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Bangladesh,
a large deltaic plain formed under the influence of three
mighty rivers –Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna with its flat
topography, abundant water and sub tropical climate, constitutes
an excellent habitat for the rice plant. Rice, as such, evolved
as the staple food of the people of the country, and historically
has been associated with their culture, rites, and rituals.
With
time, as the population increased at a rapid pace, the gap
between rice production and food requirement for the millions
widened. To feed the increasing population through radical
change in rice production, replacement of the low-yielding
traditional varieties and age old production practices of
rice by high-yielding varieties and improved production technologies
became essential.
Rice
research in this part of the sub-continent started
in 1910 that got momentum in mid 60s. Realizing the  importance
of rice in food security and political stability of the country,
an autonomous organization in the name of East Pakistan Rice
research Institute (EPRRI) was established on 1 October 1970
on 76.82 hectare of land at Gazipur, 36 km north of the capital
city Dhaka, which was renamed as the
Bangladesh
Rice Research Institute (BRRI)
after the independence in 1971. |
