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Manila: Farmers in India and Bangladesh will likely start commercial production of flood-tolerant rice next year, giving them protection against crop losses from typhoons and heavy monsoon rains.
The rice would survive for about two weeks under water, David Mackill, programme leader for rain-fed environments at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, told Reuters yesterday.
Flood waters regularly engulf vast rainfed lowland areas of Asia and crop losses from prolonged submergence are estimated at around $1 billion (Dh367 billion) a year, Mackill said.
Tolerating floods
With the Sub1 flood-resistant gene, farmers could produce six tonnes of rice per hectare under normal conditions and around three tonnes if the paddy was submerged for two weeks. Normal varieties would only yield one tonne or less if subjected to that sort of submergence.
The flood-tolerant gene in the rice is introduced to existing varieties through normal cross-breeding techniques and not via genetic modification.
IRRI has also began work on drought-resistant varieties of the grain to deal with a world beset by global warming.
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