Self-educated, winner of the President's medal for extraordinary contribution in the Agriculture sector, farmer Nur Mohammad of Gollapara village under Tanore upazila of Rajshahi district has now invented a new-variety of paddy which is longer than Zira Shail paddy in size.
It is learnt, Nur Mohammad has no academic certificate as an educated person but he has been conducting research with paddy from his boyhood. His field is cultivated by varieties of paddies for research purposes round the year. Often he invents new varieties of paddy through hybridization. This year during the season of Aush Paddy, Nur Mohammad has invented one more new variety of paddy. On September-18 he harvested this new variety of paddy which is longer in size than that of the famous Zira Shail paddy variety.
Local Agriculture Officials were present at the field of Nur Mohammad during the time of harvesting of this paddy. They also named this new variety of paddy as ' Nur Dhan-3'. After threshing and drying, the total yield of this paddy in per hectare of land was 4.9 metric tonnes, i.e., 16 maunds per bigha and after chaffing, 3.26 hectares per ton of rice is produced.
The paddy has a life span of 95-day and it is as fine as Jira shail but more longer in size. When cooked, the boiled rice or 'bhat' of this variety of rice is clean-granular and tasty.
The plant of this type of paddy is strong and does not bow down by wind or storm. Nur Mohammad has invented this variety of paddy after eight-year of research. At present, he is conducted research on 39 varieties of paddy in more than 100 rows in his field.