White maize farming prospect bright in Barind area
White maize farming prospect bright in Barind area
Agricultural scientists and researchers have urged the farmers to promote white maize farming in the high Barind tract as the cereal crop has been proved as drought tolerant and less-irrigation consuming. They said that Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) has recently released two hybrid maize varieties, BARI Hybrid Bhutta-12 and BARI Hybrid Bhutta-13, and there are enormous prospects of expanding those among the growers in drought-prone area to mitigate its water-stress condition.
Additional 2.8 lakh tonnes of white maize could be harvested from 35,000 hectares of land in Rabi season through only a single irrigation every year. They were addressing a farmers’ field day styled “BARI Hybrid Bhutta-12 and BARI Hybrid Bhutta-13: Drought tolerant and Less-Irrigation Consuming Crop in Barind” held at Mission More under Godagari Upazila in Rajshahi Saturday afternoon.
Barind Station of On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) under BARI organized the programme in association with its Plant Breeding Division (PBD). More than 300 farmers including other officers and researchers concerned joined the meeting. Director (Research) of BARI Dr Jalal Uddin and District Training Officer of DAE Shamsul Haque addressed the meeting as chief and special guests respectively with Dr Amiruzzaman, Chief Scientific Officer of PBD, in the chair.
BARI Principal Scientific Officers Dr Alim Uddin and Dr Ilias Hossain, Senior Scientific Officers Dr Shakhawat Hossain and Mahbubul Alam also spoke.
Elaborating salient features of the varieties Dr Shakhawat Hossain told the meeting that special characteristic of the varieties is nutritious and white in colour similar to wheat.
These are eco-friendly and can contribute towards boosting production of nutritious bakery foods. More than 8 tons yield can be harvested from per hectares of land within 145 days of sowing. In his remarks, Dr Jalal Uddin said there are brighter prospects for increasing maize production and the government has put due emphasis on the issue.
The region is viable for huge maize cultivation which can play a vital role in transforming traditional agriculture into commercial one because of its multiple use and economic benefit. Maize contains huge Vitamin-A and its multi-dimensional use including production of corn oil with no cholesterol from maize can helps heart patients in many ways through consuming its oil. “Maize is highly beneficial to human health if consumed the flour prepared through crushing 70 percent wheat and 30 percent maize together”, he said, citing various recognised international level scientific research findings and analyses.
Proper and diversified use of potato with maize and some other crops in a planned manner can help reducing high pressure on rice side by side with ensuring nutritional demands and food security amid adverse impact of climate change, Dr Jalal added. Later on, the guests accompanied by the farmers visited some eye-catching demonstration plots of the varieties set up here for the first time in the country.
BSS/ Source: The Daily Observer
