CSV

Development of Improved Varieties of Rice

Development Partner

USAID

Implementation Organization

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

Program Area

15 districts of Bangladesh including 7 districts under Feed the Future (FtF) zone

IRRI entered a partnership agreement with ACI to initiate a state-of-the-art rice breeding program in Bangladesh. The partnership will aim to improve the lives of rice farmers through supporting better rice varieties and agricultural technologies. The collaboration will support a wide range of projects aimed to accelerate genetic research, advance breeding and product development for the Bangladesh rice ecosystem. After development of new improved varieties, ACI will distribute them through its extensive seed delivery network after securing government authorization. ACI will also contribute to the project activities through market linkage, extension and establishing networks with dealers, inputs retailers and rice farmers. By 2022, ACI plans to market 40,000 tons of hybrid and self-pollinating rice seed per year for deployment on 1.8 million hectares which is 16% of the country’s rice area. This will be dramatic shift in the seed supply system, which increases the private sector supply of rice seed, currently estimated as 2% annually. A national average yield increase of 20–25% in rice is also anticipated from project interventions due to high performing varieties. The ACI-IRRI project will be a prototype for transforming the rice value chains of other developing countries.