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Bengal Govt introduces arsenic-resistant paddy
West Bengal Government’s rice research centre has come up with a new variety of rice called Muktoshri that can be grown in arsenic prone areas.
There are 81 arsenic affected blocks in the state. Thus the new variety of rice will be of great help for a large section of farmers. The cultivation of the new variety the rice would take 125 to 130 days.
Some other new variety of rice has also been prepared by the Chinsurah and Bankura rice research centres. It includes Gosaba I and Chinsurah Nona-II varieties for the soil with high level of salinity. Most importantly, Satabdi variety has been replaced with Ajit, which is also used for short-term cultivation and it takes around 115 days.
For the first time, a new variety of jute seed has been prepared by the Jute Research Centre of the State Government at Krishnanagar and it has been named as Goranga. The new variety will result in a yield of 23 quintal per hectre, which is 10 per cent more than the yield of the current variety.
The agro-scientists from the soil testing laboratories, rice research centres and jute research centres of the State Government attended the programme on planning for the forthcoming rabi crop. The State Agriculture Minister, attended the inaugural session of the programme.
