The institutions are planning to work together to research future climate change impacts on rice production in Bangladesh by evaluating the behavior of the monsoon under different climate scenarios and examine its impacts on the water resources. They will then develop a framework for how the farming communities can adapt their rice production to these different climate scenarios.
In Bangladesh agriculture accounts for about 35% of the GDP and employs over half of the population. Rice production in the country is likely to be effected by climate change partly because of the probable change in monsoon pattern. As rice is the staple food in Bangladesh, this project undertaken by Bioforsk, BRRI and CEGIS could potentially be important to maintain food security in the country.
The contracts are to be signed and the research should start by the end of 2011. The embassy wishes them good luck with their collaboration and is looking forward to seeing the development of their project.