ripple oct dec 2007

8/2/2019 Ripple Oct Dec 2007

1/20Ripple October-December2007

RIPPLE is produced by the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) with support from the Swiss Agency for DevelopmentCooperation (SDC). The IRRC promotes international links among scientists, managers, communicators, and farmers in lowland irrigrice environments.

April 2006, Vol. 1, No. 2

www.irri.org/irrc/

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

October-December 2007, Vol. 2, No

International Rice Research Institute

RIPPLE revisits IRRCs Phase 3

Alot has happened for the

Irrigated Rice ResearchConsortium (IRRC) over

the past years, especially the many

successes and breakthroughs for

the 11 countries where the IRRC

operates. As 2007 draws to a close

and ushers in 2008, the final year of

IRRC Phase 3, RIPPLE takes a look

back at the events and activities that

have taken place in each country.

Swiss Agency for Developmand Cooperation SDC


2/20

2Ripple October-December 2007

> continued on page 3

Rice is life in Bangladesh

For 148 million

Bangladeshis, rice

provides on average

75% of their daily calorie

intake. Just as importantly,

agriculture employs about

65% of the workforce. In

rural communities, income

from rice still significantly

determines the level of

secondary schooling reached.

In the districts of Rang-

pur and Dinajpur in northernBangladesh, the rural poor

face famine in October and

November because of sea-

sonal scarcity of agricultural

employment. In Rangpur,

about 50% of the 600,000

households face hunger dur-

ing this period, which in Ben-

gali is known as monga. Half

of these households that face

severe hunger consume only

one meal a day for 47 days a

week during monga. To try to

alleviate some of this hard-

ship, the Bangladesh Rice Re-

search Institute (BRRI), local

nongovernment organizations

(NGOs), and the Irrigated

Rice Research Consortium

(IRRC) have collaborated

to increase the livelihood

options available to farmers

through rice cultivation.

Direct-seeded rice andweed managementDr. M.A. Mazid, an

agronomist of the BRRI,

and Dr. David Johnson, a

weed scientist of the Interna-

tional Rice Research Institute

(IRRI), have worked together

with funding from the IRRC

to verify the potential of di-

rect-seeded rice (DSR) as an

option to transplanted rice in

different cropping systems. In

Bangladesh, direct seeding al-

lows the crop to be harvested

earlier, because the crop dura-

tion is shorter than for trans-

planted rice and, often, DSR

can be established earlier

than transplanted rice as it is

not necessary to puddle the

land. Initially, DSR became a

research focus because, as put

succinctly by Dr. Johnson, It

takes about 500 millimeters

of cu-

mulative

rainfall for

a farmer

to be able

to estab-

lish a rice

crop through transplanting.

If farmers direct-seed, they

can establish the crop fromabout one-third of that.

By direct seeding, farm-

ers can avoid the hardships of

2003, 2004, and 2005, when

the monsoon rains arrived so

late that a crop could not be

established in time. So, the

timing of crop establishment

is the key (see The Direct

Approach, Rice Today,

April-June 2006). The earlier

harvest increases the chance

that there will be sufficient

soil moisture and rainfall to

grow a second crop such as

chickpea, maize, potato, or

vegetables. Further, labor is

in high demand at the plant-

ing stage of the crop and costs

therefore escalate. DSR helps

reduce the labor required

for crop establishment and

even out the labor demand by

providing job opportunities

over a longer

period.

A major

constraint to

growing DSR

is the

increased

weed problems compared

with the more traditional

transplanting of rice seed-lings. To help overcome the

weed problems, current

activities have drawn on past

collaborative work in India

and Bangladesh with the

Natural Resources Institute of

the UK.

Dr. Mazid and Dr.

Johnson have focused on

the benefits and challenges

of different crop establish-

ment technologies and how

these can be integrated into

different rice production

technologies. Together with

the local NGOs, they have

taken their DSR and weed

management technologies to

the poor farmers and worked

closely with them in testingand verifying their potential.

In 2007, the importance

of timely crop establish-

ment through using DSR was

demonstrated not by the late

arrival of the monsoons but

by the massive and destruc-

tive floods that occurred in

late July. Upendra Nathray, a

struggling farmer from Nil-

pharami district, explains, I

planted my crop using a drum

seeder. This is the first time Iused this technology. I planted

my crop early. After 2 weeks,

the crop looked sickly and I

wanted to destroy the crop

and go back to transplant-

ing. I was talked out of doing

this by the local NGO staff

(who work closely with Dr.

Mazid). I reluctantly agreed

to wait another week. And

then the heavy rains began.

The recently transplanted rice

was destroyed by the floods.

The DSR was strong and tall

enough to survive. Now my

crop is the best in the vil-

lage! I am now convinced of

the benefits of DSR and I tell

my neighbors that they, too,

should try this technology.

DSR provides hopefor fighting monga

The early establishment

of a DSR crop using a drumseeder or a lithao (a low-cost

metal plow drawn by two

people), combined with a

shorter duration variety of

rice, provides an opportunity

for crops to be harvested dur-

ing the monga. Recent trials

have shown that the shorter

duration rice saves 2025

days and DSR saves 1015

In Bangladesh, irrigated riceaccounts for 56% of the nationalrice area. Irrigated rice iscultivated on about 6.3 millionhectares, for national productionof 29.7 million tons.

Adaptive research helpsfight famine in Bangladesh

Dr. M.A. Mazid and Dr. David Johnson (second and third from left) visita direct-seeded field with farmers. Direct seeding has helped farmersin Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, in reestablishing their cropsafter floods destroyed them in late July. (Photo by G. Singleton)



Adaptive research...from page 2

days during the rice-growing

season. Together, this means

the crop will be harvested

in mid-October rather than

in late November, providing

life-saving job opportuni-ties for the landless poor. Dr.

Mazid has estimated that 63

person-days per hectare will

be used for the rice harvest.

But the benefit does not

stop there. The early harvest

of the crop means that, in

addition to the traditional

two rice crops, there is an

opportunity for a third crop.

Around Rangpur, potato is

usually followed by maize

being planted in the associ-ated furrows. These crops

provide important income for

the poor farmers and essential

labor opportunities during

the monga for the landless

families, who are classi-

fied as ultra-poor. Some 53

person-days per hectare over

a 15-day period will be used.

Achievements thus farthe importance of partner-ing

In 2007, some 202

farmers have been involved

in trying DSR technology

in six districts in northern

Bangladesh in the T. aman

wet-season crop. These trials

have been established over a

large geographic areathe

sites are up to 100 kilometers

apart. This was made pos-

sible by conducting training

courses directed at trainingof trainers from Novem-

ber 2006 to June 2007. Key

participants at these training

courses have been field staff

from four NGOsInter-Co-

operation (IC), Uday Uonkar

Seba Songstha (USS), Gra-

men Atto Unnyon Songstha

(GAUS), and Rangpur Di-

najpur Rural Service (RDRS)

Bangladesh, and staff from

the Department of Agricul-

tural Extension.

The NGO staff

members have been

advising farmers,

and, if they are

unsure about any

issues, they have

immediate accessto Dr. Mazid via

his mobile phone.

Dr. Mazid

and Dr. Johnson

have also advised

the trainers on

seed varieties,

how to maintain

the quality of the

next seasons seed,

optimal application

of nutrients (based

on recommenda-tions that arose from collab-

orative studies between BRRI

and IRRC scientists during

Phase II of the IRRC), and

effective weed management.

