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BANGLADESH Ten new rice varieties released in Bangladesh The government has released ten new rice varieties, developed by public and private entities, to boost output further in the rice cropping Boro season. The varieties were certified and released at the 106th meeting of the National Seed Board (NSB), held at the conference room of the Ministry of Agriculture recently. Agriculture secretary and NSB Chairman Md Sayedul Islam chaired the meeting. Two inbreed varieties by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), one inbreed variety by Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), one by private organisation BRAC, and six hybrid varieties by different organisations were registered by NSB on the day. Two inbreed varieties - BRRI dhan 101, 102 -- can give 7.72 and 8.11 tonnes of paddy per hectare, respectively. BRRI dhan 101 can prevent bacterial blight while BRRI dhan 102 is zinc enriched. BINA dhan 25 is a finer quality variety with an average trial output of 14
7.64 tonnes per hectare. This variety can be harvested in 145 days. BARC Executive Chairman Shaikh Md Bokhtiar, director-general of seeds (Ministry of Agriculture) Abdullah Sajjad, BADC chairman AFM Hayatullah, BRRI Director General Shahjahan Kabir, BINA Director-General Mirza Mofazzal Islam, and additional secretary Kamala Ranjan Das were present at the meeting.
CHINA China’s grain output hits new high in 2021 as food security drive begins to pay off China’s grain output rose two per cent in 2021 from a year earlier, hitting a record, despite natural disasters wreaking havoc on plantations, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said recently. Grain production totalled 682.9 million tonnes, up from 650 million tonnes last year, the bureau said.
The annual data comes amid growing concern about food security in the world’s No 2 economy, with analysts saying policymakers should stay alert to the impact of surging global food prices. China’s total crop growing area was 1.764 billion mu (117.6 million hectares) this year, an increase of 0.7 per cent compared to 2020, marking the second year of growth in a row. The acreage of corn and wheat grew amid rising prices and profit, while the size of soy bean and rice fields shrunk as prices fell, the NBS said. Corn acreage rose 5 per cent from last year and output rose 4.6 per cent. China’s autumn harvest was hit by natural disasters ranging from devastating floods in central Henan province to droughts in parts of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces, though most agricultural areas were favourable for growing, NBS said.
