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Dhani Gold: The Country’s Prime Hybrid Aman Rice Seed

In the history of agriculture in Bangladesh, ACI was the 1st company to introduce hybrid rice at the beginning of the 20th century. ACI Seed has marketed best Aman hybrid rice variety in Bangladesh from the German-based Bayer Crop Science with the brand name ‘Dhani Gold’. The variety has a high yield of 6-7MT/Ha with a short duration of 125-130 days. It has BLB and blast disease-resistant traits. ‘Dhani Gold’ has the highest yield and profit potentials for our farmers.

Aiming to tackle the possible food crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, free hybrid seeds like ‘Dhani Gold’ with another hybrid variety are being distributed among one lakh farmers in the country during this Aman season. Honorable Agriculture Minister Dr. Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, MP inaugurated the seed distribution program through an online event organized through the Zoom app in June 2020. The seeds will be distributed for free among one lakh farmers of 200 upazilas of 50 districts. Target has been set to cultivate hybrid seed in 50,000 acres of land. It will provide 25-35 percent more yields than usual seeds.

Inaugurating the program, the minister said, "We will observe if the harvest is good this time. If we get the additional harvest, we will inspire the farmers to take this seed." Cultivation of high yielding varieties of crops will be given priority to increase food production in the coming days. Through this program, each marginal farmer will get 3kgs of Hybrid rice seed. With these 3kgs of seed, farmers can harvest at least 54 monds of paddy during the Aman season; which is almost 25% additional yield compared to the local variety resulting in additional income for the marginal farmer. This free distribution of hybrid Aman rice seed will not only support farmers but also accelerate the adoption of varieties like ‘Dhani Gold’.