Drought-tolerant wheat varieties gain popularity in Barind

FE Team | Published: February 23, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

RAJSHAHI, Feb 22 (BSS): Some newly developed drought-tolerant and high-yielding wheat varieties, especially BARI Gom-26, have started gaining popularity among farmers of the drought-prone Barind tract.
With the breakthrough, farmers have started using the varieties instead of the outdated ones as they are getting more yields. Apart from this, many farmers are now become more interested towards wheat farming as they are facing problems in cultivation of Irri-boro paddy in the water-stress condition in the Barind area comprising 25 Upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabgonj districts.
Talking to BSS some of the benefited farmers said the Regional Wheat Research Center has released the developed high-yielding varieties like Shatabdi, Prodip, Bijoy and BARI Gom-25 and 26. These varieties are also more tolerant to leaf blight and leaf rush- disease to bring the fallow lands under the wheat farming in the water-stress condition.
Meanwhile, wheat farming has been enhanced to some extent in the region this season as the growers obtained better output due to the improved varieties and suitable climatic condition in the previous season.
Besides, they also attained expected market price. Abul Hossain, a farmer of Farhadpur village under Godagari Upazila, said the farmers harvested 13 to 18 mounds of wheat from per bigha of land last year. Similarly, they sold the wheat at Taka 700 to 900 per mound.
Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) has adopted special measures to promote the modern varieties among the growers level to mitigate the present water-stress condition, said ATM Rafiqul Islam, Deputy Manager (Agriculture) of BMDA.
Dr Israil Hossain, Chief Scientific Officer of Regional Wheat Research Center, told BSS that the nation produces 1.2 million tonnes of wheat against annual demand of at least 3.5 million metric tonnes. So, he said there is no alternative to enhance local production to meet up the huge local demand.