ripple sep dec 2010

RIPPLE

April 2006, Vol. 1, No. 2 www.irri.org/irrc/

Irrigated Rice Research Consortium Rice Research for Intensified Production and Prosperity in Lowland Ecosystems

Looking at the IRRC’s country programs

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Volume 5, Number 3 • September-December 2010

The IRRC, with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is providing

a framework for partnership among IRRI, national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) partners, and the private sector in 10 Asian countries.

Well into the fourth phase of the IRRC, this special country issue features the work the Consortium has done in these countries. Working with these partners proved vital in developing natural resource management (NRM) technologies that can help ensure food security in Asia. The IRRC’s platform of technologies is derived from collaborative and adaptive research through in-country validation or verification.

The IRRC also has important programs that cut across countries such as the IRRC Outreach Programs (ICOPs), the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Web site for rice farmers and extension workers, videos on different NRM technologies, and capacity-building activities.

ICOPs are operating in Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines to facilitate dissemination and adoption of NRM technologies in rice. The ICOP is a multistakeholder group that encourages learning through knowledge sharing of GAPs.

GAPs are efficient and effective farming practices that will help rice farmers boost yields and improve grain quality and production efficiency. The IRRC developed a Web site (www.knowledgebank.irri.org/rice) that contains results of decades of collaborative research and development from IRRI and its partners on best management practices for irrigated rice.

On 9-11 November, the IRRC joins IRRI as it continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary during the International Rice Congress in Hanoi, Vietnam. The event is followed by the IRRC annual Steering Committee meeting on 12 November.

IRRI photo

2 RIPPLESeptember - December 2010

Vietnam

Rona Niña Mae Rojas

In Vietnam, the An Giang People’s Committee requested the IRRC to work closely with the Department

of Agriculture and Rural Development of An Giang Province and the Plant Pro-tection Department to assist in increas-ing rice productivity. Through the IRRC, IRRI is working with its Vietnamese partners in developing An Giang as a model province where sustainable good agricultural practices for rice in the lowlands are established through the incorporation of emerging technologies for production. This initiative is over-seen by a national advisory committee of the Ministry for Agriculture and Ru-ral Development to ensure that the les-sons learned from this collaboration are shared with other provinces.

An Giang has the highest production of rice in Vietnam and is representative of the other major rice-producing prov-inces in the south. There is also strong political and financial support from its provincial government.

The emerging technologies are vali-dated through adaptive research with farmer partners, and are being diffused through the Mot Phai, Nam Giam (1 Must Do, 5 Reductions) program. It builds on Vietnam’s Three Reductions, Three Gains policy and encourages farmers to use certified seeds (must do) and reduce seed rate, fertilizer use, pesticide use, water use, and postharvest losses.

In May 2009, the IRRC assisted in a message design workshop conducted

Best practices for optimum resultsin An Giang, which resulted in a well-publicized campaign launch of 1 Must Do, 5 Reductions in November. Some 20 billboards were erected around the province, along with 2,000 posters dis-played at public sites such as schools, coffee shops, farmers’ clubs, and hos-pitals. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also distributed 17,000 brochures and 8,000 booklets.

The communication campaign builds on the establishment of 1-hect-are demonstration fields in each of the 11 districts of An Giang. In one season, more than 300 farmers apply the tech-nologies on 600 hectares of their own fields after undergoing training. New sites and farmers are selected for each crop season.

For the summer-autumn crop in the wet season, four districts reported in-creases in yield of 0.2 to 0.4 ton per hect-are, from a mean of 5.3 tons per hectare. In general, the farmers’ profit increased by US$208 per hectare. The farmers were very positive about the program and said they would apply the new technolo-gies in the next cropping season.

Various sociological studies that fo-cus on An Giang are being conducted by IRRC anthropologist Flor Palis and MS students Ben Corrigan and Lauren Pin-cus. The objectives are to better under-stand the factors that influence farmers’ adoption, assess technological impact, and provide feedback to scientists and extension workers. (For more on these stud-ies, see RIPPLE January-April 2010 issue.)

From 2006 to 2010, the IRRC has been a partner in an ACIAR-funded study

in Ha Nam (Red River Delta) and An Gi-ang provinces (Mekong River Delta) on Sustainable implementation of ecological ro-dent management. We have two key activi-ties. One is the conduct of socioeconomic surveys on the adoption and impact of ecologically based rodent management (EBRM). The other is the assessment of the rate and pathways of diffusion of EBRM in 2009. Our major partners are the Plant Protection Department, the provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, and CSIRO Australia. Preliminary results indicate that farmers shifted from heavy use of rodenticides to practices of community action. The number of farmers who were involved in integrated community ac-tions against rodents doubled. Better ro-dent management practices were associ-ated with increased rice yields, reduced area of crops damaged by rats, reduced use of rodenticides, and increased net re-turns for smallholder farmers.

Following the Vietnam postharvest learning alliance (LA) held in Ho Chi

Minh City in November 2009, LA partici-pants created business models that cen-ter on priority technologies and created a road map toward sound business models. In July 2010, each of the five project re-gions (north, north-central, central, and south—divided into two project regions) in Vietnam came up with initial business models. These will be used to pilot-test the use of technologies on hermetic stor-age, a 4-ton flat-bed dryer, laser leveling, and an integrated “agricultural commu-nity” model.

(Above): An Giang farmer Nguyen Thi Diep, an early adopter of IRRC technologies such as laser leveling and alternate wetting and drying, has gained a 1-ton per hectare yield increase and savings on fuel, seed, and fertilizer costs. She now uses a drum seeder to establish her rice crop.(Below): IRRC partner Nguyen Huu Huan, a pioneer of the 1 Must Do, 5 Reductions program, stands in front of an “extension cafe” in An Giang, where farmers gather and learn about new rice-growing technologies.

Grant Singleton

Grant Singleton

September - December 2010 3RIPPLE

Thailand

Grant SingletonRica Joy Flor

Whether as one of the world’s major rice exporters or as the place that archaeologists

point to as the origin of rice domestica-tion, Thailand holds the world’s interest. Much has certainly happened since rice was first cultivated and spread to other parts of the world. A bird’s-eye view of the 2.5 million hectares within the central plains alone, while pondering over the 10 million metric tons of rice produced there annually, is testament to this achievement. In 2010, however, such contemplation raises thoughts of how this country can continue to pro-duce for itself and the world, given the dwindling natural resources.

Extension activities and technology transfer in rice production

The Thailand Rice Department and the IRRC share common goals in pro-moting effective delivery of research on rice production to end users. In Thai-land, as in many neighboring countries, the rate of adoption and diffusion of new agricultural technologies is frus-tratingly slow. The Rice Department and the IRRC have joined forces to assess the impact of different delivery pathways on the rate of adoption of innovative tech-nologies and processes associated with natural resource management (NRM) of rice. A 3-year Thai-funded project, begun in October 2010, provides an im-portant opportunity for cross-country

learning. The IRRC is sharing the learn-ing obtained from NRM projects on rice from elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Although our aim for 2012 and beyond is to share the models of technology transfer developed in Thailand with IRRC partner countries in Asia, we also intend to develop a Southeast Asian rice extension network under the auspices of the IRRC.

