rt vol. 7, no. 1 into the unknown

34 Rice Today January-March 2008 35Rice Today January-March 2008

When I learned that

I had been selectedto travel to thePhilippines andBangladesh to work 

at the International Rice Research

Institute (IRRI) as a World FoodPrize Foundation intern, I was bothecstatic and apprehensive. My closestencounter with rice farming had

 been the steaming bowl of rice t hat

came with my orange chicken atthe local Chinese restaurant in my hometown of Iowa City. I had never been to Asia or seen a rice eld.

The Foundation, like the WorldFood Prize, was founded by NormanBorlaug, who received the 1970Nobel Peace Prize for his work to

 boost agricultural product ion in

the 1950s and 1960s, thus spurringthe Green Revolution and helpingto avert mass starvation at a timeof dramatic population growthand stagnating crop yields.

Based in IRRI’s Social SciencesDivision under the supervision of Mahabub Hossain (then divisionhead, now executive director of theBangladesh Rural Advancement

Committee), I spent the rst few  weeks of my internship reading booksand articles relating to the SeedHealth Improvement Project (SHIP).

SHIP was conducted inBangladesh in 1999–2004 underthe Poverty Elimination ThroughRice Research Assistance project

funded by the

UK Departmentfor InternationalDevelopment.Coordinated by IRRIplant pathologist Tom

Mew, SHIP involvedcollaboration betweenthe Bangladesh RiceResearch Institute,

IRRI, and CABIBioscience (UK).Several local and

international nongovernmental

organizations also played signi-cant roles.

 With around 150 million peopleand one of the highest populationdensities in the world, Bangladesh

must overcome a lot of obstacles tofeed its people. The population of Bangladesh increases by about 2million people each year, meaningrice production must increase

around 300,000 tons annually if everybody is to be fed. SHIP taughtfarmers improved seed selectionand storage practices designed to

increase rice yield and prevent losses.More than 90% of the seeds

planted each year in Bangladeshare retained from the farmers’ ownharvest, and most are of poor quality.

Many farmers simply save some of their harvest, dry it on the ground,and store it in open containers or

 bags. This means that the seed they plant each year is often infested

 with insect s and contaminated with soil and other plant matter.Planting good-quality seed canincrease yield up to 12%; SHIP

technologies and training sought tohelp farmers achieve this increase.

SHIP introduced several

simple methods for improving

seed health, including roguing(removing undesirable plants fromthe eld) before harvest, selectinggood panicles for seed, dryingseed, and storing seed in airtight

containers with additives suchas naphthalene and neem leavesto prevent insect infestation.

One unique aspect of SHIP was its participatory approach to

training women from resource-poorhouseholds. Farmers’ knowledgeand input were used at each step,and this had a profound impact

on the success of the project.Having equipped myself with as

much knowledge about seed healthas I could gather, I nervously boardedthe plane that would take me to

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.I had read that Bangladeshis neversmile, that they eat only withtheir right hand, and that women

 were hardly ever seen in public.

 Adding to my disquiet, massiveoods had swept the Chittagongregion of Bangladesh, causingmudslides that killed more than

90 people, only days before. Allof this raced through my mind asI sat on the tarmac of the Manila

airport. “What have I gotten myself 

into?” I wondered nervously asthe Philippines became a speck in the ocean behind me.

The answer, it turned out, wasthat I had gotten myself into the

experience of a lifetime. While it istrue that Bangladeshis eat only withtheir right hand, almost all of my preconceptions about the country  were completely vanquished. I spent

a lot of time with very bold women,and even more time listening to theBangla language oat around my headas the room broke out in laughter.

 Although we had very differentcultural practices and understand-ings, my Bangladeshi friends andco-workers graciously overlookedmy clumsiness in their culture.

From my supervisors in the IRRIofce to the vendors on the street,everyone I met tried to make meas comfortable as possible.

 After the incredible hospita lity,

 what struck me most was thepoverty. From the beggars on thestreets of Dhaka to the farmerstoiling to eke a living out of 

their land, extreme poverty wasevident throughout the country.

I conducted my research in

two villages in rural Bangladesh

and interviewed 17 women(see box, above), both projectparticipants and nonparticipants.In trying to synthesize my dataand information, I had to accept

the fact that isolating SHIP as adevelopment factor is impossible.The world in which we live isextremely complex, and no singlefactor can be isolated from the rest.

Perhaps the most importantelement of SHIP was its intentionalinclusion of women. By deliberately including both men and women in

the training, SHIP enabled bettercommunication between couples.It not only empowered the women,

 but it also demonstrated to the menthe value of the women’s work.

The importance of involvingfarmers in every level of trainingis summed up in two phrasesfound throughout SHIP literature:“learning by doing” and “seeing is

 believing.” By including farmersin both the research and theimplementation of the project, SHIPensured that its technologies will

not only continue to be used by theoriginal farmer participants, but

 by surrounding farmers as well.

Every summer, the World Food Prize

Foundation sends high school

students from the United States to

international agricultural research

institutes to work with leading

scientists and learn about agricul-

tural development. Here, 2007

intern Anna Johnson tells her story.

unknOwnby Anna Johnson

ito the as Salahar ushers us into her home, I glance at a poster hanging on the wall that reads“The emale o the species is more deadly than the male.” I am struck by this bold

statement, hung so prominently in a rural Bangladeshi household.Married at the age o 13 wi thout any ormal education, Salahar spe aks knowledgably about

her arming system. She explains that, beore SHIP, her amily did not use any special seedmanagement practices. They merely took seed rom their grain supply to plant the ollowingseason. Oten, they would need to buy seed, but would not have enough money. Now, theysell 30–40 kilograms o seed in the market each season or nearly twice the price o paddy.

Salahar not only continues to use SHIP technologies, but she is improving on them. Shewas able to start producing vegetables rom the extra proft rom seed production. Now, she sellsspinach seeds in the market and has applied SHIP technologies to her spinach production.

When Salahar and her amily frst began SHIP, they spent an entire 3 days sorting 250grams o seed. The neighbors teased them or all the time they spent sitting and sortingthe seeds one by one, but Salahar said that her lie started to change with that 250 grams,which yielded 35 kilograms o rice. Beore SHIP, her rice production met only 4 monthso the amily’s need and she and her husband both worked in other households to earnmoney. Now, they not only meet all o their own ood need, they also have excess incometo invest in vegetable production, livestock, andthe education o their eldest son.

Salahar, who manages many aspects o the household and arming system, is veryenthusiastic about the impact o SHIP on herlie. It has stabilized her amily and allowedthem to weather lie’s unexpected storms, suchas when a arming accident cut o some o herhusband’s fngers last year. They had to take a500 taka (US$7.40) loan and sell a goat to payor treatment, but they were able to do this andrecover much easier because o their stable incomerom seed and vegetable production.

slhr 

the author ( far right ) i wi gp f villg w v gd bv n inviw.

a shIP picipn k bk fm inviwing milk fmily’ cw.

the author wi sl, w dmn- iig cnin d.

SHANTAFoyJuNESSA(2)

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