Summary

Naturally occurring inorganic arsenic (IAs) is a poison and carcinogen, and it affects 239 and 20 million people in India and Bangladesh, respectively. Though there are ~1000 papers per year published on arsenic, mostly highlighting its impacts and population exposure risks, very little has been done to develop sustainable solutions to equip the affected population to live in an arsenic-contaminated environment. In general, the affected communities are aware of IAs exposure risks from drinking water; however, they are mostly unaware of IAs exposure through the food chain, which is a significant concern. To address these challenges, we established the Arsenic in Rice Research Network (ARRNet ~ 50 researchers and expanding) in 2018 with the help of a GCRF networking award. Through our workshops, we have identified our goals and we believe that the arsenic problem requires a combined food system approach and this project will be a significant step in achieving this through the development of sustainable partnerships. The objectives are:

(1) Generate baseline data through an extensive household survey and focus group discussions in West Bengal

(2) Carry out field trials to identify optimum irrigation levels to reduce arsenic uptake in rice

(3) Organise a workshop to disseminate results and formulate future research priorities

(4) Design and develop a new ARRNet website for research activities and outreach

Investigators

Dr Manoj Menon, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield

Prof Bhabani Das, Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India (ODA)

Prof Pinaki Sar, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (ODA)

Prof M Rafiqul Islam, Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University (ODA )

Prof Mohammad Hoque, Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University (ODA)

Prof M Hossain Sumon, Department of Soil Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University (ODA)

Prof Edward Rhodes, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield

Non-Academic Research Partners

Mr Shantamay Chatterjee, Regional Program Director, CARE India Solutions for Sustainable Development (CISSD) (ODA)

Mr Anup Kumar Das, CARE India Solutions for Sustainable Development (CISSD) (ODA)