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Upon completing a successful trial of the genetically engineered Golden Rice in its transgenic screen house, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) is now taking the variety — GR-2 E BRRI dhan29 — to confined field trials in the coming Boro season this November.
BRRI officials told The Daily Star that open-field and multi-location trials will be conducted afterwards, setting into motion the last stage for its release to the farmers.
Rice does not contain any beta carotene. Dependence on rice as the predominant food source, therefore, leads to Vitamin A deficiency (VAD), most severely affecting small children and pregnant women.
Consumption of only 150 gram of Golden Rice a day is expected to supply half of the recommended daily intake (RDA) of vitamin A for an adult. People in Bangladesh depend on rice for 70 percent of their daily calorie intakes.
BARI Director General Dr Md Rafiqul Islam Mondal said BRRI would use facilities to keep the under-trial Golden Rice isolated from other rice varieties grown in BRRI fields.
Officials concerned at IRRI and Gates Foundation confirmed that as the Golden Rice inventors and subsequent technology developer Syngenta allowed a royalty-free access to the patents, the new rice when released for commercial farming in Bangladesh will be of the same price as other rice varieties, and farmers will be able to share and replant the seeds as they wish.
Read full, original post: Bangladeshi scientists ready for trial of world’s first ‘Golden Rice’
