Farmers in the flood-prone district of Morigaon in central Assam are switching to flood-tolerant rice varieties like Ranjit Sub1 in anticipation of an above-normal rainfall predicted in the state in the coming monsoon season.
Introduced by the state’s agriculture department through the Assam Agriculture University, and IRRI under the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project, flood-tolerant rice varieties have increased farmers’ incomes and encouraged others to return to farming.
Assam has a total of 2.3 million hectares of rice areas with 0.36 million hectares chronically flood-prone by flooding and over 1 million hectares potentially impacted by it.
Read the story @The Times of India
Flood-tolerant rice for enhanced production and livelihood of smallholder farmers of Africa
Thinking beyond the SUB1 gene: Making rice varieties that can survive longer floods and produce higher yields
Variety-based climate-smart intervention helps smallholder farmers cope with floods in the lowlands of Odisha
