BRRI dhan75 delights farmers with early ripening and high yield
The quick ripening variety will open the door for farmers to harvest early, fetch a higher price, and further profit from planting rabi crops in time, says BRRI Director-General
BRRI dhan75, a short crop cycle and early maturing variety of Aman paddy, will give new opportunities to farmers for timely cultivation of rabi crops like wheat, lentil, mustard, maize, and other winter crops, across the country.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA III) project funded by USAID, and supervised by BRRI's Rice Farming Systems Department, did the outreach experiment on farmer Md Liakat Ali's land in Fulhori village of Jhenaidah district.
Harvesting the rice from the trial plot has already started, according to a press release.
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Farmers in the southwest of the country, (Jashore, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, Meherpur) have also already started to adopt this variety on a large scale, getting a higher price for the long and slender grain, says IRRI Senior-Specialist Dr Sharif Ahmed.
Dr Mahbubur Rahman, in charge of the BRRI Regional Station of Kustia, said, "With the trial, we have seen that in just 105 days of using 20 day old seedlings, BRRI dhan75 yielded more than five tons/ per hectare. The seedbed can be sown from 20 June to the first week of July."
Dr Amina Khatun, principal scientific officer, Rice Farming Systems division, BRRI, said, "Sowing the rice at the end of June and early July, BRRI got a very good yield, harvesting the crop by the first week of October, although we recommend sowing this variety between 20 July and 20 August."
Also, due to the early maturing characteristics of BRRI dhan 75, farmers can easily cultivate lentils, mustard, maize, or other high-value winter crops in mid-October after harvesting this variety. This can contribute to increasing the national crop intensity, said Dr Khatun, lead investigator of the project.
Md Liakat Ali, farmer of the trial field, was "very happy to see the early harvest and yield of BRRI dhan75. It will greatly help farmers profit from a higher price for the rice as well as the straw."
Dr Sharif Ahmed, senior-specialist of IRRI, said, "For the last three years, we have been working on expansion, market development, linkage and brand building of this variety under the CSISA project."
He added, "We have collaborated with three automated rice mills and they have agreed to brand this variety of rice as Premium Rice BRRI dhan75. By early November, consumers will hopefully be able to buy the rice for the first time in Bangladesh."
Dr Md Shahjahan Kabir, director-general, BRRI, said "Due to its short growth duration and high yield potential, this variety will open doors for farmers to command a higher price, harvesting it early and making a profit with a timely planting of rabi crops. This variety will hopefully be a blessing for farmers, increasing crops and crop cycles all over the country."
