Nur Mohammad to Participate in International Farmer-Scientist Conference in Malaysia

From November 6 to 8, the city of Penang, Malaysia, will host a Farmer-Scientist Conference, featuring the participation of self-taught agricultural scientist Nur Mohammad from Bangladesh, who is recognized for his innovative contributions to rice cultivation. He departed from Dhaka for Malaysia on Monday evening, with support from the Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK).

Nur Mohammad, a farmer from Gollapara village in the Tanaur upazila of Rajshahi, arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday alongside scientists from the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.

Notably, Nur Mohammad has gained attention in previous years for developing drought-resistant Boro rice varieties with the shortest life cycle to protect crops from drought-induced destruction. He has named this variety NMKPP-103, which is also aromatic and can be cultivated during the Aman season.

In recognition of his agricultural successes, Nur Mohammad received the President's Gold Medal in 2005 and the TIR-Prothom Alo Agricultural Award in the best agricultural innovation category in 2018.

According to Nur Mohammad, five of his rice varieties deserve recognition, ranging from NMKPP-1 to NMKPP-5. He has revitalized traditional rice varieties, shortening their life cycles while enhancing yields and creating drought-resistant strains. Additionally, he has developed two more drought-resistant and short-life cycle rice varieties suitable for the Aman season, named NMKPP-5 and NMKPP-101.

He clarified that while the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute has also developed Aman varieties, his creations possess distinctly different characteristics. His varieties are tailored for the Barind region and are capable of thriving with good yields even after 15 to 20 days without rain, yielding between 20 to 21 maunds per bigha.