This integrated approach has

impressed the farmer groups

that we visited in Augustfor

example, we met with more

than 60 farmers (including 25

women) in Nilphamari and

they highlighted how pleased

they were to receive up-to-

date advice on a systems ap-

proach for growing and main-

taining an early DSR crop.

What next?There are three priorities

for the immediate future:

(i) DSR technology is

knowledge-intensive. DSR

(wet- or dry-seeded) and

transplanted rice each have

their niche in the rice produc-tion system in Rajshahi

Division. A simple decision

tree needs to be promoted (see

box).

(ii) Scaling out of DSR

through NGOs, provin-

cial NGOs (PNGOs), and

farmer field schools (FFS).

The PNGOs provide mas-

ter trainers for FFS. For

example, if the IRRC links

with RSDS, they have staff

directly responsible for 25

PNGOs, which in turn service

100 FFS with 25 households

on average in each field

school. Working through

RSDS can provide access to

50,000 farmer households!

From a research perspec-

tive, we need to develop a

good understanding of the so-

cial and cultural triggers and

blocks for effective transfer of

knowledge-intensive technol-

ogies such as DSR. Our NGO

partners have the expertise

on the best way to present

informationwe will work

closely with them on develop-

ing a communication strategy.

(iii) Quantitative as-

sessment of the economic

and social impacts of the

DSR technologies through

household surveys.

Other IRRC research inBangladesh: watermanagementan emerging issue

In December 2005 and

February 2007, Dr. T.P. Tuong

(IRRI), made presentations

on water-saving technologies

at the BRRIs Department of

Water Management. These

initiatives led to the testing of

alternate wetting and dry-

ing (AWD) and the follow-

ing results were attained:

a) AWD reduced the

frequency of irrigation

without affecting yield.

The water saved was used

to increase the area irri-

gated by more than 10%.

b) The cost of irrigation

decreased, and the depletion

of groundwater declined.

c) The extra cost of

weeding was compensated for

by savings in fuel costs and

from more consistent yields.

In August 2007, Dr.

Ruben Lampayan (IRRC

Water-Saving WG leader) and

scientists of BRRIs Depart-

ment of Water Management

conducted a training course at

BRRI on AWD. As with DSR

AWD technology offers

important low-cost efficien-

cies for the rural poor ofBangladesh. In addition,

there are also promising

environmental benefits. An

escalation of adaptive re-

search on AWD in the rice

fields of farmers is planned

for Bangladesh.

Grant Singleton (g.singletonand David Johnson

([email protected]

Illustrative decision tree for adoption of direct seedingwith respect to favorable rainfed lowland rice CAN FIELD BE DRAINED?

CAN FIELD BE DRY CULTIVATED?

IS Cynodon dactylon orCyperus rotundus ABSENT?

DRY SEEDING

into a seedbed

WET SEEDING

sowing onto puddled saturated soil

ARE SOIL CONDITIONS SUITABLE

FOR LINE SEEDING BY MACHINERY?

IS THERE A NEED FOR I NTERROW

CULTIVATION OR SUBSTANTIAL HANDWEEDING?

ARE ANNUAL GRASSES ABSENT?

IS GOOD WATER MANAGEMENT POSSIBLE?

APPLY HERBICIDE +

LIMITED MANUAL WEEDINGAPPLY HERBICIDE + MANUAL WEEDING

OR INTERROW CULTIVATION

BROADCAST BROADCASTDRILLSEED DRUMSEED

YesYesNo No

Yes No

TRANSPLANT

Yes No

Yes NoCROP ESTABLISHMENT

WEED MANAGEMENT


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Building momentum in Laos

Despite major hurdles,

the Lao Peoples

Democratic Republic

(PDR) is fighting fiercely

against poverty. According

to the World Bank, thissmall landlocked nation,

one of the poorest in East

Asia, is addressing social

inequities and building

stronger capacity to manage

its natural resources.

The International Rice

Research Institute (IRRI)

is one of the international

organizations determined to

help Lao PDR. About 80% of

the countrys arable land is

devoted to rice growing. And,since 1990, IRRI, with finan-

cial support from the Swiss

Agency for Development

and Cooperation, has been

helping improve Lao PDRs

research and training capac-

ity, and pave the countrys

way to r ice self-sufficiency.

Between 1990 and 2004, rice

production increased from

1.5 million tons to 2.5 million

tons, which has been valued

at US$819 million per year.

The Irrigated Rice Re-

search Consortium (IRRC)

of IRRI plans to build on

this success. Current proj-

ects include postproduction,

crop establishment, weed

management, and rodent

management. A new project

on water management is at the

planning stage with activities

already under way through

a PhD project by Randy

Ritzema at the Universityof California-Davis, USA.

Bring in the harvestSince 2003, the Post-

production Work Group

(PPWG) of IRRC has made

its presence felt in the country

where, until then, posthar-

vest problems of rice were

not addressed. Collaboration

started with the evaluation of

commercial hermetic storage

systems in research centersin Luang Prabang, Vientiane,

and Savannakhet. Hermetic

storage improves grain qual-

ity and seed viability because

it maintains the original

grain moisture content and

reduces pest damage (with-

out using insecticides). The

National Agriculture and

Forestry Research Institute

(NAFRI), a government

institution and Lao partner of

PPWG, is now interested in

large-scale hermetic storage

systems for storing seeds.

In 2005, the PPWG

conducted a rapid rural as-

sessment of the postharvest

situation of rice in Lao PDR

to establish baseline data

and identify major interven-

tion points for improved

postharvest management.

In May 2006, PPWGleader Martin Gummert and

his team conducted a training

course on postharvest man-

agement for improved quality

of rice grain and seed in Vien-

tiane. Eighteen participants

from extension systems, rice

mills, and NAFRI learned

about postharvest processes

through computer-based

courses developed by the

Work Group. This was the

first time that researchers,

extension workers, and the

private sector have gathered

to discuss postharvest issues

such as grain and seed qual-

ity. Improved postharvest

management options were

also discussed, since many

rice millers experienced poor

milling quality of dry-season

crops because of the low level

of postharvest mechaniza-

tion. The participants weredelighted about the computer-

based learning course and the

training. Most of them were

eager to use the IRRI Super

Bag, while some asked for a

more specific course on rice

milling and improved milling

technologies. One of the Work

Groups current activities is

evaluating hermetic storage

systems such as the Super Bag

among farmers in Lao PDR.

To assist Lao scientists in

developing national and

export standards for rice, the

PPWG has provided informa-tion on standards used by

neighboring and rice-import-

ing countries. The Work

Group has also formulated

recommendations for the

improvement of the seed

drying room at the National

Agricultural Research Center.

During a visit to Vien-

tiane in May 2007, Mr.

Gummert and his assistant,

agricultural engineer Carlito

Balingbing, met with Outai

Taimany, who previously

attended an IRRC training

on grain-drying systems and

dryer fabrication in Vietnam

in 2005. Mr. Taimany is now

developing flat-bed dryers and

low-cost, farm-level dryers,

and applying his own designs

on dryer technology. He has

installed one dryer for dem-

onstration in Vientiane and

another one in Savannakhet,and is also planning to de-

velop rice mills in the future.

As a service to the

Helvetas-funded ProRice

Project, PPWG members have

assessed four rice mills and

developed business plans for

an export-oriented produc-

tion of organic rice. Hermetic

Super Bags and portable

Dr. Grant Singleton (left) guidesin constructing a trap-barriersystem for catching rats, pestsfor which farmers have the leastcontrol.

