Panchabrihi, a new variety of paddy, can bring about a revolution in the country’s food production. If adopted for cultivation, rice production may rise manyfold and play a significant role in curbing food crisis.
The government is likely to go for a pilot project to cultivate the much-talked about ‘Panchabrihi’ paddy in the country next year. Once planted, the new rice variety will have production five times a year.
Bangladeshi-Australian genetic scientist Dr. Abed Chaudhury has invented new variety paddy ‘Panchabrihi’.
He has made the groundbreaking invention about the prospects of ‘Panchabrihi’ while talking to the Bangladesh Post.
Under the supervision of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARC), Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and other organisations concerned, a comprehensive data on production of the new variety rice will be published, Dr. Abed said.
‘Panchabrihi’ will significantly reduce cultivation costs as farmers need to cultivate their land once for five-time production and the same for the seedbed. Fertilizer needs to be applied during the land preparation for the Boro season and then as required before and after each production.
During a conversation with the Bangladesh Post, Dr. Abed Chaudhury said, “I recently had a meeting with the agriculture minister Md Abdus Shahid in the Netherlands, where we discussed the trial run of Panchabrihi. A collective dataset from the trial cultivation will be published after the total harvesting.”
“Till now, I have spent my hard-earned money to invent Panchabrihi. With my own initiatives, this new rice variety is now being cultivated in my village. After the recent Boro harvest, plant of the paddy shows sheaf of Aus paddy,” he added.
“We will obtain comprehensive data about the production of Panchabrihi from the nationwide trial cultivation, which will guide us towards working with this variety in the future,” Dr. Abed Chaudhury added.
Abed Chaudhury, the rice researcher and geneticist, has declined offers from different international organisations to commercialise his invention.
“I have invented a new variety of paddy that can play a significant role in eliminating the food crisis in our country. I am optimistic that my fellow countrymen will benefit greatly from it,” he said.
‘Panchabrihi’ rice matures in a short period, giving high yield at a very low cost. After the first yield, production of the paddy slightly falls in the four times, the overall production is almost five times higher than other varieties. Moreover, this environment-friendly variety reduces emission of methane and carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change mitigation.
In ‘Panchabrihi’ cultivation, the first yield comes after 110 days while subsequent production comes every 45 days. Of the five-time production, Boro comes once, Aus and Aman twice each. Production of this new variety is four tonnes per hectare.