Cross-country learningFrom 29 August to 5 September, five

extension specialists from the Rice De-partment visited IRRI in the Philippines to share, learn, and discuss research and extension challenges for rice NRM tech-nologies and to discuss future research linkages with the IRRC. They also vis-ited three partner agencies involved in national agricultural research and ex-tension in the Philippines.

Resource efficiency and sustainabilityThe United Nations Environment

Programme (UNEP), IRRI, and the Thai-land Rice Department have recently started to look into resource efficiency, sustainability, and ecosystem services

within the rice value chain of Thailand’s central plain. From March to September 2010, a scoping study was undertaken by IRRI and the Rice Department, which will be a take-off point for a possible UNEP-funded project. (Visit the IRRC Web site [www.irri.org/irrc] to access a copy of the final report of the scoping study.)

As part of the scoping study, 30 key stakeholders came together in mid-June to discuss problems and opportunities for resource efficiency, and to identify the actors involved in the rice value chain in Thailand’s central plain. The 2-day participatory workshop was facili-tated by Rica Flor and Martin Gummert of the IRRC. The workshop, organized by IRRI and the Rice Department, was attended by government officials from rice research, irrigation, internal trade, extension, and rice seed and product development. Also in attendance were farmers and private-sector representa-tives from rice milling, trade and export associations, and fertilizer companies. The director general of the Rice Depart-ment, Prasert Gosalvitra, opened the workshop. Dr. James Lomax of UNEP stressed in his welcome address the need to meet increasing global food demand without depleting the limited natural resources and to find incentives for good agricultural practices, ecosys-tem services, efficient market chains, and high-quality rice products.

IRRC partnership in ThailandTogether, the activities outlined

above provide an exciting platform for making significant headway toward ecologically sustainable rice production in Thailand. If achieved, Thailand will continue to be able to supply rice for its people and for millions of other rice con-sumers today and in the future.

From antiquity to the future

As part of the workshop, participants conduct stakeholder analysis to identify all the actors in Thailand’s rice value chain and assess their attitude toward resource efficiency and ecosystem services.

Bhagirath Chauhan

Extension specialists from the Thailand Rice Department learn more about Philippine agricul-tural research and extension during a visit to the Philippine Rice Research Institute in Nueva Ecija.


China

Rona Niña Mae RojasTrina Leah Mendoza

Guangdong is China’s largest grain consumption area, home to about 110 million people who

eat rice every day. However, Guang-dong Province can produce only 40% of its rice needs since riceland has de-clined by 33% over the past 20 years due to industrial and urban growth.

Opportunities to integrate different IRRI technologies for Guangdong were discussed during an IRRC-sponsored international workshop on sustainable rice production through improved nat-ural resource management (NRM) and extension of the 3 Controls Technology (3CT) on 9-11 June in Guangzhou. Pre-vious IRRC NRM collaborative research in China includes aerobic rice and alter-nate wetting and drying, which address water shortages in the country. (For more on aerobic rice and AWD in China, read RIPPLE Jul-Sep 2007.)

A total of 150 participants attended the workshop—officials, scientists, and extension specialists from 12 provinces outside Guangdong, 20 municipal dis-tricts of Guangdong, and IRRI. Top of-ficials from the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong’s Department of Agriculture, and Ad-ministration of Foreign Experts Affairs from Beijing and Guangdong graced the opening session.

On the path to healthier crops

Extension specialists from the dif-ferent counties of Guangdong report-ed their demonstration and extension activities in promoting the 3CT. The participants also visited the large field demonstration site in Gaoyao County.

IRRI and the Rice Research In-stitute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GDRRI) de-veloped the 3CT, which is based on the principles of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) that enables rice farmers to tailor nutrient management to the specific conditions of their field (see RIPPLE Sep-Dec 2009). 3CT involves (1) more efficient use of nutrients by fol-lowing SSNM principles, which often leads to more than a 20% decrease in nitrogen (N) use; (2) reduced lodging of the rice crop by avoiding excessive N uptake and implementing better water management; and (3) a reduced number of insecticide sprays since the crop is healthier.

The IRRC’s collaboration with GDRRI has helped influence policy. The 3CT was among those recommended in 2008 and 2009 by the provincial govern-ment for “high yield creation.”

In Gaoyao City and in the Xinhui Administration area, two of 13 large demonstration sites in Guangdong, the technology had positive outcomes. Since its implementation, 3CT had helped reduce crop losses caused by lodging and helped minimize cost due to less N fertilizer and insecticide ap-

plied. Field studies conducted in the province showed economic returns of about US$220 per hectare for farmers practicing the technology.

The technology had spread to nearby villages, mainly through word of mouth. Farmers from other villages saw the demonstration fields and have asked township agricultural staff about it.

The 3CT has now expanded from fertilizer management to other aspects of crop management, which led to the workshop this year. Opportunities to integrate other technologies such as water, weed, pest, and disease manage-ment into 3CT were discussed. These mature technologies each have simple, positive messages about environmen-tal sustainability and can help farmers adapt to extreme climate events.

The Guangzhou workshop em-phasized the importance of balancing different ecological services within a landscape and the need to reduce the likelihood of unexpected risks associ-ated with new technologies. There was a discussion on paradigm shifts such as maintaining rice yields while im-proving ecological sustainability. Also, strong emphasis was given to identi-fying priorities to facilitate outreach programs and capture technological impacts, and better communicating re-search results.

IRRI scientist Dr. Bas Bouman and GDRRI partner Dr. Xuhua Zhong visit Gaoyao County, where 3 Controls Technology is being implemented.

Grant Singleton

Drs. Roland Buresh (left) and

Shaobing Peng (right) have been

working with Chinese partners for over a decade.

Gra

nt S

ingl

eton


Laos

Rice accounts for about 80% of the total 5 million hectares of cultivated land in Laos. About

400,000 hectares is planted to lowland rice. Although Laos is self-sufficient in rice, some regional areas experience an insufficient rice supply. The southern provinces of Khammouan, Savanna-khet, and Champassak produce more rice than the northern provinces of Vientiane and Oudomxay. However, the inadequate transportation system prevents the surplus rice produced in the southern provinces from reaching the northern provinces.

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood and only 20% of the labor force relies on off-farm employment. Postharvest losses and insufficient engagement with market demand for rice (e.g., varying prices of different varieties, price fluctuations, quality demand, and keeping reserve stock) further undermine the establishment of effective business clusters for rice production.

Typical yields in lowland paddies range from 3 to 3.5 tons per hectare, but, if good agricultural practices were followed, yields of 5 tons per hectare could be achieved.

