Monga will never return to Bangladesh thanks to various steps taken by the current regime, Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque stated Friday. "If we can distribute early-ripening varieties of Aman paddy which were invented by our scientists in our northern region, monga will not come back in future,” noted the minister. Abdur Razzaque came up with this remark while virtually addressing a function organized by the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) in Taragonj of Rangpur to mark the harvesting of specimens of BINA-16 and BINA-17 varieties of paddy. Also read: Food security: 'Money won't be enough if Bangladesh's not self-sufficient Monga refers to seasonal bouts of poverty and hunger caused by a confluence of natural and social factors unique to Bangladesh. Once an annual or even biannual occurrence affecting mainly northern districts, it has been a number of years since the last recognised monga. Regarding the new varieties of paddy, the minister also said, ”They have immense potential. On one hand the production is good, on the other hand they ripen in 100 days." Also read: Transforming agriculture: Bangladesh moving towards high value crops “We can also produce other crops including potato and mustard after harvesting these new varieties,” he added.

Dr Shamsun Nahar Begum, chief scientific officer of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), has received the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) "Women in Plant Mutation Breeding Award." Also, BINA, a research organisation under the Agriculture Ministry, has received the "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the IAEA. The awards will be formally conferred at the 65th General Conference of the IAEA in September to recognise contributions to plant mutation breeding and related biotechnology, according to the Agriculture Ministry. BINA carries out research in different areas including crop improvement through induced mutation, biotechnology, soil management and biofertil­iser, irrigation and water manage­ment, pest management, physiological aspects of crop productivity, crop management, improvement of horticultural crops, technology transfer and impact assessment, and socio-economic research. READ: Quantum Foundation awards 58 winners of World Meditation Day competition The organisation has succeeded in developing and releasing 112 modern varieties of 18 important crops by using nuclear techniques. These varieties are now making a significant contribution to raising the agricultural productivity of Bangladesh.  BINA has also been able to identify eight rhizobial inocula for fixing higher biological nitrogen in soils to increase the seed yield of beans, pulses and oil crops. READ: Grameenphone receives Asian Leadership Awards 2021