Porimol Palma, The Daily Star, 08 June 2008

 The government plans cultivation of newly invented rice variety– BRRI Dhan-33 — on 40,000 hectares of land in five northern districts in the coming Aman season to fight Monga (near-famine situation).The new variety can be harvested during the Monga period, creating job opportunities for farm workers.

“BRRI Dhan-33 can be harvested during October 15 – November 15, agricultural labourers will get employment just at a time they find no jobs locally. Marginal farmers, who also traditionally face financial crisis due to Monga, can from now have a harvest at this time,” said Dr MA Mazid, chief of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Regional Station, Rangpur.

Monga is an annual phenomenon in October-November in Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts with marginal farmers and farm workers facing economic crisis and lack of jobs. This forces them either to leave for other districts for employment or puts them in dire distress.

The plan to cultivate the new variety with higher yield aims at creating employment opportunities for 27.5 lakh farm labourers and helping 8.5 lakh farmers in the five Monga-hit districts increase production, agriculture experts said.

Mazid, who also heads the BRRI Dhan-33 and Monga mitigation programme, said after harvesting the new variety, farmers can go for early cultivation of Rabi crops like potato, which will also create employment for farm workers. Early cultivation of potato yields higher output, he noted.

Traditionally, small and marginal farmers are forced to sell their produce in advance to millers or hoarders, while labourers sell labour in advance, Mazid said. These practices add to their miseries during or after Monga.

“We hope that when rice will be available in market, and farm workers get jobs due to early harvest of BRRI Dhan-33, the curse of Monga will be over,” the agriculture expert said.

After harvesting potato and other Rabi crops, farmers can also cultivate other crops including maize and oil seeds sesame seeds to have three crops a year from their land, he added.

“Our target is cultivation of the new variety of rice in 1.07 lakh hectares of not so high and high land owned by marginal farmers in the five Monga-hit districts by 2010.”

After the invention and validation of the variety in 2004-05, it was cultivated on an experimental basis in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture Extension and some NGOs working in the northern region.

Output of this variety per hectare is 4- 4.5 tonnes, which is slightly less than that of BR-11. But considering the short duration of production period, it is much more profitable. This also makes it possible for the land to be three-cropped one, the agriculture expert said.

Bringing 40,000 hectares of land under BRRI Dhan-33 cultivation requires 1,600 tonnes of seed. The authorities have already started registering farmers who can cultivate this variety in the Aman season, and depending on that seeds will be supplied.

Mazid mentioned that BRRI has already collected 501 tonnes of seeds from farmers, BRAC has 80 tonnes and RDRS (Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Services) has 50 tonnes. Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation will supply other seeds if there is any shortage of it.

The government will supply other farm inputs in time so that the marginal farmers do not find it difficult to cultivate this variety.

Star Report, The Daily Star, 14 December 2007

The government looks to produce an additional 7.5 lakh metric tons of rice by growing high-yield varieties over 10 lakh hectares of land to cover an estimated 14 lakh tons of shortfall caused by back-to-back natural disasters this year.

Agriculture and Environment Adviser CS Karim spoke of the plan at a view-exchange meeting at The Daily Star office yesterday. He also said the government would work in unison with the NGOs to provide the affected farmers with agricultural implements, seeds and fertiliser.

Karim observed that the country needs to invest in agricultural research to meet the challenge of securing increased crop yields in the coming years and also to adapt to climate change.

Explaining the government plans to make good the shortage in rice production–8 lakh tons due to floods and 6 lakh tons for cyclone Sidr–he said the government has decided to plant high-yield hybrid Boro over 10 lakh hectares instead of 2.5 lakh hectares.

Asked about demand for the government to give tillage equipment to the farmers in Sidr-hit areas, the adviser said this was done after the 1991 cyclone too, but most of the tools ended up being in the hands of corrupt officials.

This time the government would work with the NGOs so that there is little room for corruption in distribution of tools, seeds and fertiliser and disbursement of agri-loans.

On rehabilitation efforts, Karim said alongside working to meet the immediate relief needs, the government is trying to help the victims ‘build back better livelihoods’.

He said it is important to build improved and more adaptable livelihoods, such as building more durable fishing trawlers.

He also said the government is still trying to figure out a way to ensure that farmers reap the benefits of the Tk 700 crore budgetary allocation in diesel subsidies.

Karim said the Sundarbans had served as a ‘natural buffer’ for the rest of Bangladesh against the November 15 storm. It has been playing the role for centuries. “We should leave the Sundarbans alone and let it grow on its own. Our interference would only destroy its biodiversity,” he observed.

He warned that the country’s long-term agricultural production outlook appears grim as every year it loses 1 percent of its cultivable land. However, the government has adopted a ‘vertical cultivation’ strategy focusing on planting high-yield hybrid plants. The grains shortage would still remain though, he added.

On fertiliser crisis, he said the agriculture ministry is trying to cut out the middlemen, but farmers’ overuse of fertiliser bought at a cheap subsidised price has made it difficult.

The adviser said Bangladesh would have to bear the brunt of climate change despite having an emission rate as low as 280 kilograms of carbon dioxide per person. In the developed countries, the rate is 20 tons.

He said that cyclones like Sidr will be more frequent because of global warming and “what’s coming next is horrendous and will be devastating for the country.”

“Inaction is not an option for us. We must act now,” he said, as extreme droughts and rainfall patterns would completely change agricultural production realities and threaten the country’s biodiversity.

He said some estimates put the amount of agricultural land loss at 17 percent due to climate change, while the country’s already high population density could shoot up to 2000 people per square kilometre for mass displacement.

Karim warned that poverty alleviation would be pushed back decades as food and housing security is expected to worsen as a result of climate change.

In this context, he said, the country is in dire need of adaptation technologies and transfer of clean technologies from overseas.

“We definitely need financial help. We are not going to beg for the money and there is no legal basis for compensation. But, it is the moral obligation of polluting countries to pay for Bangladesh’s adaptation efforts,” he said.

Curbing emissions of greenhouse gases is a must if they are to minimise the effects of global warming on Bangladesh.

Karim said Bangladesh has to lead with more local research focused on the country’s adaptation needs, for which an International Centre for Climate Change Adaptation has been proposed.

The adviser, a physicist by training, also said that the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights need to be modified to be more conducive to transfer of clean technologies to poorer nations.