In August 2009, a needs assess-ment among Champassak farmers was conducted to determine their cur-rent rice production practices and to identify what else must be done to fur-ther improve production and increase yield. Among the major constraints to rice production are insufficient water supply, lack of capital, low farm-gate price of rice, high cost of fertilizers, insufficient knowledge of modern rice technologies, and high interest rate on loans. Water management trials on water-saving technologies will be conducted in Savannakhet and Cham-passak.

A new ACIAR-funded project, De-veloping improved farming and marketing systems in rainfed regions of southern Lao PDR, will include research into the alleviation of constraints posed by drought and uncontrolled flooding. Other proposed activities for the new project include on-farm trials on the use of integrated water-saving tech-nologies such as safe alternate wetting and drying, aerobic rice, and supple-mentary irrigation to secure the wet- season rice crop and improve the suc-cess of short-duration, post-rice crops (including forage/fodder crops) to di-versify and intensify the production system and increase livestock produc-tion. Another activity within this ob-

Ruben Lampayan Joel JaniyaRaising rice yields for a better life

jective that is relevant to the IRRC is the strengthening of community water management schemes and enabling of adoption of water-saving technologies at the system or community level.

To increase rice productivity and reduce market risks, the IRRC jump-started the dissemination and adap-tation of IRRC technologies in Laos. Two training activities on a range of good agricultural practices to increase rice production for 45 provincial and district technical staff and key farm-er leaders in Vientianne and Savan-nakhet provinces were conducted in November 2009. Participants were 18 technical staff and 27 farmers. The trainers were water scientist Ruben Lampayan, engineer Carlito Baling-bing, and extension specialist Joel Janiya.

Also, a joint partnership involv-ing IRRC and CURE started with World Vision to address rice produc-tion concerns in flood-prone areas in Savannakhet and Khammouan. Trials are ongoing to evaluate new submer-gence-tolerant rice varieties (contain-ing the SUB1 gene) together with re-source management recommendations as mitigation options in flood-prone areas. The technical staff of World Vi-sion will be trained on best manage-ment practices of rice production.

IRR

I photo

Surplus rice in the southern provinces cannot reach the northern provinces be-cause of inadequate transportation.

IRR

I photo

Hunger affects even the youngest of the nation’s population.


Bangladesh

Ruben LampayanTrina Leah Mendoza

IRRC activities in Bangladesh are focusing on assessing the impact of research conducted with our Bangladeshi partner institutions over the past 5–10 years. This in particular pertains to the impact of dry-seeded rice cropping sys-tems on alleviating poverty (see RIPPLE Janu-ary-March 2008, and Rice Today, April-June 2009) and the impact of water-saving technolo-gies. This story focuses on the latter.

Since 2006, the IRRC has been working with the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and other organiza-

tions in promoting and testing alternate wetting and drying (AWD), a water-saving technology, in farmers’ fields. The need for water-saving technologies is crucial in the face of declining water table. Thousands of Bangladeshi farmers are now adopting AWD.

With AWD, which allows the field to dry for 1–10 days before flooding it again, Bangladeshi farmers claimed to save at least two irrigations during the winter season. Water use declined by 15–30%, which then decreased pumping and fuel costs, resulting in an increase in income by US$67–97 per hectare.

In July 2009, the secretary of the Min-istry of Agriculture endorsed AWD as a national program and directed the De-partment of Agriculture Extension (DAE)

to promote it to farmers nationwide during a national workshop. DAE has now trained 15,210 farmers on AWD.

Other government and nongovern-ment organizations have established dem-onstration plots in farmers’ fields in differ-ent ecological zones and trained their staff members on AWD.

Water pump owners or “waterlords” have also realized the importance of AWD, particularly those in Rangpur, and have promised to adopt the technology in their irrigation command areas and persuade farmers to try it on at least one of their plots, if not all.

Syngenta, a private company, is pro-moting AWD through the distribution of field water tubes. It has trained 1,200 of its employees and conducted thousands of trials in farmers’ fields. The global Syn-genta community plans to promote AWD in other countries where they have strong links with farmers.

Gauging the impacts of AWDHowever, no comprehensive study on

AWD promotion in Bangladesh has been done yet. To close this gap, the IRRC is working with the Advisory Service on Ag-ricultural Research Development of Ger-man Technical Cooperation and a team from the Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin in Germany to conduct a study called Wa-ter saving in rice production in Bangladesh—a contribution to impact pathway analysis with focus on adoption processes and impacts of AWD.

The study aims to document con-straining and enabling factors considering the different approaches in disseminating AWD, measure the current level of adop-tion and short-term impacts of AWD in Ra-jshahi and Rangpur divisions, and draw lessons on the dissemination, adoption, and impacts of AWD.

The team is composed of team leader Ekkehard Kuerschner, agricultural econo-mist Firoze Sha Sikhder (former BRRI di-rector general), and five graduate students. The team has a wide range of expertise on water management, regional planning, di-saster and rural management, rural devel-opment and value chains, marketing and market research, corporate social respon-sibility, and impact evaluation.

IRRC’s agricultural anthropologist Flor Palis and Water-Saving Work Group leader Ruben Lampayan have actively participated in preparing the terms of reference, coming up with the design of the overall study framework and survey instruments, providing technical support on AWD, and planning the impact study. With IRRC agricultural economist Arelene Malabayabas, IRRI-Bangladesh liaison sci-entist Hamid Miah, and Dr. Sikhder, they met with farmers and pump owners in the targeted survey regions and the staff of key organizations involved in AWD dis-semination and the impact study in May.

In late June, Drs. Palis and Lampayan visited Berlin, Germany, to help develop the research concept to ensure good co-ordination of the activities of the overseas consultancy. An inception meeting in Au-gust gathered all relevant stakeholders at the national and regional levels to clarify and discuss the study concept. The study will end in November.

Results of the study will aid the IRRC and its Bangladeshi partners in promoting AWD and other natural resource manage-ment (NRM) technologies more effectively to farmers. The IRRC will greatly ben-efit from the findings of the AWD impact pathway analysis for speedy promotion of other NRM technologies.

Most importantly, it is the farmers who will benefit the most. With improved dissemination approaches of the different Bangladeshi partners and support from the IRRC, more farmers will learn about AWD and other technologies that can help ease poverty and improve livelihood.

Farmers adopt water-saving technology

Ruben Lam

payan

The team conducts surveys with farmers in Rajshaji and Rangpur. Results of the study will help the Bangladeshi partners and the IRRC improve their approaches in promoting technologies.


Indonesia

Donna CasimeroRona Niña Mae Rojas

2008 is known in history as the year of the Asian rice crisis. Rice supply was low and prices soared

to high levels. Though Indonesia is the third-highest rice producer in the world, the country faced the problem of providing enough rice to feed its rapid-ly growing population of 234 million. The Indonesian government launched a national program in the same year to increase rice production and secure its supply.

