Current status of salt tolerant indigenous rice genotypes, problems and feasibility at farmers’ level in the coastal areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

Global climate change accelerates sea level raising that inundated new cultivation areas every year. Thus in Bangladesh new saline areas are created where general cultivation procedures and genotypes cannot be practiced. Focusing on this situation and also to reuse traditional cultivars in their natural habitats, it is imperative to explore their recent few years cultivation scenario. In this research, major focus was given on the current status and prospects of local salt tolerant rice cultivation in coastal areas of Bangladesh taking five years information under consideration from 2016 to 2020. Thus, a survey was conducted in the selected coastal region of Bangladesh by using data of 90 households through structured questionnaire. Research findings revealed about 80 indigenous rice genotypes grown in saline areas with their present characterization and market demands that had worthy potential to grow and expand further. The market value of these genotypes are very high and required very low labor and fertilizer cost. This survey revealed numerous weaknesses, including low yield, longer maturity time, lack of trustable seed sources, farmers’ knowledge, switching towards shrimp cultivation, less marketing facility, poor coordination with related organizations and limited financial and management planning. These limitations hampered the cultivation potentials of the local cultivars. This survey work also suggested farmer’s level recommendation for flourishing the cultivation of these local cultivars to a profitable level.