Training participants use a pedal thresher at the National AgriculturalResearch Center in May 2006 in Vientiane, Lao PDR.(Photo by G. Claessens)



Cambodias continuingpostharvest quest

Building momentum...from page 5

grain-quality assessment tools

were provided for evaluation

by organic rice farmers.

After participating in a

combine harvesting train-

ing organized by the PPWGin Cambodia in 2007, Dr.

Poudalay from the Savan-

nakhet research station has

imported one small com-

bine from Vietnam, since

labor shortage is becoming

a problem in that province.

In November this

year, the PPWG will

conduct a training activ-

ity on laser leveling.

Protecting rice in theuplands

Meanwhile, the Labor

Productivity Work Group,

led by Dr. David Johnson,

also has activities linked

with IRRIs Consortium for

Unfavorable Rice Environ-

ments. Hillside terraces have

been developed in some areas,

which have considerable

potential to raise productivity.

These terraced areas are com-

monly well developed with

level-bunded terraces that are

either rainfed or may receive

supplementary irrigation from

diverted streams, allowing a

second crop. In 2007, studies

are ongoing to determine the

losses due to weeds and the

principal weed species in theseedbank. Training in weed

sampling and identification

has already been conducted

with the national research andextension staff. Opportuni-

ties exist to extend avail-

able technologies for these

lowland rice areas, including

the use of sheltered nurser-

ies for rice fields that are

700 meters above sea level

to limit the effects of cold on

the second rice crop. There

are also opportunities to

raise productivity through

soil fertility management

and improved cultivars.

Dr. Grant Singleton,

IRRC coordinator, will also

apply his rodent expertise

in the lowland areas in the

upland regions of Lao PDR.

In these agroecosystems,

rats are among the top three

pests of farmers (weeds areclearly number one). How-

ever, farmers rank rats as the

problem they have the least

control over. Of part icularconcern is the impact of rats

on the second rice crop in

these valley floors. Indeed,

in some areas, farmers will

not even attempt to grow a

second crop because of rats.

This forgone loss is an im-

portant constraint to farmers.

One hectare of lowland rice

produces the equivalent of

about 3.5 hectares of upland

rice. If a second crop could

be produced, the ratio would

be 7 to 1 because only one

rice crop can be grown per

year on the sloping uplands.

A new research project

has been developed with

colleagues from the National

Rice Research Program (led

by Dr. Bounneuang DouangBoopha) to validate manage-

ment actions for the first rice

crop to protect grain stores

in villages. These actions

were developed in a previ-

ous study of NAFRI and the

CSIRO, Australia, but have

not been tested beyond their

pilot study. The aim is to

determine the likelihood of

adoption and diffusion of

rodent management technolo-

gies in upland villages. Theproject will also quantify the

effects of rats and the tim-

ing of their damage to the

second rice crop in lowland

valleys. This information will

provide the foundation for

developing a project pro-

posal aimed at managing rats

throughout the year in these

important lowland crops.

Trina Mendoza, Martin Gummer([email protected]), Gran

Singleton, and David Johnson

About 10% of the rice area in Lao PDR is irrigated,contributing to about 13.5% of the national production.From 12,000 hectares in 1990, the irrigated area in2004 increased to 77,000 hectares or by 540%, whilethe yields have grown by 30% (from 3.42 tons/hectarein 1990 to 4.45 tons/hectare in 2004). Total produc-tion from irrigated rice has thus increased from 41,000tons to 341,000 tons, an increase of more than 830%.


In Cambodia, the

Postproduction Work

Group has joined

resources with the Asian

Development Bank and

the Japan Fund for Poverty

Reduction in an International

Rice Research Institute

(IRRI) project called

Improving Poor FarmersLivelihoods through

Improved Rice Postharvest

Technology. The project

aims to demonstrate in

eight villages, four in

Battambang and another

four in Prey Veng, that

improved harvesting, drying,

storage, and milling can help

farmers increase incomes

from their rice harvests

and improve the quality of

grain and seeds throughout

the postharvest chain.

Activities started in Feb-

ruary 2006 with establishing

baseline data and identify-

ing the needs of 382 farmers

and 27 rice millers. In 2006,

project counterparts and staff

from the provincial agricul-

tural extension services weretrained on improved post-

harvest management options

(training of trainers). In the

second half of 2006 and 2007,

farmers in the eight villages

received training and advice

on grain and seed quality, and

safe storage options, includ-

ing hermetic storage, drying,

and milling. All farmers who

The Super Bag earns an additional incomeof US$9 per cropping season for farmersin Battambang, Cambodia.(Photo by M. Gummert)


6/20


Cambodias continuing...from page 5

participated in training activi-

ties received hermetic Super

Bags, and farmers groups in

each village are also field-

testing the low-cost moisture

meter and were provided withscales to check with the scales

owned by some traders.

Some highlights and

indicators of impact follow.

Farmers can now safely

store their seeds without

losing germination for 69

months by using the Super

Bags. This means that they

can sell more grain in the

market since they can reduce

the seed rate. Many are now

asking where to buy the bags.The project also helps farmers

to improve their traditional

granaries for grain storage.

In Battambang, the

project has helped a farmers

group set up a farmer pro-

cessing center that includes

a dryer, a village rice mill,

and a commercial hermetic

storage system with 5-ton

capacity for safe storage.

Farmers benefit from higher

milling yields. The bran, a

by-product from milling that

usually stays with the milleras payment now stays with

the group, and some rice from

the mill is sold as under-

milled rice at a higher price to

health-conscious consumers.

The project imported a

mini combine harvester from

Vietnam and conducted a

series of training and demon-

stration activities in both

provinces. Private contractors

are starting to import com-

bine harvesters from Viet-

nam, Thailand, and China,

which will help farmers to

lower harvesting costs and

reduce losses. In each village,

farmers now receive up-to-

date market information about

rice prices in village, provin-

cial, and Phnom Penh mar-

kets. This information is

posted on village price boards

that are accessible to all

villagers. The information is

collected every 3 days and

sent to mobile phones of the

bulletin board managers.

Farmers increasingly base

their marketing decisions on

the market information andbelieve that they are in a

better negotiating position

because they are better

informed.

Martin Gummer

In Cambodia, irrigated rice accounts for 15% of thenational rice area and is cultivated on about 360,000hectares, contributing to a national production of5.8 million tons.

Malaysia and Sri

Lanka have many

things in common.

In both countries, labor

costs are relatively high,

rice is largely established by

direct seeding, and weeds

cause major problems,

especially weedy rice.

Weedy rice is closely re-

lated to cultivated rice and is

a serious threat in direct-seed-

ed rice. At present, no singlemanagement technique can

effectively control weedy rice.

Malaysia, Vietnam, and

Thailand have the largest

areas in Asia in weedy rice

infestation. When the weed

first appeared in Malaysia in

1988, farmers did not recog-

nize it as a problem and did

little to check its spread, says

Dr. Azmi bin Man, weed

scientist and collaborator of

the Irrigated Rice Research

Consortium (IRRC) Labor

Productivity Work Group

(LPWG). Now, most rice

fields in Peninsular Malaysia

and Sabah are affected, and it

is estimated that weedy rice is

causing crop losses valued at

US$25 million a year on the

peninsula.

Experiments have been

done in Malaysia through

collaboration with Dr. Azmi

and the Malaysian Agricul-

tural Research and Develop-

ment Institute. Main efforts

are aimed at identifying the

amount of yield losses and

determining the influence

of establishment measures.

Awareness of the problem

has been raised through the

production of theBe aware of

weedy rice in Asia brochure,

which has been translated

into four languages. Making

people aware of weedy rice is

an important step, as initial

infestations can be over-

looked, allowing the problem

to become worse. If farmersare aware of weedy rice, they

can check their seed sup-

plies and control the spread.

Yield losses due to weeds

in irrigated rice in Asia are

thought to be about 10%, but

may be higher in areas where

weeds survive early control

measures, particularly in

direct-seeded rice. Changes

Weed watchers unite in Malaysia and Sri Lanka

Private contractors started importing combineharvesters from Vietnam after a demonstration andtraining in early February. (Photo by M. Pyseth)


A Malaysian farmer rogues or removes weedy rice panicles by hand.Other interventions against weedy rice include water seeding, manualor mechanical transplanting, crop rotation, and burning of rice straw.Download the weedy rice brochure at www.irri.org/irrc.(Photo by D. Johnson)


7/20


8/20



ity by promoting IRRC

water-saving technologies

to 5,000 farmers in Bohol.

Training activities were

quickly conducted among

31 water-saving agents and200 leaders of irrigators

associations (IA). Eighteen

AWD demonstration fields

were established along with

hybrid rice trials. In Febru-

ary, Engr. Billy Mejia of NIA

held 19 workshops among

3,000 farmers from 19 IAs.

... as well as LuzonAWD is now widely

adopted in irrigated areas in

the Philippines and sev-eral Asian countries. The

IRRC Water-Saving Work

Group (WSWG) is study-

ing the biophysical (yield,

water use) and economic

performance of AWD in pilot

sites in the Philippines.

Aside from AWD, the

WSWG promotes the aerobic

rice system through partici-

patory testing of farmers in

Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan,

Ilocos Norte, and Bohol. In

Bulacan, aerobic rice was

introduced in 2004 with the

Bulacan Agricultural State

College through farmer par-

ticipatory research. In 2005,

41 farmers tried the technolo-

gy, followed by 25 farmers in

2006. Yields varied from 1 to

6.8 tons per hectare. Farmers

appreciated the low produc-

tion costs, resistance to water

scarcity, and good eatingquality but expressed con-

cern over lower yields, weed

infestation, and marketability.

(For more on aerobic rice,

read Ripple Vol. 2, No. 3.)

Iloilo undergoes weedmanagement ...

Meanwhile, weeds,

particularly weedy rice, are

a big problem in Iloilo, with

the highest infestation rate

Philippine outreach...from page 7

of 90%. The IRRC Labor

Productivity Work Group

(LPWG) works with weed sci-

entist Madonna Casimero of

PhilRice in the fight against

weedy rice. Dr. Casimero

says that weedy rice has been

a threat since it was first

found in the Philippines in

the 1960s because it cannotbe controlled by herbicides.

Most farmers are not even

aware of weedy rice. Some

farmers think that it is only

a mixture of different rice

breeds, says Dr. Casimero.

To widen the knowledge

on weedy rice and its preven-

tive measures and controls,

the IRRC developed a bro-

chure with Dr. Azmi bin Man

of the Malaysian Agricultural

Research and Development

Institute. (For more on weedy

rice in Malaysia and Sri

Lanka, turn to pages 6-7.)

The brochure has been trans-

lated into Filipino and distrib-

uted to local farmers (www.

irri.org/irrc). LPWG weed

scientist Joel Janiya regularly

visits Iloilo to monitor fields

with weedy rice. He was

also interviewed on a local

television channelin 2006 to introduce

the brochure and

discuss integrated

weed management

and the problem

of weedy rice.

A yield loss

assessment study

was conducted for

wet direct seeding in

Iloilo with farmers

located at the tail-

end of the irrigation

system. Water

control is difficult

and unreliable in

this part of the

irrigation system.

Results showed that,

with farmers weedcontrol practices

(early postherbicide

application plus

selective weeding), yield loss

during the wet season ranged

from 1% to 7%, whereas, in

the dry season, yield loss

ranged from 6% to 45%. This

highlights the importance of

water control in yield loss in

wet direct-seeded rice. There

is a parallel trial in Bohol on

AWD in a farmers field tomonitor weed infestation and

identify major weed species

thriving in AWD fields. This

monitoring is in anticipation

of potential weed problems

that might develop with the

use of AWD.

... and nutrient and cropmanagement, too

The Productivity and

Sustainability Work Group

partners with public and pri-

vate organizations in dissemi-

nating improved nutrient and

crop management practices to

increase the profit of farmers.

The results of collaborative

research with PhilRice before

2005 were summarized in

generic SSNM guidelines

for the Philippines, which

have been available at www.

irri.org/irrc/ssnm since early

2006. Since 2005, SSNM

for rice has been presented

at professional and technical

meetings across the Philip-

pines; and group training

on SSNM was conducted at

PhilRice headquarters, and

in Pangasinan, Iloilo, andBohol. SSNM principles and

guidelines are included in a

new publication of PCARRD

entitledPhilippines Recom-

mends for Soil Diagnosis and

Amelioration, which will fa-

cilitate further dissemination

of SSNM in various sectors of

the agricultural community.

The PSWG provided

SSNM training to field staff

of a large fertilizer company

in the Philippines (AFCFertilizer and Chemicals,

Inc.) in April 2005. The

company used the principles

of SSNM to revise its national

fertilizer recommendations

for rice. The net effect has

been a better matching of

fertilization to the needs of

the crop for supplemental

nutrients, which are markedly

lower in the low-yielding

rainy season than in the high-

yielding, dry season.

Dr. Greta Gabinete,

professor of the West Visayas

State University, developed

locally adapted guidelines for

SSNM with optimized seed

rate for wet-seeded rice in

2005-06 in Iloilo Province. In

2007, she coordinated far mer

participatory dissemination

of improved crop manage-

ment with seed rate, fertilizer

use, and judicious use of zincoptimized for farmers condi-

tions in seven towns in Iloilo

Province. Technicians in the

municipal agricultural offices

and farmers in the barangays

are active participants. Partic-

ipating farmers are taking up

a reduced seed rate because

of increased profit through

more effective use of fertil-

izer and reduced diseases.

PhilRice and IRRC weed scientists MadonnaCasimero and Joel Janiya team up against weedyrice in Iloilo. (Photo by T. Mendoza)

The PSWG visits Iloilos wet-seeded rice fieldsin September, where locally adapted SSNMguidelines have been evaluated.(Photo by R. Buresh)



Zinc has been identified

as an important constraint

to high yields. The needs

for zinc fertilizer are now

being determined through

farmer participatory research.Collaboration has been

established with IRRI plant

breeders in the screening of

zinc-efficient varieties. Future

efforts include developing

strategies to ensure the avail-

ability of quality zinc fertil-

izer at affordable prices and

with optimal management.

The Work Groups focus

is now on using the scientific

principles of SSNM in the

participatory developmentand evaluation of field-level

nutrient and crop management

practices tailored to local con-

ditions. The PSWG assisted in

June 2007 in Bohol in devel-

oping locally adapted SSNM

guidelines ready for participa-

tory evaluation by local tech-

nicians and farmers. The prin-

ciples of SSNM, as developed

for rice, have been adapted

for maize by researchers in

the Philippines working on

a complementary project.

Nueva Ecija bidsrats bye bye ...

In Zaragosa,

Nueva Ecija, a com-

munity-based rat

campaign jointly

funded by PhilRice

and the IRRC waslaunched in June

2006. A year later,

a popularity con-

test (with the person

producing the most rat tails as

the winner) among students

was held in August to sustain

the communitys participation

in practicing recommended

rat management. A whopping

15,149 rat tails were counted

at the end of the contest.

