, gave it a thought and preserved the seeds for multiplication. Eventually, after couple of subsequent rice seasons she managed to grow more of these potential breed, which is now being called “Fatemadhan” after her.

Local agriculture department officials also see potentials in the rice seeds developed by Fatema in Chakulia village under Fakirhat’s Betga union. They also sent the rice samples to Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) for tests and research.

Fatema recently told the UNB that in 2016 she noticed a few paddy sheaves distinct from others while harvesting a hybrid rice variety during Boro season. “Those sheaves were much longer than others and the number of grains was almost double,” she said.
Later, she separated those sheaves and processed them for the next season.

Seeing this rice yielding more than any other varieties, Fatema told her son Md Labuyat to cultivate these separately, she said adding that around 2.5 kilograms of rice was produced then.

“I processed all of those as seeds and persevered for the next season,” she added. In the next season, she made saplings and planted those in around 42 decimal of land.

This rice looks like high-yielding BRRIdhan-28, Fatema said.