Pakistani scientist developed GMO rice strain

A Pakistani scientist, Dr. Fida Abbasi has developed a new rice strain which is able to increase the rice production of the country.

Dr. Abbasi had been serving at Hazara University Mansehra as a professor at the Department of Genetics.

"By applying this technology the number of grains per panicle of rice plant had been increased from 250 to 700,” Dr. Abbasi.

According to him, the production had been increased from 5 tons per hectare to 15 tons per hectare, while the new strain of rice was 6 feet tall with a thick stem, large and heavy panicle of 50 centimeters and would bear 700 grains.

He claimed such kind of rice does not exist in the world and this rice could be grown by using less water.

It is to be mentioned here that Pakistan is the world’s fourth largest producer of rice, after China, India and Indonesia.

Each year, it has been producing an average of 6 million tons. Pakistan’s rice production in past had been very low and cost of production was very high as compared to other rice producing countries. Due to this low production our export price had remained very high when compared to our competitors.