Two new varieties of rice have been deemed commercial following evaluation and successful trials by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).

The new varieties are adaptable to climate change and provide higher yields, a release from the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, and should be released to farmers for the second (“autumn”) crop this year.

Both strains, the release said, were developed under the GRDB’s rice breeding programme which aims to develop superior rice types with higher yielding ability, disease resistance and tolerance to lodging among other characteristics.

The field trials were conducted at Cane Grove. During a visit there yesterday Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, said the decision to release the new strains for commercial use “is based on conclusive demonstration of its superiority over” the best rice type available locally.

Meanwhile, the minister met with a rice team from the Brazilian company RiceTec on Thursday to discuss the possible cultivation of a new strain of rice in Region Nine.

Persaud had said that the Brazilians presented “upland rice” which he described as a hybrid suitable for the conditions of the Rupununi Savannahs in that region.