BRRI's Contributions to the Nation 

Since its establishment in 1970, BRRI has been serving the nation through development of high-yielding rice varieties and improved production practices which have been instrumental in doubling the annual rice production within three decades. For this, BRRI has earned a very high reputation nationally in Bangladesh as well as in the world rice community.

The high-yielding modern varieties (MVs) developed by BRRI presently covers 95% of the Boro (winter rice), 36% of the Aus (summer rice), and 51% of the transplant Aman (wet season rice) areas of Bangladesh. The overall adoption MVs in Bangladesh is 65%. These varieties account for about 79% of the total annual rice production in the country. The BRRI MVs and technology packages played the key role in boosting annual rice production in Bangladesh from  10.82 million metric tons in 1970-71to 24.30 million metric tons in 2001-02. Without BRRI MVs, rice production would have increased at the rate of 1.0% annually, almost half the rate at which the population grew during this period.

BRRI MVs and production technologies benefited the nation in the form of low cost of living particularly, of huge population living in rural areas and urban slums. But, there were indirect additional benefits to the society too. The government saved huge amount of foreign exchange which, if there were no BRRI MVs, could be spent for food grain imports to feed the country’s growing population. It has been estimated that the rate of return per taka investment in rice research and development is Tk. 38. Additional production from BRRI MVs also kept the domestic rice price relatively stable and within the reach of the common people. In fact, since early 1980s the import of food grains declined steadily and the country approached self-sufficiency by 1990s.

Technologies developed by BRRI also contributed to the generation of income and employment in rural Bangladesh over the past two decades. In areas where the MV technology has been introduced, the proportion of population living below the poverty line is 51% compared with 78% for areas without such technological progress. The net return per agricultural holding using MV technology is about 50% higher than a similar holding using traditional varieties. The expansion of modern irrigation facilities, which concurred with the expansion of MV rice acreage, has also led to increased employment opportunities in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, with a rise in the income of the rural population. MV adoption also created indirect employment opportunity such as in fertilizer trade and in the maintenance of pumps and other equipment, for example.

In recognition of its outstanding contribution in the field of rice research and development, BRRI has been honoured with the following prestigious national and international awards: