development program was very strong during the 1980s because of the IRRI-Myanmar Cooperative Programs. DAR received a series of different ecological type of rice from IRRI and used them in local breeding programs. In those years, many new improved rice varieties for marginal areas like deep water, saline and upland drought prone areas were developed. DAR has maintained a total amount of 12,000 samples of current crop seed varieties, local landraces, and wild rice relatives in a short- and medium-term genetic seed bank. This collection and maintenance is actively used in the breeding program.