Bss, Dhaka

SAYS BRRI

The country is likely to complete all necessary experiments on golden rice, a genetically modified crop variety, tentatively by 2012, said Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) sources.

They said as the government is yet to approve the field level experiment of the variety, the institute is conducting test in multiplying the seed of the new rice variety at laboratory level.

BRRI scientists said after some more experiments limited cultivation of the variety would be possible following permission of the government.

Following a memorandum of understanding signed between the government and the International Rice Research Institute in 2003, the BRRI has already developed a variety of golden rice through transfer of gene into the BR-29, the highest yielding BRRI variety, and hopes that the yield of the new variety would be much more.

"This is one kind of GMO variety and there is nothing to be worried if the variety is introduced as everything is being done on the basis of scientific research and if it bears any risk it would not be released for farm level production," said Dr M Abdul Mannan, director general (DG) of BRRI.

Mannan said, "We have already produced foundation seed of the variety and now working on how to go for a very limited production of the variety and everything is confined to laboratory at the moment. But we hope that a new variety of golden rice is to be introduced for production by 2012," he added.

The golden rice variety is said to contain 17 times the amount of vitamin A present in other high-yielding varieties.

After failing laboratory experiment on "golden rice-1," the institute is going to conduct green house experiment on "golden rice-2" and the safety test of the variety under local weather condition is likely to end by this year, said Dr AKG Mohammad Enamul Haq.

The institute will also conduct experiment on agronomical evaluation, bio-safety, allergy-related experiments and the availability of vitamin A in the rice seed, said the official.

In 2005, the institute got two grams of seeds from the IRRI to multiply the variety.

Bangladesh could introduce this hybrid seed to multiply rice yields if the experiments are proved suitable for environment, said an official of biotechnology division of the BRRI.

The rice variety is called `golden rice' because the inserted beta-carotene gives the grain a bright yellow colour, and it supplies enough beta-carotene to meet 10 per cent of the daily requirement for Vitamin A.

Worldwide, 125 million children - particularly those in developing countries - suffer from vitamin A deficiency, causing blindness (up to 500,000 per year according to the World Health Organisation) and even death.

An additional one million people die annually due to vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition.

In many of these countries, rice is the staple food and provides 80 per cent or more of daily calories. Polished, white rice - the most consumed form of rice - contains no beta-carotene or other forms of pro-vitamin A, and is also a very poor source of other micronutrients (iron and zinc).

The latest varieties of golden rice are expected to be a new tool - in addition to existing ones - in helping to overcome vitamin A deficiency among the poor