Healthy seeds will produce Tk 3,000 cr more paddy

Bogra Rural Development Academy (BRDA) deputy director and scientist AKM Zakaria told this at a press conference held at the academy auditorium here recently.

The press conference was held after a research jointly conducted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Bangladesh Rich Research Institute (BRRI) and BRDA under DFID-funded four-year "Seed Health Improvement Sub-Project" at Maria village here.

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Zakaria stressed on training of rural women about collection and preservation of healthy seeds. Because, he said usually rural women all over the country are engaged in harvesting paddy.

The simple method would reduce attack of insects and growth of unwanted plants by increasing 15 per cent more paddy production, according to the research report.

Use of healthy seeds would reduce the cultivation cost by 30 per cent, the report said.

The report said that 95 per cent healthy seeds can be produced locally if housewives are trained with six traditional methods including collection of fresh paddy sheaf.

Measures should also be taken to weed out the paddy field, clean the seeds, preserve and store seeds by mixing with 'neem' leaves.