A flash flood affecting 4,000 hectares of farmland in Sunamganj and Netrakona haor areas in Bangaldesh caused almost USD 6 million in crop losses, according to the country’s Department of Agriculture Extension.
A total of 0.45 million hectares of land are planted with rice which is nearly 10% of the total production of rice in the boro season.
A similar lash flood event that hit the area in 2017 resulted in record-high rice prices in Bangladesh.
Read the story at The Financial Express
More information on flood-tolerant rice:
As floodwaters recede, farmers’ hopes emerge in Bangladesh
In 2017, an unusually harsh monsoon brought the worst floods in decades—even worse than those in 1998. The floods affected at least 41 million people across South Asia and were the most serious in 40 years.
The floods had a devastating impact on Bangladesh’s rice sector. Almost half of the Bangladeshi farmers’ livelihood is tied directly to agriculture and rice is the country’s single most important crop.
Reducing farmers’ risk through the flood-tolerant BINA Dhan-11: a reflection on rice varietal introduction and farmer-led validation in Uttar Pradesh
Mohanpur, a small village in the Muratganj Block of Kaushambi District in Uttar Pradesh, is situated near the branch of the Ganga River and 30 kilometers away from the district headquarter in Manjhanpur. In this village, most of the farmers are smallholders and their main source of livelihood is rice cultivation in kharif (wet) season. In the wet season, the village is mostly affected by flood every year. The flooding of the rice fields, cause the farmers significant uncertainties in rice production. Rice, being their major source of livelihood as well as household food security, puts them at immense risk of crop, food, and income loss due to flood.
Scuba rice goes against the flow of woes in flood-prone eastern India
In 2009, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its partners developed rice varieties that carry the SUB1 gene. This gene originated from a low-yielding traditional variety grown in limited areas in the Indian state of Odisha and it enables rice to survive submergence for as long as two weeks. Given this ability to tolerate flooding, the varieties are also called Scuba rice.
Field trials conducted in Odisha showed that yields of Swarna-Sub1 could be 45% higher than those of Swarna even when it was submerged for up to two weeks. Indian farmers have been cultivating Swarna-Sub1 at unprecedented rates. By 2013, more than 1.7 million hectares of flood-prone land in India were planted with the variety. This initiative enables farmers to obtain higher yields not only after adverse conditions but also when no floods occur.