The barangay counciland the office of the provin-

cial agriculturist see the rat

campaign going on a munici-

pal level and soon province-

wide. The IRRC will continue

supporting the campaign as

part of its country outreach

program in the Philippines

and will conduct a qualitative

study to monitor intermediate

outcomes and impacts from

the recently implemented rat

campaign, as a case study

to gain knowledge on the

process of how the campaign

has become successful.

... while postharvestgadgets work!

Hermetic or airtight

containers can help double

the life of rice seeds, main-

tain good milling quality,and protect seeds from pests.

In humid tropical conditions

such as in the Philippines,

seed and grain quality dete-

riorate quickly within 3 4

months of storage because

the grains absorb water from

surrounding air, and storage

pests, mostly insects, ac-

cumulate. In collaboration

with GrainPro Philippines,

IRRI has developed a cheap,

farmer-friendly, 50-kilogram

hermetic Super Bag that costs

Philippine outreach..from page 8 less than US$1.20.

Commercial units with

5200-ton capacity

are also available.

In 2005, Philippine

partners worked with

the IRRC Postproduc-

tion Work Group andVietnamese partners

to produce commer-

cial prototypes of a

rice hull furnace that

can be fitted into commonly

used flat-bed dryers with a

4-ton capacity. The concept

of a rice hull furnace was

developed back in 1996 in

Vietnam as an alternative

to kerosene burners used in

most mechanical rice dryers.

A 4-ton seed dryer, aprototype of the furnace, was

installed for evaluation at

PhilRice, replacing an older

furnace type that was due for

reconstruction. Research farm

laborers gave good feedback

on the automatic feeding and

ash disposal, which reduced

their need to stir the husk and

remove ash in the hot, dirty

workplace next to the furnace

Trina MendozaRoland Buresh, Joel Janiya

and Marianne Samson([email protected]

Tricycle banners were part of the campaign materialsproduced by PhilRice, along with posters, T-shirts,and bookmarks. These materials were developed withinputs from rice farmers themselves. (PhilRice photo)

Tracing IRRC tracksin Vietnam T

he IRRC has

been involved

in collaborative

research with Vietnamese

partners for the past 10

years. Research covers site-

specific nutrient management(SSNM), insect management,

crop establishment,

postharvest management,

water management, weed

management, rodent

management, and integrated

crop management. These

collaborations are indeed

impressive and have

contributed significantly to

the sustainable growth of

rice production in Vietnam.

Postharvest technologiesin Vietnam and beyond

When it comes to out-

reach activities, the IRRC

Postproduction Work Group

(PPWG) has certainly made

its mark in the region.

In October 2005, MartinGummerts team orga-

nized a hands-on training

workshop on grain-drying

systems and dryer fabrica-

tion conducted by Dr. Phan

Hieu Hien, then director of

the Center for Agricultural

Energy and Machinery at

Nong Lam University in Ho

Chi Minh City. This training


The seven participants in the training workshop on grain-dryingsystems and dryer fabrication in October 2005 in Vietnam are nowmaking dryers and dryer components in their countries.(Photo by M. Gummert)


10/20



was a catalyst for the seven

participants from Myanmar,

Lao PDR, Cambodia, and

Vietnam, who are now mak-

ing dryers and dryer com-

ponents in their countries.That same year, the

PPWG, along with Dr. Hiens

team from NLU, produced

commercial prototypes of

rice husk furnaces that can

be fitted into commonly used

flat-bed dryers with a 4-ton

paddy capacity. Rice husk is

a cheaper and more environ-

ment-friendly alternative to

kerosene, which is used in

conventional mechanical dry-

ers. By August 2006, threecommercial furnaces had

been installedtwo for 4-ton

paddy dryers in Long An

Province and one for a peanut

dryer in Tay Ninh Province.

The research team plans

to monitor the commercial

furnaces to check their

durability and the possibility

of upscaling the furnace

design to a rice husk capacity

of 50 kilograms/hour for use

with 8-ton dryers. They also

see the technology being

transferred in the future to

other countries such as Lao

PDR, Cambodia, Myanmar,

and possibly Indonesia.

Other activities include

the participatory evaluation

of hermetic storage systems

with 5-ton and 50-kilogram

capacity with seed producers

and farmers in the Mekong

Delta, Hue, and Nam DinhProvince; collection of market

information about rice and

rice bran in three markets

in South Vietnam; evalua-

tion of two rice mills; and

testing and adaptation of

the IRRI moisture meter.

The PPWG has also

spearheaded the introduction

of laser-leveling technologies

for rice fields. Better leveled

fields reduce production costs,

Tracing IRRC...from page 9 save water, and lead to more

even maturing and thus better

quality rice. By providing

demonstration equipment,

hands-on training, and advice,

the PPWG had helped NLU

build a team of local laser-lev-

eling experts. The Bac LieuSeed Center also received

support for setting up a laser

leveler and leveling its seed

plots. In the meantime, a

strong interest in laser level-

ing has developed in the pri-

vate and public sectors and, in

collaboration with NLU and

some private companies, the

PPWG is continuing to help

establish the local availabil-

ity of the equipment and the

introduction of the technol-ogy for the farmers benefit.

Looking at impacts innutrient managementwork

Cultivation practices for

irrigated rice vary greatly

across Vietnam. The wet

seeding of relatively short-

duration rice varieties

common in the Mekong Delta

of the south requires very

different crop and nutrient

practices for high yield and

profit as compared with the

intensive cropping of trans-

planted rice, often with

hybrids and typically with the

use of manure, in the north.

Research on the development

and evaluation of SSNM

started in the Mekong Delta

in the mid-1990s, and, in

1997, the research expanded

to the Red River Delta in the

north. In late 2004, research

started in central Vietnam.

This led to the development of

a series of locally adapted

SSNM practices tailored to

specificrice

cultivation

practices,

soils, and

regions in

the

country. The guidelines for

the locally adapted SSNM

practices are available on the

SSNM Web site (www.irri.

org/irrc/ssnm).

The locally adapted

SSNM practices have beenwidely evaluated, promoted,

and disseminated through

provincial and regional exten-

sion initiatives in the Mekong

Delta and in northern Viet-

nam. In northern Vietnam,

farmers using SSNM in five

rice-growing areas increased

their rice yield by as much as

15% during the dry season

and by 8% in the wet sea-

son, realizing a net benefit of

US$150 per hectare per year.

Training on SSNM together

with best crop management

had been provided to local

extension in 11 provinces in

northern Vietnam by 2006.

The national integrated

pest management program

in Vietnam incorporated

nutrient management based

on the SSNM approach into

the curriculum for farmer

field schools, and distributed

50,000 leaf color charts to

farmers and farmer groups in

Vietnam. In August 2007, the

impact of SSNM on farmer

livelihoods was assessed

throughhousehold

surveys of

more than

250 fami-

lies in Ha

Nam and

Ha Tay provinces. This

was done through an in-

dependent consultant in

collaboration with Hanoi

Agricultural University.

In October 2005, through

a planning meeting in Hanoi,the PSWG initiated research

collaboration on integrated

crop management at five loca-

tions across Vietnam with the

aim of better understanding

the scientific principles for

selecting the best possible

combination of plant popu-

lation, water management,

and nutrient management to

increase rice yield and profit

in the major rice-growing

areas of Vietnam. In 2006,

two experiments were estab-

lished on contrasting soils

in the Red River Delta, two

were established for contrast-

ing rice-cropping systems in

the Mekong Delta, and one

experiment was established in

Binh Dinh Province in central

Vietnam. This research draws

upon scientific principles

established through research

on healthy crop canopy inChina. The research find-

ings are now (in late 2007)

being interpreted and used to

guide the identification of bes

integrated crop, water, and

nutrient management practi-

ces for dissemination in 2008.