South and Southeast Sulawesi are two provinces with high potential to increase production. In March 2008, IRRC scientists were commissioned

by the Australian Centre for Interna-tional Agricultural Research (ACIAR) to lead the project Improving rice pro-ductivity in South and Southeast Sulawesi, in partnership with the Assessment Institutes of Agricultural Technologies (AIATs) and the Indonesian Center for Rice Research (ICRR). Implemented in four selected villages in South and Southeast Sulawesi, the project adopts a participatory adaptive management strategy. This entails working closely with farmer groups in the field and en-hancing the skills of extension staff in adaptive research. Since the project’s implementation, there have been sig-nificant increases in yields and incomes of participating farmers.

In 2009, the IRRC joined forces with the Indonesian Center for Agriculture Tech-

nology and Development (ICATAD; national body of AIATs) and the ICRR to develop an IRRC Country Outreach Program (ICOP). The Ministry of Agriculture is concerned about the delays in disseminating new rice tech-nologies to farmers. ICATAD is involved in national extension programs such as FEATI and ICM-FFS of rice. A national dissemina-tion team was charged with developing new methods to fast-track the incorporation of new agricultural knowledge into the exten-sion system. At the request of ICATAD, the IRRC is funding a national facilitator team, which will be responsible for exploring and implementing new pathways for knowledge transfer on rice to extension specialists and farmers. The facilitation team reports to the dissemination team; it has assisted in the development of local-language ver-sions of IRRC videos (water savings, nutri-ent management), fact sheets, and posters. The team also developed its own video on rodent management. Currently, the team is working with Dr. Roland Buresh, leader of the IRRC Productivity and Sustainability Work Group, to assist in the proposed trial of the mobile phone application of Nutrient Manager. The aim is to provide field-specif-ic best management practices in addition to best practices for nutrient management and make these accessible by mobile phone and Internet applications.

Sharing strategies for efficient rice farmingAfter identifying field constraints

to rice production, adaptation trials of IRRC technologies were conducted. Farmers participated in and then evalu-ated the natural resource management (NRM) options tested on their farms. At the end of each cropping season, farmer meetings were held and the farmers then selected the options they wished to try for the next season, inte-grating these with their current crop management practices. An Integrated Crop Management-Farmer Field School (ICM-FFS) module using participatory adaptive approaches was developed to train farmers on NRM technologies such as efficient water and nutrient management, safe and environment-friendly pest management, use of better and high-yielding varieties, and post-production practices for seed storage

and value adding. The field adaptation trials were also used as field laborato-ries for farmers in the FFS conducted in the four villages during the 2009 wet season.

Provincial cross-learning activity for eastern Indonesia

In July 2010, extension specialists from AIATs in other provinces in east-ern Indonesia visited project sites in Bone District, South Sulawesi, to ob-serve the outcomes of the project and to learn about strategies of adaptive man-agement. All 24 participants are highly involved in the rice program of their respective province or district. Project team members from South and South-

east Sulawesi served as resource per-sons for the activity.

Presentations on the basic princi-ples and concepts of NRM options were followed by hands-on field exercises to enable the participants to explain and demonstrate these to fellow extension staff and farmers in their provinces and districts. They also observed two FFS currently implemented under the national ICM-FFS program. Dr. Hasil Sembiring, ICRR director and IRRC Steering Committee member, attended the cross-learning activity. He chal-lenged the participants to apply the knowledge and skills they acquired to help Indonesia achieve its goal of rice self-sufficiency. He emphasized the important roles of AIATs and district agricultural offices in localizing appro-priate technologies on rice and other important commodities.

In farmer field schools, participants learn how to identify weeds that com-pete with rice for space and nutrients.

Donna C

asimero


Philippines

Rona Niña Mae RojasWorking toward rice self-sufficiency

The Philippines has long aimed for self-sufficiency in rice as the country works to overcome

problems of limited land area for rice production, rising population, and in-adequate infrastructure for irrigation and transport of rice. Reeling from the Asian rice crisis of 2008 and driven by its desire to achieve rice sufficiency by 2012, the government, through the De-partment of Agriculture (DA), funded the project Accelerating Rice Sufficiency through Integrated Research, Training, and Extension (more commonly referred to as the Philippine Rice Self-Sufficiency Plan [PRSSP]).

The PRSSP seeks to accelerate the delivery of rice research and produc-tion technologies to farmers through a more strategic approach in dissemi-nating them to the various regions or provinces. The IRRC joins in this pur-suit by providing suitable rice tech-nologies that come from adaptive and collaborative research with its part-ners. The Consortium aims to integrate these technologies through the IRRC Country Outreach Program (ICOP) in the Philippines.

The PRSSP is one of the platforms through which these integrated tech-nologies are disseminated. The goal is to spread knowledge and technologies from IRRI and the Philippine Rice Re-search Institute (PhilRice) to rice farm-ers throughout the country so they can adapt these to suit the specific condi-

tions in their fields. The PRSSP brings together rice experts specializing in various fields and disciplines from IRRI and PhilRice. They work under three interrelated subprojects.

IRRC anthropologist Flor Palis heads the partnership, monitoring, and evaluation component of one of the three PRSSP subprojects—the Uni-fied Capability-Building Support or subproject 3 (SP3).

SP3 targets the human element of rice farming by focusing on the im-provement of agricultural extension efforts. Dr. Palis’s team assessed farm-ers’ needs in the provinces of Cama-rines Sur, Bohol, Iloilo, Isabela, Agusan del Norte, and Agusan del Sur. Group discussions with farmers revealed that they face these problems: insuf-

ficient capital, high cost of inputs, low price of paddy, lack of sufficient knowledge on rice farm-ing, and location-specific stresses (e.g., high salin-ity, drought, flooding). Interviews with munici-pal and provincial exten-sion workers and DA re-gional officers were also conducted to help under-stand the agricultural ex-tension dynamics in the country and the issues

related to it. The initial results of the needs assessment were presented in an IRRI-PhilRice workshop convened to develop the Philippine Rice Knowl-edge Bank in January.

The farmers’ natural resource man-

agement needs are addressed by the IRRC’s platform of technologies, such as site-specific nutrient management (i.e., Nutrient Manager for Rice); pest management (e.g., ecologically based rodent management); water-saving techniques (e.g., alternate wetting and drying); and postharvest management (e.g., hermetic storage, flat-bed dryer). These were disseminated through training activities conducted for farm-ers, extension agents, and other stake-holders in Baguio City, Tagbilaran City, and Cagayan de Oro City.

Evaluation of community-orga-nizing capacities in relation to multi-stakeholder partnerships of selected villages in Agusan del Norte and Agu-san del Sur provinces was conducted from June to July. Dr. Palis served as a resource person and her team mem-bers served as training evaluators dur-ing the island-wide training of train-ers, focusing on dissemination of rice technology updates in Baguio City, Bo-hol, and Cagayan de Oro City.

IRRC postharvest engineer Pat Borlagdan and extension specialist Joel Janiya served as resource persons dur-ing the training courses.

Baseline surveys and ethnograph-ic research on rice farms across the six provincial sites are set for the last quar-ter of 2010 until 2011 to further assess economic inputs and outputs, knowl-edge, attitudes, practices, and level of adoption of rice technologies.

