Production of BRRI Dhan-81 witnessed a sharp decline in Rajshahi during this boro season for bad weather and calamities.

This breed was the most promising among the high-yielding paddy varieties of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). Many farmers choose this breed due to its yield expectancy of eight tonnes of paddy, per hectare of land.

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) recorded an average of 3.75 tonnes of the yield of BRRI Dhan-81 in Rajshahi and Bogura this season, disappointing the farmers. Even last year's yield was 4.75 tonnes on average.

Dr Md Fazlul Islam, regional chief scientist, said, the damage was marked on one-hectare experimental land in BRRI's regional centre in Rajshahi.

"It happened due to an unprecedented rise in the temperature, and rains," he told this correspondent.

During the paddy's sprouting stage, the temperature rose to 46 Degree Celsius in mid-April and that has never occurred in the last 10 years, he said.

"The paddy variety was only capable of sustaining temperature up to 35 Degree Celsius," he said.

BRRI Dhan-81 was introduced to farmers in 2017. It was termed one of the "premium quality" varieties, producing exportable rice.

Normally, its per hectare yield is 6 to 6.5 tonnes, but with proper care, a yield of eight tonnes is possible, BRRI and DAE sources said.

Abdus Salam, a farmer of Rajshahi's Uttor Chalkpara area, said he cultivated the paddy this year as he received a high yield last season.

"If I get 30 maunds of paddy in exchange for the same expenditures of BRRI Dhan-28, why would I not cultivate this paddy?"

"But this year I was bamboozled at the results as I got around 14 maunds of yield in per-acre land only," he said. "This year the paddy didn't grow tall like last year. The grains were smaller too."

Almost 150 farmers of Chalkpara Beel have experienced a similar fate as Abdus Salam this year.

Robiul Islam of the same area said, "If there are 200 grains in a paddy sheaf, I found only 80 of those grains in good condition. The rest was damaged."

"I cultivated this variety for the first time this year. Now, I'm mad at myself for making that decision," he said. "I choose this variety as officials were repeatedly telling me about this."

"I don't believe the temperature rise is the reason for this damage since high temperature is common in this region," said Robiul. He alleged there might be some foul play involved with the seed.

In eight districts of the Rajshahi division, around 2,05,593 tonnes of BRRI Dhan-81 have been produced on 54,877 hectares of land this year.

Last year, the cultivation and production were two times less.

Some 96,507 tonnes of paddy were produced on 20,356 hectares of land with a yield rate of 4.74 tonnes per hectare.

Contacted, Khyer Uddin Mollah, acting additional director Rajshahi regional DAE said this was the first time the paddy variety witnessed such damage.

"Farmers shouldn't be worried as this year's case is a separate incident," he said. He claimed that no foul play occurred with the seeds.