In central Vietnam,

activities to identify and

disseminate improved crop

and nutrient management

In Vietnam, irrigated riceaccounts for 80% of the ricearea and is grown on about3.4 million hectares, adding tothe national production of 36million tons.

The national integrated pest management program in Vietnamincorporated nutrient management based on the SSNM approach intothe curriculum for farmer field schools, and distributed 50,000 leafcolor charts to farmers and farmer groups in Vietnam. (PSWG photo)



Tracing IRRC...from page 10

practices have been carried

out at a feverish pace since

2005, through the coordina-

tion of Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha,

professor at Hue University

of Agriculture and Forestry.The project has been re-

sponsible for catalyzing the

formation, technical train-

ing, and empowerment of

farmer clubs as a vehicle for

developing and disseminat-

ing technologies. Diseases

and insect pests and nutrient

deficiencies associated with

high seed rates for wet-seeded

rice and unbalanced fertil-

izer use have been identified

as constraints. Activities tooptimize seed rate and ensure

balanced fertilization through

application of zinc fertilizer

and the use of SSNM are

implemented in farmers

fields through two farmer

clubs in Thua Thien Hue

Province, two farmer clubs

in Quang Nam Province, and

one new farmer club in Binh

Dinh Province. One of the

achievements of the project

has been the uptake of a new

seed rate of 3 kg of seed/sao

(60 kg of seed/hectare) as the

new provincial recommenda-

tion for wet-seeded rice in

Quang Nam Province. Zinc

deficiency is now increasingly

recognized as a constraint

to rice production, and some

farmers using zinc with

optimal seed rate and SSNM

have even stopped applying

insecticide and fungicidebecause insect and disease

occurrences have declined.

The project is now partnering

with organizations to ensure

a supply of zinc fertilizer at

affordable costs to farmers.

Scaling up ecologicallybased rodent pestmanagement

Unfortunately, although

some disease and insect

incidence decreased with

proper nutrient application,

rats continue to reign as one

of the top three pests in the

country. Since 2001, scien-tists from IRRI, the Plant

Protection Research Insti-

tute (PPRI), the Institute for

Agricultural Sciences, and

Cuu Long Delta Rice Re-

search Institute (CLRRI), in

collaboration with extension

staff from the Plant Protection

Department (PPD) and World

Vision Vietnam, and scien-

tists from CSIRO, Australia,

have been involved in farmer

participatory action research.

The integration of find-

ings from social and natural

sciences provided an excellent

foundation to develop, refine,

and promote ecologically

based rodent pest manage-

ment (EBRM) in Vietnam.

A new project on sustainable

implementation of EBRM was

launched in February 2006

to sustain the benefits gained

from previous projects. Scal-ing-up of project activities

to government and nongov-

ernment organizations and

institutions in other districts

is the top prior ity for 2007,

with dissemination to farmers

set for 2008. Farmers in these

provinces practice collec-

tive action to control these

pests, such as flooding rat

burrows and setting up com-

munity trap-barrier systems.

Water management teambrings AWD to Vietnam

And, speaking of flood-

ing, water-saving activities

continue to be a high prior-ity in Vietnam. The IRRC

Water-Saving Work Group

(WSWG) and its collabora-

tors introduced safe alternate

wetting and drying (AWD)

in 2005 in An Giang through

seminars and demonstration

fields. The 161 farmers who

used AWD in 2005 increased

to 1,500 farmers (on 1,700

hectares) in 2006. AWD

farmers had, on average, two

fewer pumping operations (to

irrigate their fields) than the

regular practice of continu-

ous flooding, saving around

US$13/hectare. Yields were

also higher with AWD (5.63

tons/hectare) than with the

regular practice (5.36 tons/

hectare). One reason for the

higher yields was a decrease

in lodging (rice plants falling

over), which is often associ-

ated with wet seeding. WithAWD, lodging was on aver-

age 10%, whereas, with the

standard practice, it was 19%.

Lectures and seminars

on water management and

water-saving technologies

have been held, and exten-

sion materials in Vietnamese

have been developed and

distributed to participants.

Plastic tubes used to moni-

tor water depth in AWD

fields have also been given to

participants and farmers. The

WSWG will work with the

Consortium for Unfavorable

Rice Environments to test and

introduce AWD in the moun-

tains of northern Vietnam.

(See RIPPLE Vol. 2, No. 3.)

Weed management workcombats shift in weedspecies

About half of the rice

area in the Mekong Delta is

irrigated with three grow-

ing seasons, and the crop is

mainly direct-seeded. With

direct seeding, reliance on

herbicides is high, resulting in

an undesirable shift in weed

species and concern aboutenvironmental contamina-

tion. The collaboration of

the Labor Productivity Work

Group (LPWG) with CLRRI

has had a strong focus on

changes in weed species and

their population dynamics

resulting from the transition

to direct-seeded rice from

transplanting. This work is

continuing and is the fore-

runner of similar projects

in India and Bangladesh.

The research collabora-

tion on weeds has also

involved the characterization

of weedy rice, management

strategies, and determining

the potential for gene flow

between domesticated and

weedy rice varieties. Weedy

rice was first detected in

Vietnam in 1994. Recently,

the LPWG began a study with

the Plant Protection ResearchInstitute in northern Vietnam

to examine the amount of

herbicide contamination in

drainage waters around rice

areas. This is intended to pro

vide some baseline studies

that will help guide future

practice and policies.Trina Mendoza

Bas Bouman (b.bouman@cgiarorg), Roland Buresh, Martin

Gummert, David Johnson, RubenLampayan (r.lampayan@cgiar

org), and Grant Singleton

On 3 May, Dr. Bas Bouman (IRRI), Dang Thanh Phong (provincial PlantProtection Department), and Le Quoc Cuong (PPD) organized a trainingcourse and workshop on water management and water-savingtechnologies hosted by the Northern Regional Plant Protection Centerin Hung Yen Province. (WSWG photo)


12/20


Myanmar in motion

Myanmar has indeed

been a loyal

comrade in the

amazing journey the Irrigated


(IRRC) has trekked. It wasin Myanmar where the first

Steering Committee meeting

of the Phase 3 of IRRC took

place back in September

2005. The inaugural meeting

was held to provide guidance

and plan activities for the

coming years of the IRRC.

In her concluding remarks,

Dr. Gelia Castillo, a Filipino

national scientist and

International Rice Research

Institute (IRRI) consultant,said that the IRRC is not just

about rice; it is as much about

people and communities.

A national planning

meeting was also held in the

same week, where senior

planners and staff members

of the Myanma Agriculture

Service (MAS), the Depart-

ment of Agricultural Research

(DAR), the Irr igation Tech-

nology Center, the Myanmar

Rice and Paddy Traders

Association (MRPTA), and

Myanma Agricultural Pro-

duce Training gathered for the

first time to discuss con-

straints to and challenges in

rice production in Myanmar.

To quickly start ad-

dressing these rice-growing

challenges in the country, the

four IRRC work groups es-

tablished common sites in the

three major rice-growing divi-

sions. Then, in January 2006,

agricultural economists Are-

lene Malabayabas (IRRC) andZenaida Huelgas (Internation-

al Rice Research Institute)

conducted a workshop on how

to conduct a socioeconomic

survey among MAS staff. In

March and April, Ms. Mala-

bayabas guided these staff in

conducting a series of house-

hold surveys, which will pro-

vide baseline information for

follow-up surveys in 2008.