The IRRC will continue working closely with its partners through the ICOP and the PRSSP to bring Filipino farmers closer to self-sufficiency in rice.

SP3 team member Ben Pamatmat conducts an assessment of capacity-building skills of farmer groups in Agusan del Sur.

Rodm

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Ben

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The IRRI Super Bag, an example of a hermetic storage, is a spe-cially designed polyethylene bag that effectively preserves grain and seed quality.


Rona Niña Mae Rojas

Applying just the right kind of nutrients in the right amount and at the right time could

spell savings and increased grain yield for farmers. This is the rationale for developing the principles of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) for rice and other crops. The SSNM principles are highly promoted in the Philippine Rice Self-Sufficiency Plan (PRSSP) and have already been estab-lished and localized on the Philippine Rice Knowledge Bank Web site.

The Nutrient Manager for Rice team is led by IRRI scientists from the IRRC Productivity and Sustainability Work Group (PSWG) with partners from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), University of the Philip-pines Los Baños, West Visayas State University, and Atlas Fertilizer Cor-poration.

PSWG leader Roland Buresh said that, after labor, fertilizer use is the second largest expense in rice farm-ing, and proper application is impor-tant in determining yield.

Based on SSNM principles, two new Web-based decision tools and mo-bile phone applications were released in 2010 to help bring the technology closer to farmers and extension work-ers.

The Nutrient Manager for Rice Tu-torial (http://webapps.irri.org/nmtu-torial) provides an introduction to rice requirements for supplemental nutrients. The other tool, the Nutrient Teacher for Rice (http://webapps.irri.org/nmteacher), is suited for students and instructors of introductory cours-es in soil science and crop science. Both tools demonstrate how fertilizer guidelines are formulated based on answers to questions about rice-grow-ing conditions. Videos are also avail-able at http://snipurl.com/15oo6f.

The complete suite of Web-based tools can be accessed at www.irri.org/nmrice. For more information on SSNM, visit www.irri.org/ssnm.

The new mobile phone applica-tion, called Nutrient Manager for Rice IVR, was developed to give farmers more access to valuable agricultural

information via mobile networks (see RIPPLE May-Aug 2010 issue). The appli-cations were tested with farmers and extension workers and response has been encouraging.

In March, the Nutrient Manager for Rice team received the Achievement Award in Technology Development during the 40th Annual Scientific Con-ference. In the same month, PSWG

Managing nutrient application for rice in the Philippines

The IRRC Country Outreach Program (ICOP) in the Philippines met for the 4th

time in February to present the progress of its collaborative research in 2009. Fo-cusing on the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Bohol, and North Cotabato, this year’s meeting focused on closing the yield gap brought about by drought. The ICOP-Philippines, with PhilRice as a key partner, provides an adaptive research model for integrating various natural re-source management rice technologies and practices for end-users.

The IRRC Crop Health Work Group held a workshop in August 2009 in Nueva Ecija with PhilRice to discuss the imple-mentation of the IRRI survey portfolio for crop health assessment in farmers’ fields. The assessment is part of the activities of the Philippine Rice Self-Sufficiency Plan (PRSSP) to reach rice self-sufficiency goals by 2013, improve rice productivity, and in-crease rice farmers’ income. Participants came from PhilRice, local government

units, and other agencies. After the work-shop, farmers’ fields at key sites in the Philippines were surveyed. As soon as a sufficient number of farmers’ fields have been surveyed, another workshop will be organized to discuss statistical analyses of the data collected.

The Philippine postharvest learning alliance (LA), a multistakeholder plat-form of representatives from government agencies, research institutions, nongov-ernment organizations, farmers’ organi-zations, and seed growers, continues to highlight the importance of postharvest technologies to reduce postharvest losses of farmers and increase their income. In April, in close coordination with the IRRC Postproduction Work Group, the LA con-ducted training activities for farmers, seed growers, and extension agents in Bohol, Agusan del Norte, and Camarines Sur on flat-bed dryer operation and maintenance and hermetic storage techniques.

held workshops at IRRI on SSNM implementation for cereal crops with participants from India, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Tanzania, and the Philippines. Other workshops were held for Philippine partners in-volved in project implementation or training and education. The Web and mobile phone applications were tested with farmers and extension workers at pilot sites in the Philippines.

Farmers in Laguna, Philippines, were able to test the mobile application of Nutrient Manager for Rice—with positive results.

Joseph Sandro


Trina Leah Mendoza

Ever since farmers in Sri Lanka start-ed direct seeding rather than trans-planting their rice some decades

ago, they’ve faced the threat of weedy rice.

Weedy rice is believed to have come from crosses between wild and cultivated forms of rice and is now a major problem in most rice-growing countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the USA, where it is commonly known as “red rice.”

In Sri Lanka, more than 90% of the farmers practice direct seeding and weedy rice is reported to occur in many major rice-growing areas. For instance, in a sur-vey in Matara District, in the south of the island, in 2009-10 about 18% of a 16,000-hectare rice area was infested with weedy rice. Some farmers have abandoned their land due to weedy rice.

Unfortunately, single management practices are not enough to control weedy rice. Farmers usually cut or uproot weedy rice plants at the flowering stage, when the plants can be easily distinguished. How-ever, this method is time-consuming, too costly, and inefficient. Farmers pay labor-ers about US$142 per hectare to uproot weedy rice plants. Furthermore, often the uprooted weedy rice plants are thrown in water canals, nearby fields, or heaped in bunds, which may lead to the spread of weedy rice to neighboring areas.

Weedy rice is commonly spread through contaminated tillage or harvest-ing machinery, or through poor-quality rice seed. Rice varieties grown in weedy rice-infested areas appear to cross easily with weedy rice. As a result, harvested seeds from these areas may contain hy-brid seeds of inbred varieties with weedy rice.

The Rice Research and Development Institute (RRDI) of Sri Lanka has under-taken research on weedy rice led by weed scientist Anuru Abeysekera in collabora-tion with the IRRC Labor Productivity and Community Ecology Work Group (LPCEWG) and universities in Sri Lanka to study its biology, distribution, diversity, and effect on the rice crop and yield. Efforts were also made to test the validity of identified management methods for weedy rice con-trol in different locations.

Results show that the best way to control weedy rice is through a combina-tion of the following methods:

• Early visual identification and re-moval of weedy rice in the field —seeds readily shatter during the early stage of panicle maturity.

• Proper land preparation.• Avoiding the use of contaminated

machinery from infested fields or thoroughly cleaning machinery and seeds.

• Application of a preplant total weed killer before and after initial land preparation (stale seedbed).

• Use of quality, uncontaminated seed paddy.

• Transplanting or “parachute” meth-od instead of broadcasting (sowing seeds directly).

• Sowing seeds in rows.• Sowing rice seed into shallow stand-

ing water in suitable areas. • Manual weeding, cutting of pani-

cles, and uprooting.• Crop rotation.

