Uttar Pradesh, India – A review of stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) was held in Lucknow in early November, with promising results. Drought-tolerant variety Sahbhagi dhan received good reviews from farmers as well as from NGOs.
The review of STRVS was part of a review and planning meeting of collaborative projects on stress-tolerant rice varieties, headed by IRRI’s STRASA and Uttar Pradesh’s Department of Agriculture (DoA).
Fifty participants, which included the implementing partners, DoA officials, and farmers from several districts in Uttar Pradesh, evaluated the performance of STRVs in their areas and discussed future activities.
C.P. Srivastava, Uttar Pradesh deputy director for agriculture, reported that farmers gave positive feedback especially on the drought-tolerant variety Sahbhagi dhan, which yielded better than other popular varieties.
NGO partners from 14 districts approved of the good performance and suitability of the new STRVs in their areas. Farmers from different districts also spoke about the success of the demonstrations, which IRRI and the DoA conduct in their areas.
Arvind Singh Bisht, state information commissioner of Uttar Pradesh, was chief guest and chair of the meeting. He expressed satisfaction about the success of the STRVs and said that such technologies can potentially help in addressing food security. He also expressed appreciation for the good work done by STRASA and other partner projects to create awareness about these varieties and reach thousands of farmers.
(Rowena Baltazar (STRASA), Grace Cañas)
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