In the meantime, IRRC

activities continued to takeplace rapidly in the country.

Training courses on inte-

grated weed management

were held in March and

October 2006 in Yangon by

weed scientist Joel Janiya of

the IRRC Labor Productiv-

ity Work Group (LPWG). He

discussed rice crop establish-

ment methods and yield loss

assessment, and introduced

weed management and control

methods. Mr. Janiya also

trained 48 participants from

MAS and the private sector

on sampling and identifying

weeds, preparing a herbari-

um, calibrating sprayers, and

calculating herbicide dosage.

In 2006, MAS and the

LPWG began working with

farmers to explore options for

crop estab-

lishment

and deter-

mine losses

caused by

weeds in

farmers

fields insix town-

ships. The

average

losses from

weeds in

these six areas ranged from

3% to 32% in the summer

season. Farmers also tested

line seeding with a drum

seeder and this was favored

by farmers in some areas.

The IRRC Postproduc-

tion Work Group didntwaste precious time either.

In April 2006, also in Yan-

gon, the Work Group inte-

grated e-learning for the first

time, using computer-based

courses packaged on CDs.

Participants from MAS,

MRPTA, and the Myanmar

Rice Millers Association

learned about postharvest

theories through the e-learn-

ing course. The following

day, Work Group leader and

postharvest development

specialist Martin Gummert

gave lectures on drying

systems, storage, milling,

and grain and seed quality.

That same month, a train-

ing activity on laser land lev-

eling in rice production was

held in West Bago, a collabor-

ative effort among the IRRC,

MAS, and the MRPTA. The

MRPTA, a private organiza-tion, has been very supportive

of IRRC activities. From

November 2005 to 2006,

the MRPTA and the IRRC

conducted a market survey to

study price trends and factors

determining them, fluctua-

tions, and consumers prefer-

ences in choosing rice variet-

ies. And, as a result of a dryer

training in Vietnam in 2005,

the MRPTA has installed

more than 24 dr yers for seven

farmers groups and rice

mills since February 2006.

Water-saving activities

have also been making waves

in the golden land of Bud-

dhist temples. Demonstration

sites of alternate wetting anddrying (AWD) and aerobic

rice have been established in

Ayeyarwaddy, West Bago,

Sagaing, and Mandalay.

Water scientist and IRRC

Water-Saving Work Group

leader Ruben Lampayan

happily reported that, after a

year, areas with scarce water

resources such as central and

upper Myanmar showed high

potential in adopting AWD

and aerobic rice varieties.

(See RIPPLE Vol. 2, No. 3.)

Myanma farmers have

also been getting their hands

dirty learning about nutrients

and mat nurseries from soil

scientist Marianne Samson of

the IRRC Productivity and

Sustainability Work Group

(PSWG). She visited Myan-

mar three times in 2006 and

once in 2007 to examine

collaborative activities andtrain research and extension

staff on using site-specific

nutrient management (SSNM)

and preparing a modified mat

nursery (See RIPPLE Vol. 1,

No. 3).

Guidelines were devel-

oped for a modified SSNM

practice with optimal use of

low fertilizer inputs tailored


Staff from the Myanma Agriculture Service and the private sectorattended two training courses in 2006 on integrated weed manage-ment held by the LPWG. (Photo by J. Janiya)

The PPWG first tested its postharvest e-learningcourse in Myanmar in April 2006, followed by hands-on training on drying systems, storage, milling, andgrain and seed quality. (Photo by G. Claessens)



to local conditions. This

SSNM practice was evaluated

and disseminated in 2006-07

through on-farm trials in 14

townships across major rice-

growing areas of the country.A booklet on SSNM for rice

was translated and published

in 2007. The PSWG continued

to integrate SSNM with

component technologies for

improved crop establishment.

Local partners are being

trained on improved crop and

nutrient management by the

PSWG.

Myanmar...from page 12 And it doesnt stop there.

All four IRRC work groups

are now working together and

planning to develop dem-

onstration sites featuring a

combination of technologies.

These activities are being

coordinated nationally by the

IRRC Myanmar Outreach

Program, led by U Hla Myo,

general manager of the MAS

Extension Division, and U

Than Aye, deputy director

general of the Agricultural

Planning Department. At

the state and division levels,

these technologies will be

carried out by the private

sector (through the MRPTA)

and new farmer associations.

Myanma leadership

and the IRRC have already

plotted out the 2008 game-

plan. In a February 2007

workshop between IRRC

and MAS, current structures

in the research-extension

interface were reviewed, and

seven recommendations were

developed for consideration

of the director general of

agricultural planning. The

workshop aimed to develop

a better understanding ofpathways whereby mature

technologies can be shared

with farmers in 2008.

From the looks of things,

the Myanmar-IRRC tandem is

on the right track.

Trina Mendoza, DavidJohnson, and Roland Buresh

Irrigated rice in Myanmar is cultivated on about3.2 million hectares, which is half of thenational rice production area. It contributes toa national production of 20 million tons.

Intensive production gains in India

Rice is the staple food

of about 65% of

the total population

in India, the second most

populous country in the

world. But, like many rice-

growing countries, farmers

in India have problems with

water scarcity, weeds, and

nutrient management.

The promise of aerobicrice

Signs of water scarcity

are already evident in Indias

agricultural areas. Because of

overpumping of groundwater

for agriculture and household

use, the water table (top layer

of groundwater) is dropping

and thus greatly affecting

the long-term sustainabil-

ity of water resources forfood production. With the

alarming threat of water

scarcity, scientists from the

International Rice Research

Institute (IRRI) and national

partners have begun research

activities on aerobic rice

with farmers to solve this

problem. The Irrigated Rice

Research Consortium (IRRC)

and the Challenge Program

on Water and Food (CPWF)

are two programs that sup-

port research activities in

India through the Water

Technology Centre (WTC)

of the Indian Agricultural

Research Institute (IARI).

The WTC has been

working with farmers in

Bulandshar, Uttar Pradesh,

where they use a rice-wheat

cropping system. During

the wet season, they test the

performance of potential

aerobic rice varieties. They

choose varieties based on

yield, water savings, and

farmers preference (which

includes eating quality and

marketability of the variety).

Pusa Sugandh 3 and Pusa

Rice Hybrid 10 were variet-

ies that performed well under

aerobic conditions in the ex-periment field. Water savings

of about 60% were observed

and yields rivaled that of

puddled transplanted paddy.

However, farmers who tried

growing aerobic rice usually

encountered weed problems.

Benefits of direct seedingSystems of transplanting

rice into puddled fields give

rice a size advantage over any

germinating weeds, and the

subsequent flooding of the

soil suppresses most weed

growth. Transplanting,

however, requires substantial

labor, and, as labor increases,

direct seeding of rice offers

an alternative. Weeds are a

major constraint to direct

seeding, as rice and weedsemerge together. High yield

losses may occur if control

measures are not effective. In

direct-seeded rice, dry rice

seeds can be sown directly

into dry or moist nonpuddled

soil (dry direct seeding as

used in aerobic rice) or

pregerminated rice seeds can

be sown into puddled soil (wet

direct seeding).