Many farmers and extension work-ers are unaware of the nature and mag-nitude of the weedy rice problem and the difficulty of controlling infested fields, and there is great demand from farmers for management approaches to control weedy rice.

As a way to promote awareness on weedy rice, the IRRC in cooperation with RRDI launched a video this September called Weeding out Weedy Rice (available at http://youtu.be/j_paiS_0vcI) featuring Sri Lankan farmers’ experiences and tips to manage weedy rice.

Weed scientist and LPCEWG leader David Johnson says prevention is very important. “It starts with being aware of this problem weed, with good seeds and preventing the weed from multiplying,” says Dr. Johnson.

The IRRC and its Sri Lankan part-ners are continuing their research—and promoting awareness, best management practices, and community action—to win the war against weedy rice.

Winning the war against weedy rice

Weedy rice can be a very serious problem because it is very competitive with cultivated rice.

Anuru Abeysekera, one of the IRRC’s active partners, recommends a combination of methods to control weedy rice.

Offie N

amuco

Edwin M

artin

Sri Lanka


Rice is the most important agricultur-al commodity in Myanmar, where individual consumers eat more rice

(211 kilograms per year) than anywhere else in the world. However, the country’s average rice yield is low, about 3.4 tons per hectare; this is somewhat lower than yield in the rainfed lowlands, with little known about the upland rice systems. Myan-mar also regularly experiences floods, droughts, and salinity. Thus, increasing rice production is needed to help alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of the rural poor, who make up 73% of the popu-lation.

The IRRC has been working actively with Myanma partners in facilitating sharing of scientific knowledge, technol-ogy products, and information. In 2005, the IRRC and the Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS) established an IRRC Myan-mar Outreach Program (IMOP) to develop effective pathways to extend natural re-source management (NRM) technologies and principles that have the potential to increase the production of lowland rice.

One of the key strengths of the IMOP has been the field trials in farmers’ fields of IRRC technologies such as alternate wetting and drying, direct seeding us-

Trina Leah MendozaBeating poverty through improved rice productivity

ing a drum seeder, site-specific nutrient management, variety trials of aerobic rice, weed management, use of airtight seed and paddy storage systems, and paddy drying using flat-bed dryers. Farmers have been clearly accepting these technologies, with neighboring farmers starting to adopt them, too.

Other strong points of the IMOP have been the capacity building of extension workers at the township and division lev-els, extended partnerships developed with other research agencies and the private sector, and regular briefings with high-level government officials.

The IMOP has provided a platform that integrates NRM technologies and en-courages greater farmer and multistake-holder participation. Activities are ongo-ing in six states/divisions in Myanmar. The

challenge now is to combine and spread the technologies at a landscape scale.

The IRRC and the Consortium for Un-favorable Rice Environments (CURE) have plans to work together in the future in a new project that aims to contribute to pov-erty reduction and greater food security in Myanmar through improving the pro-ductivity and sustainability of rice-based cropping systems. The project will deliver new varieties and crop management op-tions to farmers, identify technology de-livery pathways, and improve the capacity of research and extension staff, students, and scientists.

With IMOP activities ongoing and a potential link with CURE, the IRRC strives to continue helping Myanma farmers com-bat poverty by enhancing their rice pro-ductivity.

Rodent outbreaks have been reported in the upland rice fields of Chin State,

Myanmar, since 2007 after a widespread bamboo flowering event. These outbreaks were believed to be the most serious in Myanmar in 50 years.

Before 2007, the link between bam-boo flowering and rodent outbreaks has been only in folklore, and scientific studies have been lacking. Now, for the first time in Myanmar, doctoral rodent ecology student and IRRI scholar Nyo Me Htwe showed clear evidence of a direct link between bamboo flowering and rodent population outbreaks in her study.

The highest rodent infestations ge-nerally occurred 2 months after the seed- shedding stage of bamboo. However, in

southern Chin, the bamboo forest flowered synchronously and all villages experienced rodent outbreaks for only one season, while, in the north, bamboo flowered oc-casionally and villages faced outbreaks for two seasons.

These outbreaks led to severe losses to crops and stored food and resulted in serious food shortages. More than 6,700 people in one township suffered from food shortage in 2007. In 2008, rodents de-stroyed 943 hectares of rice fields in 105 villages and 260 hectares of maize in 16 vil-lages. That same year, 31% of the popula-tion in three townships experienced food security problems. In 2009, 99 hectares of rice fields in 51 villages were attacked by rodents.

“Sadly, bamboo mast events can last

for up to 5 years, and they could continue until 2011 in Chin, and they may be happen-ing in other parts of Myanmar,” says Ms. Htwe. “There is an urgent need to identify effective rodent management systems and make them available to farmers.”

She sees the need for recruitment of rodent ecologists to be a national prior-ity as is the strengthening of information dissemination through partnerships with NGOs, especially on health education on rodent-borne diseases and malnutrition af-ter rodent outbreaks.

(Ms. Htwe’s study is featured in the book Rodent outbreaks—ecology and im-pacts to be released this year. Visit http://sites.google.com/site/rodentmanage-ment/ for updates.)

Increasing rice produc-tion in Myanmar can help ease poverty and help these young street vendors lead better lives in the future.

MyanmarTrina M

endoza


In Cambodia, rice comprises 60–70% of the food demand. The country has sufficient rice supply and the

potential to provide for the export mar-ket, but its rapidly increasing popula-tion, growing at 1.7%, along with the conversion of agricultural land into residential and industrial zones may very well change this. Most farmers also face the glaring fact that losses in traditional postharvest management operations contribute to about a 15–30% decrease in quantity and quality.

An added complication is the growing demand for industrial la-bor in urban areas and in neighbor-ing Thailand, which caused a decline in available farm labor and worsened problems of timely harvesting.

Some traders also take advantage of farmers in dire need of cash, and this

reality is only a microcosm of what is happening at the border. Trading of un-husked paddy into neighboring coun-tries such as Thailand and Vietnam is becoming an unrestrained activity instigated by middlemen and traders. Traded paddies are then sold back to the Cambodia market as milled rice product. Benefits along the value chain do not get to farmers. This happens where farmers lack the much-needed financial and technical resources and relevant market information.

The IRRC Postproduction Work Group aims to alleviate the situation of rice farmers in Cambodia. Work-ing on the premise of reducing post-harvest losses and increasing farmers’ income through better-quality rice, an IRRI-Asian Development Bank-funded postharvest project has been synergiz-ing its efforts and resources along with the national government’s priorities.

Establishing a Learning AllianceUnder the project, a Learning Al-

liance composed of a network of post-harvest stakeholders continues to conduct activities geared to-ward finding solu-tions to postharvest problems. These learnings are shared with other members from private, gov-ernment/public, and nongovernment sec-tors, including rice millers/processors, farmers, government extension workers, and researchers.

