Dhaka 15th October, 2013. GNOBB offer their heartiest felicitations to BINA (Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture) scientists for taking Bangladesh a step forward towards mitigating  its food deficit.

It has been a great achievement of the part of BINA agricultural scientists to release BINA Dhan-7 a few years back. BINA Dhan-7  is an early variety of rice which matures nearly one month earlier than other rice varieties but has an almost equal yield. After the harvest of the crop, the land is available a month earlier for the sowing of the Rabi crop such as potato, Green Gram (Phaseolus radiatus)  by farmers in northern Bangladesh. Farmers prefer BINA Dhan-7 to other early maturing Dhan because of its attractive grain color apart from its higher yield – almost 4.5 metric tons per hectare. This is indeed a piece of good news as it will go a long way towards the attainment of the country’s food security.

We also salute BRRI rice breeders for producing the world’s first and new zinc-enriched rice variety, BRRI dhan-62.  It  could be cultivated in Aman season and has been released  recently.  It’s a short-duration high-yielding variety (HYV) of rice. It is heartening to know that BRRII Dhan-62 is used to fight diarrhea and pneumonia-induced childhood deaths and stunting.