ICARDA Caravan, Issue No. 20/21

News from the Drylands

Celebration as Bangladesh produces more lentil

Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA DG, presented a plaque to H.E. Mr M.K. Anwar, Minister of Agriculture, Bangladesh, to acknowledge his strong support to agricultural research and to the farmers of Bangladesh. His support led to the wide adoption of ICARDA/BARI-developed improved lentil varieties and production technologies in Bangladesh.

ulses, especially lentil, are the main source of protein and other essential nutrients for the majority of people in Bangladesh. Lentil, usually served as dhal with rice, is considered “poor man’s meat” because of its high protein content. It is also rich in Fe, Zn and ß-carotene, micronutrients that are essential for health. Its straw is a valued animal feed, and lentil planted in rotation with rice adds nitrogen to the soil and helps break pest and disease cycles.

Lentil is the number one preferred pulse in Bangladesh; however, domestic production satisfies less than half the country’s needs. Therefore, the Pulses Research Center of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and ICARDA are working together to develop improved technologies to help resource-poor farmers of Bangladesh.

The major constraint to lentil improvement in Bangladesh was the lack of variability, especially in the key traits that contribute to higher yield and disease resistance. The obvious solution was to introduce the desired traits through breeding, using exotic germplasm. But Bangladesh’s lentil is a short-duration type which matures within 100-110 days, causing an asynchrony in the flowering of the local cultivars and those of exotic origin. It was decided that hybridization was the best way forward. ICARDA was requested to produce crosses specifically for Bangladesh, making use of the country’s improved landraces and ICARDA germplasm with resistance to Stemphylium blight and rust – the most damaging lentil diseases in Bangladesh. In consultation with national breeders, crosses were made at ICARDA under an extended photoperiod (18 hours plus) to improve synchrony in flowering and facilitate crossing with Bangladesh landraces. Wide crosses were made and many desirable genes were introgressed – including those for disease resistance. The breaking of this ancient ‘bottleneck’ of narrow genetic base of lentil in South Asia represents a major scientific achievement.

The introgression of rust and Stemphylium blight resistant genes of exotic origin led to the development of ‘Barimasur-4’ lentil variety. This is the most widely adopted variety in the country and it produces an average mean seed yield of 2300 kg/ha compared with 1800 kg/ha of ‘Barimasur-2.’ It has a 53% advantage over the standard check, ‘Uthfala.’

Mr Mohammad Abdul Sattar (center), a lentil farmer in Pabna, Bangladesh, was honored for his contributions to technology adoption and dissemination. Left to right: Dr William Erskine, ADG (Research), ICARDA; Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA DG; Mr Omar Ali, Pulse Agronomist, BARI; Dr M.S. Islam, BARI DG; and Dr M.M. Rahman, Director of Research, BARI.

More than 39,000 tons of seed of the improved varieties has been distributed to farmers and around 60,000 ha have been planted to improved varieties, mostly ‘Barimasur-4.’ Lentil farmers have also adopted related production practices, including relay cropping and mixed and intercropping, which have helped to further increase productivity. Bangladesh’s farmers are now producing an additional 28,000 tons of lentil annually, worth US$ 450/ton at the farm gate, or US$ 12.6 million in total.

Increased lentil productivity has made a major contribution to alleviating poverty and malnutrition, and improving the country’s economy. An impact analysis found that the extra income earned from lentil cultivation was used by farmers to buy clothes (15.6%), personal items (19.5%), rice and other foods (9.9%), seed for the next crop (16.6%), children’s education (14.8%), medical treatment (13.7%), to pay off loans (5.8%), and other purposes, such as purchasing cattle, threshers, making brick houses, and repairing farm implements (4.1%).

To celebrate the successes achieved through the BARI-ICARDA partnership, BARI organized the “BARI-ICARDA Friendship Day” on 14 February 2004 in Dhaka. ICARDA was represented by the Director General, Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy; the Assistant Director General (Research), Dr William Erskine; and Lentil Breeder, Dr Ashutosh Sarker. H.E. Mr M.K. Anwar, Minister of Agriculture, Bangladesh, was the Chief Guest. Other senior officials included: Dr Mohammad N. Alam, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council; Mr Tarique Hassain, Director General, Department of Agricultural Extension; Dr Shariful Islam, Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation; Prof. Abdul Halim, Vice-Chancellor, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University; Mr A.S.M. Abdul Halim, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture; Dr Abdul Hamid, Director General Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture; Dr M.M. Rahman, Director of Research, BARI; and Mr Abul Hussain, Director, Pulses Research Center. Farmers, scientists and representatives of national and international development organizations also participated in the event.

Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, who gave a presentation on “ICARDA’s contribution to food and nutritional security in the developing world,” thanked the donor agencies, including CIDA, IDRC and ACIAR, whose support for pulse research in the last two decades, has helped Bangladesh develop improved lentil varieties and production technologies, which have been adopted by farmers. He emphasized the need for collaboration between BARI and ICARDA in other areas, such as genetic enhancement of barley, grass pea, and kabuli chickpea.

The ICARDA delegation with colleagues from Bangladesh’s research and extension departments visited the lentil field of Mr Altaf Hussain (center), a farmer in Ghanna village, Bangladesh. Mr Hussain grew ‘Barimasur 4’ and expects a yield of 2.4 t/ha this year. Traditional lentil varieties produce less than 1.0 t/ha.

H.E. Mr M.K. Anwar praised the BARI-ICARDA partnership in lentil improvement, which has enabled the country to dramatically increase production. He called for crop diversification and increased pulse production to ensure food security and to usher in “a second agricultural revolution” for the people of Bangladesh.

As part of the Friendship Day celebration, Prof. El-Beltagy presented a commemorative plaque to the Minister of Agriculture, the Director General, BARI, the Chairman of BARC, and the Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture to acknowledge their support to the ICARDA/Bangladesh collaborative program. The Minister presented awards to two farmers, Mohammad Abdul Sattar and Mohammad Shajahan, who produced up to 2.7 t/ha of lentil using ‘Barimasur-4.’ Seven scientists, including Drs Willie Erskine and Ashutosh Sarker from ICARDA, also received recognition from the Minister for their contribution to improving the welfare of marginal farmers in Bangladesh through lentil improvement.

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