Meetings were held in 2009 to decide which postharvest

Carlito BalingbingTrina Leah Mendoza

technology to prioritize and how to best go about it. This was slightly dif-ferent from the piloting done in the pre-vious project in that more stakeholders were involved in the decision-making and implementation. Activities were not concentrated only at target village sites, and plans considered promoting the technology to more farmers.

Transferring technologiesWith Asia’s rice crisis now easing,

Cambodia is headed to join the export market because of its abundant har-vest, the result of using high-yielding varieties and better crop management technologies. As such, it has to comply with standards set for rice products be-ing traded in the international market. Processors and rice millers are now be-coming aware of paddy quality.

This brings significance to the in-novations introduced by the project through capacity building and train-ing on paddy and milled rice quality. The simple quality kit tool introduced by IRRI enabled farmers and extension agents to assess the quality of paddy and milled rice products.

In June 2010, trials and cross-coun-try learning activities on the stripper harvester were conducted in areas that experience flooding during harvest and lack available labor in the vil-lages. The combine harvester was also demonstrated in several communities. These activities were led by the project but also run parallel with what came out as the decision of the Alliance. More partners such as Kubota, an ag-ricultural machinery manufacturing company, and other private companies have been involved.

Processors and millers have begun to see the importance of properly dried and processed paddy. This led to an increase in combine harvesters rented to farmers during the harvest season, which significantly compensates for the lack of sufficient labor. Moreover,

Curbing postharvest losses of rice farmers

> continued on page 13

A farmer in Prey Stor Village, Prey Veng, is grateful for the improved granary that keeps her rice grains safe from rain, insects, birds, and rats.

Cambodia

Trin

a M

endo

za


farmers appreciate the minimal shat-tering losses and the best-quality paddy brought about by harvesting on time.

Local traders and processors who target the export market are now emerging. The newly established Baitang Rice Mill in Prek Anh Chanh, Battambang, which exports Jasmine miller rice product, is very critical of quality. “I prefer to buy paddy harvest-ed by combine harvesters since this ensures that the grain has not been damaged by delayed or improper han-dling,” says Oknga Phou Puy, compa-ny owner and chairperson of the Cam-bodia Federal Rice Millers Association. Apart from this, farmer groups were organized and they were provided with good-quality seeds, other inputs, and technical instructions.

Building business models The Alliance is also interested in

finding sustainable ways by which stakeholders and communities can use and gain benefits from postharvest technologies. Creating business mod-els is one such route. The IRRI-ADB project’s Cambodia component is start-ing a process of participatory creation of business models. This process looks

at how combine harvesting, which is seen as a technology that could ad-dress postharvest problems associated with labor and postharvest losses, can be introduced to end users and used sustainably.

In a previous project, the thrust was helping farmers make marketing decisions through market information boards. This time, the aim is to help farmers have sustainable business models around technology needs (e.g., combine harvesters).

Under the new project, IRRI value chain and business model specialist Alfred Schmidley trains farmers and processors to establish sustainable business models at different stages of the rice postharvest chain. The main premise is to scale-out improved post-harvest technologies and management options. If small farmers are properly linked to financial institutions to sup-port their own business models (e.g., mechanical drying service, combine harvesting service), they can reap ben-efits by servicing fellow farmers and eventually gain additional income.

Promoting technologiesThe project now looks at how

communication strategies can help promote postharvest technologies in Cambodia. Interviews with farmers in six provinces in February revealed that they preferred to receive rice-growing information from extension workers, then through visual media, particu-larly posters and videos. Thus, a poster on flat-bed dryers and a video on com-bine harvesters are in the works.

Farmers and rice processors in Cambodia are becoming aware of their capacity to compete with neighboring countries such as Thailand and Viet-nam. With the government doing more to help farmers and institutions such as IRRI infusing relevant technical back-stopping, Cambodias’ rice will be as fragrant as Thailand’s jasmine rice in the international market.

continued from page 12Curbing postharvest losses...

A Prey Veng farmer [left] hires a farmer/combine owner to harvest his crop. Many Cambodian farmers use combine harvesters because they require less money, time, and labor than manual harvesting.

IRRC and CURE have joined forces to contribute to a new project on im-

proved methods of direct seeding rice and conservation tillage in Cambodia, funded by the Australian Center for In-ternational Agricultural Research. The four year project began in December 2009 and the project will initially be located in three provinces: Kampong Thom (North Central), Takeo (South) and Kampot (South-South Western). IRRC’s contribution is led by Dr. David Johnson and it will include input into natural resource management practices and weed control, that would be appro-priate to optimise farmers’ investment in mechanisation (for direct seeding) and improved productivity of rice. The project has a strong emphasis on capac-ity building.

Trina Mendoza


PUBLICATIONS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

International journalsChauhan BS, Johnson DE. 2010. Implications of narrow crop spacing and delayed Echinochloa colona and E. crus-galli emergence for weed growth and crop losses in aerobic rice. Field Crops Res. 117:177-182.

Chauhan BS, Johnson DE. 2010. The role of seed ecology in improving weed management strategies in the tropics. Adv. Agron. 105:221-262.

Chauhan BS, Johnson DE. 2010. Relative impor-tance of shoot and root competition in direct-seeded rice growing with junglerice (Echi-nochloa colona) and ludwigia (Ludwigia hyssopifolia). Weed Sci. 58:295-299.

Chauhan BS, Johnson DE. 2010. Growth re-sponse of rice flatsedge (Cyperus iria) and barn-yardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) in competi-tion and implications for weed management in direct-seeded rice. Weed Sci. 58:204-208.

Huang SW, Wang L, Liu LM, Tang SQ, Zhu DF, Savary S. 2010. Rice spikelet rot disease in Chi-na. 1. Characterization of fungi associated with the disease. Crop Prot. (in press)

Huang SW, Wang L, Liu LM, Tang SQ, Zhu DF, Savary S. 2010. Rice spikelet rot disease in Chi-na. 2. Pathogenicity tests, assessment of the importance of the disease, and preliminary evaluation of control options. Crop Prot. (in press)

Juliano LM, Casimero MC, Llewellyn R. 2010. Multiple herbicide resistance in barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) in direct-seeded rice in the Philippines. Int. J. Pest Manage. 56 (4):299-307.

Savary S, Duveiller E, Forbes G, Willocquet L, Hijmans R. 2010. Special session: Plant Disease Epidemics and Food Security in Globally Chang-ing Agricultures and Environments—Food se-curity and plant disease epidemics: modeling potential epidemics on rice, potato, and wheat. Phytopathology. S156 (abstract)

Singleton GS, Belmain S, Brown PR, Aplin K, Htwe NM. 2010. Impacts of rodent outbreaks on food security in Asia. Wildlife Res. 37:355-359.

Zeigler RS, Savary S. 2010. Plant diseases and the world’s dependence on rice. In: Strange RN, Gullino ML, editors. The role of plant pathology in food safety and food security. Dordrecht: Springer. p 3-9.

