Bangladesh: Short-duration rice allows for sunflower crop afterwards

A farmer’s field day on sunflower cultivation in rice-based systems focused on the use of short-duration rice varieties during the aman season.

Farmers shared how they used to cultivate local rice varieties (e.g., Sada mota, Lal mota, BR22, and BR23) in the aman (July-November) season. All of these are long-duration varieties and harvest can drag up to the end of December, after which other crops such as wheat, maize, lentil, mustard, and sunflower can no longer be grown.

Earlier, upon advise from the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), 5 farmers took the initiative to grow short-duration T. Aman rice. By November, the farmers were done with the harvest and were then able to plant sunflower in the same land.

Sunflower oil is an important household commodity, and is also a source of extra income for farmers.

Fifty farmers joined the field day, held on 4 April 2013 at Chandpasha of Babuganj Upazila in Barisal District. The event was organized by CSISA-IRRI Barisal Hub.



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