Md. Rafiqul Islam Mondal Ph. D
Former Director General
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute
Success Story on Bt. brinjal in
Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated
countries of the world. Around 70% of the people in
Bangladesh are directly or indirectly involved in
agricultural sector.
 Over the last four decades, cereal production has been
increased from 10 million tons in 1972 to 39.68 million
tons in 2016.
 The contribution of agricultural sector in GDP is
14.77%, employs 47% of the total labor forces, cropping
intensity approaching to 200%, average farm size is
about 0.68 acre
Introduction

Introduction
common vegetables in Bangladesh
 There are about 100 types of
local and exotic vegetables are
grown in bangladesh
 Vegetable is very important for
nutritional, financial, and also
for food security in
Bangladesh.
Area: 0.4 m ha, Production : 3.73 m MT (BBS 2015)
Present consumption : 62 g/day/person (BBS, 2017),
: 125 g/day/person (FAO Stat. 2012)
Recommendation : 220g/day/person
Production need to be increased more than 3 folds.

Area and Production Trend of Vegetables in Bangladesh
over the years

Brinjal as vegetable crop in Bangladesh
Brinjal is a good source of minerals and vitamins,
rich in total water soluble free reducing sugars,
amide proteins among other nutrients as well as high
amount of anti oxidant
Brinjal
Fruits are consumed
as cooked vegetables
Dried Shoots are used
as fuel

Brinjal as vegetable crop in Bangladesh
yield (t/ha) Source :BBS 2017

Agricultural Biotechnology in Bangladesh
Biotechnology is the application of any technology to biological systems
and living organisms to develop useful products for specific use.
Biotechnological application
Tissue culture
Embryo grafting
Somaclonal variation
Micro- propagation
Transgenic plant development and production of high yielding
and pest/insect resistant varieties through genetic engineering,
and biochemical study programmes of some key crop plants have
also been initiated in a number of laboratories at Research institutes
and Universities.

Agricultural Biotechnology in Bangladesh
Bt. brinjal Shoot and Fruit Borer (Bacillus thuringiensis )
LBR Potato Late blight (Phytophthora infestans )
Golden Rice GR-1 (From Daffodil) & GR-2 (From Corn)
Salt tolerant rice BRRI dhan 28, 29, 36 and 2 BRRI dhan 47 containing
Pea DNA Helicase 45 (PDH45)
Bt. Cotton Resistant to Bollworm and Spodoptera/Army worm
Jute Genome sequence
Bt. Chickpea pod borer
Other crops virus resistant tomato and salt tolerant wheat , zinc
(Zn) and iron (Fe) enriched transgenic rice variety,
antioxidant-enriched black rice variety, a peanut
resistant to fungal disease ,

Conceptualization of Agricultural Bio-Technological
Support Project -II
MOU signed on 27 June 2004
BARC Cornell University, USA
Objectives
Delivering bio-engineered products and technologies to targeted countries,
including Bangladesh.
Provided research support in the Bio-
technological area, higher training and
study visit for Bangladeshi Scientists.
Technology access
ABSP-II project support

Inception and generation advancement of
Bt. brinjal Genotypes at BARI
BARI created a multidisciplinary research team under ABSP-II
programme and different events are :
2005 : Hybridization of 9 Bangladeshi brinjal cultivars with Bt.
brinjal candidate variety at Mahyco and F1 seeds were
collected and back crossing programe was initiated (BC1) at
Mahyco, India.
2006 : BC2 done at BARI, Bangladesh.
2007 : BC3 done at BARI, Bangladesh
2008 : BC3 (F2) done at BARI, Bangladesh
2009 : BC3 (F3) and BC4 done at BARI, Bangladesh
2010 : BC3 (F4), BC5 done at BARI, Bangladesh. Next season muti-
location confined field trial at seven locations
2011 : BC3 (F5) done at BARI, Bangladesh. 9 varieties underwent
MLT in 7 locations
2012 : MLT repeated in 7 locations.
2013 : MLTs were repeated in the same 7 locations

Performance of Bt lines under confined trials

Yield of Bt. lines under confined trials
Name of lines
Marketable fruit yield/plant (kg) Mean (kg)
%
increase
2010-11 2011-12
Bt. Nayantara 1.51 1.79 1.65 222
Non Bt. Nayantara 0.31 1.17 0.74 -
Bt. Signath 0.85 2.89 1.87 183
Non Bt. Signath 0.19 1.84 1.02 -
Bt. Isd 005 1.78 2.61 2.20 207
Non Bt. Isd 005 0.51 1.61 1.06 -
Bt. Islampuri - 1.46 1.46 153.6
Non Bt. Islampuri - 0.95 0.95 -
Bt. Kazla 2.59 3.45 3.02 185.3
Non Bt. Kazla 1.23 2.02 1.63 -
Bt. Uttara 2.57 2.00 2.29 199.1
Non Bt. Uttara 1.04 1.25 1.15 -
Bt. Dohazari 1.10 2.20 1.65 135.2
Non Bt. Dohazari 0.34 2.09 1.22 -
Bt. Khat Khatia 1.47 3.38 2.43 152.8
Non Bt. Khat Khatia 0.44 2.73 1.59 -
Bt. Chaga 1.90 3.08 2.49 254.1
Non Bt. Chaga 0.91 1.06 0.99 -

