With the standing paddy crop being adversely impacted by recent floods in Orissa and other eastern states of the country, close to a million farmers have managed to save their crop thanks to a rice variety which can withstand submergence for more than two weeks.
The variety named ?Swarna Sub1? has been developed by the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in collaboration with Orissa-based Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI).
Following extensive field trials across many districts in Orissa, it was in April 2009 that the state?s seed sub-committee gave clearance for Swarna Sub1. ?The crop has proved to be a boon for thousands of farmers in the region,? Robert S Ziegler, director general of IRRI, told FE, after visiting several flood-hit areas in the state.
With the rising popularity of the variety, IRRI estimates that close to five-million hectare would be sown with Swarna Sub1 during the next three years from the current level of one-million hectare.
?This variety is increasingly being adopted by farmers in the region,? US Singh, regional project coordinator for South Asia of IRRI?s Stress Tolerant Rice project, said.
Given the success, the gene (Sub1) is being transferred through marker-assisted technique into other popular rice varieties in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The yield of t his submergence-tolerant variety is 3-3.5 tonne per hectare.
Apart from Orissa, the variety has been tested in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and eastern Uttar Pradesh under ICAR-IRRI collaborative programme – Eastern India Rainfed Lowland Shuttle Breeding Network.
The gene for submergence tolerance (Sub-1) was cloned by IRRI from the popular Indian flood tolerant variety FR-13-A and was transferred into the popular rice variety Swarna.
Also, with an aim to boost production in the country, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and IRRI have entered into an agreement to ensure continued access to advanced rice research from around the globe and the technologies subsequently developed.
Rice is the staple food for more than three billion people globally. An estimated one-fourth of the crop is grown in rain-fed, lowland plots that are prone to seasonal flooding.