Salinity resistant rice

Yesterday marked 10 years of visitation of cyclone Sidr and Bangladesh is still reeling under the remnants of colossal devastation it caused to the southern districts of the country. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday, around five hundred thousand hectares of cultivable land in five southern districts including Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola, Jhalkathi and Pirojpur remain uncultivable due to the excessive salinity the super storm brought

Salinity resistant  rice can provide a hope for people most vulnerable to the adverse affects if climate change

there. It is worth mentioning here that Sidr left 3,363 people dead and damaged property, livestock and crops worth USD 1.7 billion.

However, fresh greeneries have again erupted in the mangrove forest Sundarbans which was denuded by the cyclone. But vast swathes of croplands in the region are still no longer able to give crop yield because of the excessive salinity. Moreover, there are places where saline water is continuously entering through the broken embankments.

Apart from the impact of Sidr, the lands of the coastal region are usually salinity-prone because of their location near the sea. Therefore, cultivating salinity resistant rice or other crops is the obvious answer. For Bangladesh this is very important. The country also needs water resistant rice as it, crisscrossed by many rivers, is often visited by floods. Inundation of the haor region the last monsoon had an devastating impact on rice production in the Sylhet region and price of rice this year hit the highest.

As high salinity is taking a great toll in terms of rice production, few would disagree what a senior official of the DAE in Barisal said in this regard: we need high salinity-tolerant new varieties of rice. Overall rice production in the country will certainly increase if the country’s agricultural scientists can develop not just high salinity-tolerant rice varieties for the coastal region but also rice that can remain submerged under water yet will not die.

Bangladesh has started to face the impact of climate change and it has to be taken for sure that in the coming days, the country will face more vagaries of nature. That is why we need to be prepared to face the challenge.

Besides, there is the urgent need of repairing the broken embankments and constructing newer embankments for stopping intrusion of saline water to the cultivable arable land in the coastal region. But it is sad to note that even after 10 years since Sidr struck, repair work of about 2,600 km of embankments of the said five districts that were damaged by Sidr has not yet begun.

 

Salinity resistant rice

Yesterday marked 10 years of visitation of cyclone Sidr and Bangladesh is still reeling under the remnants of colossal devastation it caused to the southern districts of the country. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday, around five hundred thousand hectares of cultivable land in five southern districts including Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola, Jhalkathi and Pirojpur remain uncultivable due to the excessive salinity the super storm brought Salinity resistant rice can provide a hope for people most vulnerable to the adverse affects if climate change there. It is worth mentioning here that Sidr left 3,363 people dead and damaged property, livestock and crops worth USD 1.7 billion. However, fresh greeneries have again erupted in the mangrove forest Sundarbans which was denuded by the cyclone. But vast swathes of croplands in the region are still no longer able to give crop yield because of the excessive salinity. Moreover, there are places where saline water is continuously entering through the broken embankments. Apart from the impact of Sidr, the lands of the coastal region are usually salinity-prone because of their location near the sea. Therefore, cultivating salinity resistant rice or other crops is the obvious answer. For Bangladesh this is very important. The country also needs water resistant rice as it, crisscrossed by many rivers, is often visited by floods. Inundation of the haor region the last monsoon had an devastating impact on rice production in the Sylhet region and price of rice this year hit the highest. As high salinity is taking a great toll in terms of rice production, few would disagree what a senior official of the DAE in Barisal said in this regard: we need high salinity-tolerant new varieties of rice. Overall rice production in the country will certainly increase if the countrys agricultural scientists can develop not just high salinity-tolerant rice varieties for the coastal region but also rice that can remain submerged under water yet will not die. Bangladesh has started to face the impact of climate change and it has to be taken for sure that in the coming days, the country will face more vagaries of nature. That is why we need to be prepared to face the challenge. Besides, there is the urgent need of repairing the broken embankments and constructing newer embankments for stopping intrusion of saline water to the cultivable arable land in the coastal region. But it is sad to note that even after 10 years since Sidr struck, repair work of about 2,600 km of embankments of the said five districts that were damaged by Sidr has not yet begun.