Conference proceedingsWillocquet L, Noel M, Magculia N, Lore J, Srini-vasachary A, Savary S. 2010. Phenotyping the components of resistance as a bottleneck to breed rice varieties with suitable resistance to sheath blight. Proceedings of the APS annual meeting, 7-11 Aug 2010, North Carolina, USA. Available at Phytopathology 100(suppl): S136-137.

EventsCoordination Unit and Work GroupsRice Production Extension & Technology Trans-fer System Development & Networking for

NRM of Irrigated Rice, Bangkok, Thailand, 6-8 Oct 2010

Workshop on Resource Efficiency and Ecosys-tem Resilience in Thai Rice Production, Bang-kok, Thailand, 6-7 Oct 2010

International Rice Congress, Hanoi, Vietnam, 9-11 Nov 2010

IRRC Steering Committee Meeting, Hanoi, Viet-nam, 12 Nov 2010

Crop Health Work GroupField visit and site surveys in Nueva Ecija, Iloilo, and North Cotabato in the Philippines, 20-30 Sep 2010

Review workshop and training on the statistical analysis of data in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand, 8-11 Feb 2011

Water-Saving Work GroupField surveys, interviews, and report writing by the SLE team for the IRRC and GTZ-BEAF’s com-missioned study Water-saving in rice production in Bangladesh—a contribution to impact path-way analysis with focus on adoption processes and impacts of alternate wetting and drying, 20 Aug-28 Oct 2010

Aerobic Rice Package of Technology Workshop, IRRI, Philippines, 22 Oct 2010

Training on water-saving technologies in South-ern Laos (to be linked with ACIAR’s Developing improved farming and marketing systems in rainfed regions of southern Lao PDR, 22-26 Nov 2010

Postproduction Work GroupADB Review and Inception Meeting, Hanoi, Vietnam, 8 Nov 2010

Rodent Web site now online

Rodent experts and enthusiasts, you now have an avenue where you can learn about the latest news and research on

rodents! A new Web site called All About Ro-dents is now online at https://sites.google.com/site/rodentmanagement/home. The Web site features sections such as “Rodent updates around the globe” and hosts profiles of inter-national rodent experts, feature articles, and publications on rodent biology and manage-ment. Upcoming events such as conferences and workshops, and research opportunities for students, are posted. Recommendations for ecologically based rodent management in low-land rice ecosystems are available.

So, if you’re a rodent expert or enthusiast, check out this site and send your contributions to Grant Singleton ([email protected]) and Trina Mendoza ([email protected]). Let us know what’s happening (rodent-wise) in your neck of the woods!

Trina Leah Mendoza


Flooding isn’t such a bad thing when it comes to direct-seeded rice.As proven in research funded by

the IRRC and the German BMZ, flooding when done at the right time could actu-ally be an effective weed management strategy.

The study determined the best time to flood direct-seeded rice so that it would work in favor of rice seedlings and against weeds. Flooding has to be delayed for a certain period of time to allow rice seed-lings to germinate, but not too late, though, for it to be effective against weeds.

The flood tolerance of two direct-seeded rice genotypes, the high-yielding modern cultivar IR42 and the traditional variety Khao Hlan On, and two weed spe-cies, Echinochloa crus-galli and Echinochloa

colona, was determined by submerging them at different water levels and at vari-ous times after seeding. Results showed that, during submergence, the two rice genotypes had less reduction in root and shoot growth than the two weeds. Flood-ing 2 days after seeding was the most ef-ficient time to allow germination of rice seedlings; yet, it proved effective enough to suppress weed growth.

Weeds, like rice, have the ability to undergo anaerobic respiration when flooded. When rice is immediately flood-ed after seeding, weeds are able to catch up with the growing rice and compete for nutrients and space.

The research project, titled Submer-gence during germination and early growth differentially affects growth and carbohydrate

metabolism in barnyardgrass and contrasting rice genotypes, is an IRRI-University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) collabora-tive study by Lucy Estioko (senior author), IRRI scientists David Johnson and Abdel-bagi Ismail, and UPLB professors Aurora Baltazar and Florinia Merca.

The research results could serve as a basis for developing water management strategies for direct-seeded rice and in determining flood-tolerance traits that can be used to develop flood tolerance in rice and other flood-susceptible crops. The study was adjudged best paper by the Weed Science Society of the Philippines during its annual scientific convention in March.

Proper flooding could mean less weeds

(From UPLB Link)

The Postharvest Unit and the Irri-gated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) bid good-bye to Carlito

“Caling” Balingbing with best wishes for his new journey as assistant manager II in the Bioenvironment Section of the Ex-periment Station at IRRI. Caling served as assistant scientist-cum-extension spe-cialist, facilitating the spread of post-harvest technologies and out-scaling of new management strategies in Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, and Bangladesh.

His former colleagues will surely miss his contagious enthusiasm and out-standing work ethic.

Good luck, Caling! Fact sheets on rice diseases now available

In the 2009 performance evaluation of IRRI by the Consultative Group on Interna-tional Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the alternate wetting and drying technol-ogy (AWD) promoted by the IRRC received a perfect score of 10. According to the

CGIAR, “this is a clear and mature case with good underlying research and collabor-ative validation, and results moving in different countries with subsequent research being done for more local recommendations.” AWD, a water-saving technology, is adopted by hundreds of thousands of farmers in South and Southeast Asia.

AWD scores a perfect 10

The IRRC Crop Health Work Group (CHWG) has developed fact sheets on each of the eight major diseases of rice: bacterial blight, blast, brown spot, false smut, grassy stunt, ragged stunt, sheath blight, and tungro.

Each sheet provides key points on the symptoms, causal organism, epidemiol-ogy, and management of these diseases. The CHWG worked with IRRI plant pathologists in providing information for the fact sheets. These can be down-loaded in pdf format at www.knowledgebank.irri.org/factsheets/index.php/pest-management.

Sheath blight is one of the most common rice diseases that occur in conventional irrigated environments. An average loss of 6% is caused by this disease.

Nancy C

astilla

16

Volume 5, Number 3September-December 2010

This newsletter is produced by the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The IRRC promotes international links among scientists, managers, communicators, and farmers in lowland irrigated rice environments.

Materials in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the official views of IRRI, SDC, or collaborating institutions of the IRRC.

Editorial and production tEam

irrc Trina Leah Mendoza, Grant Singleton,

Rona Niña Mae Rojas,Jennifer Hernandez

cpS Tess Rola, Bill Hardy

contributing authorS Carlito Balingbing, Donna Casimero,

Rica Joy Flor, Joel Janiya, Ruben Lampayan,

Bas Bouman

Please direct further correspondence, comments, and contributions to

Trina Leah MendozaSenior Communication Specialist

International Rice Research InstituteDAPO Box 7777

Metro Manila, PhilippinesEmail: [email protected]

Web: www.irri.org/irrc

Public-private partnerships push for AWD in Bangladesh

A rice field in the municipality of Bay, Laguna, Philippines. IRRI Photo

ripple sep dec 2010

Documents