The premium aromatic variety Gobindo Bhog rice has received the GI tag.
More farmers are taking up its cultivation since its gives higher productivity and remuneration.
Some 600 farmers have sown the rice for the first time this crop season (August-November).
This has increased the number of farmers opting for the aromatic rice to over 1,800.
The Bidhan Chandra Kishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), through a programme, launched since 2009, has extended cultivation of the rice to new areas and promoted it among a larger number of farmers.
According to a study by the BCKV, 80 per cent of the rice produced is consumed locally, while 20 per cent is exported.
The area under cultivation for this variety is expected to go up further by over 50 per cent this crop year compared with last year.
Having started the programme with less than 100 farmers in Nadia district in 2009, BCKV has brought in 1,800 farmers across 18 blocks of the South Bengal districts of Murshidabad, Burdwan, Hooghly, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.
The area under cultivation has increased 10-fold in 2012 from a mere 45 acres four years ago.
Paddy productivity of this premium variety has gone up by more than 40 per cent to about 1.3 tonnes an acre, he said.
Currently, this variety fetches a price of Rs 2,800-3,000 for a 60-kg bag.