Releasing process of Bt. brinjal in Bangladesh
Application form collect from MoEF
Application submitted with all
information and sufficient document
NTCCB of MoA headed by Secretary, MoA
Bio-safety Core Committee of MoA
(headed by Executive Chairman, BARC)
NCB of MoEF headed by Secretary, MoEF
Approval of Government
Released: Four varieties in Oct. 2013
Bio-safety Core Committee of MoEF

Released Bt brinjal Varieties
BARI Bt. Begun-3 (Noyantara) BARI Bt. Begun-4 (Isd-006)
BARI Bt Begun-1 (Uttara) BARI Bt. Begun-2 (Kazla)

Honourable Minister for
Agriculture
Matia Chowdhury MP
distributing seedlings of Bt.
brinjal among the selected 20
farmers

Seed production of Bt. brinjal varieties at BARI
Year
BARI Bt
Begun-1
BARI Bt
Begun-2
BARI Bt
Begun-3
BARI Bt
Begun-4
Total
2014-15 0.80 28.5 4.50 4.50 38.3
2015-16 153.5 184.0 84.0 239.0 660.5
2016-17 234.0 337.0 202.0 245.0 1,018.0
Total 388.3 549.5 290.0 488.5 1,716.3
(Source: Seed Technology Division, BARI)

Planting
Season
Growing period
Number of
Bt.brinjal
farmers
Area covered
(ha)
Spring,
2014
January – June 20 2.50
Winter,
2014-15
Oct. – Nov. to March-April 108 15.00
Winter
2015-16
Oct. – Nov. to March-April 250 33.00
Winter
2016-17
Oct. – Nov. to March – April 512 68.30
Winter
2017-18
Oct. – Nov. to March-April 5500 366.70
Table 7:Bt. brinjal in the farmer’s field during the
period from 2014 to 2017-18
Source: OFRD, BARI

Name of the Variety
Yield (t/ha)
2014-15
2015-16 2016-17
1. Bt. Begun-1
Non-Bt. Begun
22.16
13.21
22.4
12.2
_
_
2. Bt. Begun-2
Non-Bt. Begun
28.25
12.40
29.1
16.51
35.88
16.56
3. Bt. Begun-3
Non-Bt. Begun
21.96
12.21
25.29
11.1
21.57
13.80
4. Bt. Begun-4
Non-Bt. Begun
23.89
10.57
22.5
11.1
22.08
14.35
Table 8: Average yield performance of four Bt. brinjal varieties
compare to non Bt. counter part during 2014-15, 2015-16
and 2016-17
Source : OFRD,BARI

BARI Bt. Begun-1 (Uttara)in the farmers’ field

BARI Bt. Begun-2 (Kazla) in the farmers’ field

BARI Bt. Begun-3 (Noyontara) in the farmers’ field

BARI Bt. Begun-4 (Isd 006) in the farmers’ field

Socio-Economic Performance of Bt. brinjal
A socio-economic study was conducted in 35 districts of
Bangladesh during 2016-17 (Rashid et al., 2018)
 Bt, farmers received 13% higher yield compared
to non-Bt. farmers
 Bt. farmers also received significantly higher gross
return (21%) and net income (83%) compared to
non-Bt. farmer
 The total variable cost and fixed cost were also
lower for Bt. farmers compared to non-Bt. farmers

Conclusion and Recommendations
.
 Increase the no. of Bt. farmers from 20 in 2014 to 7500 in 2018
Farmers understand that Bt. brinjal is profitable because there was no
infestation of shoot and fruit borer insect.
Farmers can keep their own seeds for next season because varieties are not
hybrid.
 Less use of insecticides.
Finally, cost of production will be reduced, brinjal cultivation will be profitable
and farmers will be benefitted.
From the experience of Bt. brinjal in Bangladesh, it can be suggested that
the biotechnological tools can be successfully utilized in solving many biotic
and abiotic problems of crop production
The international development partners should come forward to support
this type of research initiatives in the developing countries in the World.

Video clip

Thanks for patience
hearing!!