A deal has been signed between ‘Lal Teer Seed Limited, Bangladesh, and ‘OLsAro Crop biotech, Sweden for wheat production in coastal region where salinity is a major challenge.

As per the joint collaboration, Lal Teer and OlsAro will work for the adaptation of the saline-tolerant wheat in the coastal areas of Bangladesh, which contributes to increasing domestic wheat production.

The signing ceremony was held on Wednesday at a hotel in the city. The Chairman of Lal Teer Seed Abdul Awal Mintoo presided over the ceremony while Dr Sofia Strom, Chief Executive Officer of OlsAro Crop Biotech, was present as the special guest. From OlsAro Crop Biotech, Elen Fexo, Professor Olf Olsson, and Professor Henrik Aronsson were also present at the event.

The lines were tested by Lal Teer in the coastal area along with the salt-tolerant variety BARI Gom-25. The line OA-62 performed potentially well continuously for the last two years and out-yielded BARI Gom-25, said M Abdur Rashid, General Manager of Lal Teer Seed Limited.

He said the OA-62 variety of wheat yield around 5.15 tonnes per hector in normal land while it yields around 3.52 tonnes in the saline-infested soil.

OlsAro is a famous biotechnological company working for the development of wheat salt tolerant lines through chemical mutations with joint collaboration of the Gothenburg University of Sweden.

According to Agriculture Extension Directorate, climate change poses a particular challenge to the agriculture sector due to long-term changes in temperature and precipitation, floods, sea level rise, drought, salinity, and magnitude of monsoon season. Bangladesh owns a huge coastal region in the southern part of the country covering about 2.85 million hectares, which are over 30 percent of the net cultivable area of the country.

Out of these 2.85 million hectares, more than one million hectares are affected by different degrees of salinity in certain parts of the year. This coastal area is prone to flood, drought, and salinity intrusion. Only one rice crop is cultivated during the rainy season but without potential yield.

If Bangladesh can utilise the coastal land for cultivating saline-tolerant wheat its dependency on importing wheat would reduce significantly, experts said.