In India, concern about

the sustainability of rice

production systems has been

raised due to the impact of

puddling on the soil structure

and groundwater depletion

caused by pumping for

irrigation. Dry direct seeding

can address some of these

concerns. Options with either

conventional dry tillage orzero tillage (no cultivation)

have been developed with

farmers and researchers and

are being promoted by the

IRRC Labor Productivity

Work Group (LPWG) and its

partners in rice-wheat areas.

Studies by the LPWG

showed that crop performance

and weed populations are

affected by different crop> continued on page 14

Behind the farmers is Apo variety, a promising aerobicrice variety that was planted in October 2006 and isperforming well in Indian soil. (Photo by C. Kreye)


14/20


establishment and weed

management practices. Rice

yield with direct seeding

can be achieved that is as

good as or better than that

of transplanted rice, butgreater attention needs to be

given to weed management.

Many farmers are now

testing direct seeding and

gaining confidence with the

options. In Uttarakhand,

where the work started in

2002, only a few fields were

directly seeded. Now, in 2007,

more than 100 farmers are

growing direct-seeded rice.

Farmers see quick, visible

eco-nomic

ben-

efits.

Direct

seed-

ing

can also save 20% of the

overall labor needed for

transplanting and reduce

irrigation costs by 30%.

Further, direct-seeded rice

can mature 1015 days ear-

lier than a transplanted crop,

which allows earlier sowing

of wheat and higher yields.

Wet direct seeding also

helped farmers in West

Bengal who were severely

affected by flooding this year.

Farmers were able to establish

rice by wet direct seeding

after their transplanted rice

and nurseries were lost to the

flood waters. Many of these

areas were resown with someof the drum seeders that had

been recently distributed

through projects and non-

government organizations.

Researchers are now

working with farmers who are

direct seeding to gain a great-

er understanding of their in-

formation needs and decision-

making, which will guide the

development of information

sources and enable constraints

Intensive ...from page 13 to be overcome. Research-

ers are also monitoring the

changes in weed species that

occur in farmers fields and

in experiments to identify po-

tential threats and anticipate

difficulties in future work.

Gains in nutrient andcrop management

Low soil fertility is

widespread in irrigated rice

areas of India as a result of

long-term intensive cultiva-

tion with imbalanced use of

nutrient inputs, resulting in

the mining of some essential

nutrients from the soil and

the depletion of soil fertil ity.

Research on the development

andevalua-

tion of

site-

specific

nutrient

man-

agement (SSNM) started in

the Cauvery Delta of Tamil

Nadu in collaboration with

Tamil Nadu Agricultural

University (TNAU) in the

mid-1990s. In the late 1990s,

the research expanded to the

rice-wheat system in northern

India through collaboration

with GB Pant University of

Agriculture & Technology.

On-farm trials conducted

in the Cauvery Delta from

2001 to 2004 confirmed

consistent increases in grain

yield and profit with the use

of locally adapted SSNM

practices compared with the

existing fertilizer practices

of farmers. SSNM included

reduced use of nitrogen (N)fertilizer within 2 weeks

after transplanting when crop

growth was slow and the

need for N was small; better

matching of N fertilizer use

within the growing season

to the needs of the crop for

supplemental N as determined

with a leaf color chart (LCC);

and application of phosphorus

(P) and potassium (K) fertil-

izer tailored to the location-

specific needs of the crop.In trials across 25 farmers

fields for four seasons, the

improved management of N

alone increased net profit by

US$4868/hectare/crop in

the Old Cauvery Delta and by

$3233 in the New Cauvery

Delta. The research clearly

showed that the existing K

fertilizer recommendation

and use by farmers were in-

sufficient in the New Cauvery

Delta. Further increasing

K fertilizer use increased

profit by $36/hectare/crop

in the New Cauvery Delta.

Focused group dis-

cussions with SSNM and

non-SSNM farmers in the

Cauvery Delta revealed sig-

nificantly less pesticide use

by SSNM farmers. SSNM did

not reduce the costs for fertil-

izer or labor, but it markedly

altered the timing of N fertil-

izer and increased the use of

K fertilizer. The annual netfinancial benefit for the two

rice seasons per year aver-

aged $168/hectare higher for

SSNM farmers, largely be-

cause of increased rice yields.

Locally adapted SSNM

practices continued to be

promoted by TNAU from

2005. During 2005-06, 295

demonstration trials were

conducted in farmers fields

across the Cauvery Delta.

The grain yield increasebecause of SSNM ranged

from 0.34 to 1.07 tons/hect-

are, with an average of 0.75

ton/hectare. Farmers real-

ized additional profits of

$50140/hectare per season.

Meanwhile, the needs

for N, K, and sulfur (S)

continued to be assessed in

farmers fields across north-

ern India. Collaboration

was established with Punjab

Agricultural University in

2007 to formulate options

that give farmers greater

flexibility in implementing

improved N management.

The PSWG aims to

increase awareness of the

SSNM approach and the

opportunities it provides for

tailoring fertilizer use to

field-specific needs of rice;

ensuring use of N, P, K, and

S in optional amounts andratios; and reducing the oc-

currence and development of

rice diseases and insect pests.

A second edition ofRice: a

practical guide to nutrient

managementwas published

in 2007. It will be translated

for distribution in India.

Trina Mendoza, DavidJohnson, and Roland Buresh

India has the largest rice area of anycountry in the world. Its irrigated riceaccounts for 54% of the national ricearea, which is about 24 million hectares.Each year, irrigated rice contributes tothe countrys rice production of 72.66million tons.

SSNM in the Cauvery Delta reduced the incidence of pests anddiseases for rice. Through demonstration trials in 2005-06, farmersrealized added profits of US$50-140 per hectare per season, about$100 per hectare per season using SSNM. (Photo by R. Rajendran)




Strengthening ties with Indonesia

O

ver the past decade,

the Irrigated Rice

Research Consortium

(IRRC) has developedstrong partnerships with

national agricultural research

and extension systems

(NARES) in Indonesia. It

currently has collaborative

research on postproduction,

nutrient management,

crop establishment,

and ecologically based

management of weeds

and rodents. Research

on water management is

planned to begin in 2008.

The development of

mature technologies in site-

specific nutrient management

(SSNM), postproduction, and

rodent management formed

the foundation for the devel-

opment of an IRRC Country

Outreach Program (ICOP) in

December 2006. The ICOP

is a national initiative led by

the Indonesian Center for

Agricultural Technology andDevelopment (ICATAD; has

national mandate for valida-

tion and subsequent extension

of new agricultural tech-

nologies) and the Indonesian

Center for Rice Research

(ICRR; has national mandate

for research and knowledge

management on rice). The

ICOP has provided a focal

point for the IRRC to respond

to, and link with, initiatives

by the government of Indone-

sia such as the development

of agricultural business units

at district levels throughoutIndonesia as an entry point

for demonstrations of new

technologies (Prima Tani) and

the national Rice Production

Increase Program (P2BN).

The IRRC has played a

pivotal role in two national

initiatives developed in 2007.

The first is on the dissemina-

tion of SSNM through the

development of a technical

team with a mandate for

facilitating the dissemination

of SSNM for rice within the

framework of integrated crop

management. This is an

exciting initiative that

includes ICRR and ICATAD

with the IRRC Productivity

and Sustainability Work

Group leader, Dr. Roland

Buresh, as an advisor. It

builds on a Ministry of

Agriculture decree for the

national extension of site-specific fertilization of rice

announced in 2006. The

technical team will oversee

the following activities:

(i) development of

promotional materials in the

local language for a standard

SSNM recommendation for

rice;

(ii) demonstration and

elaboration of the SSNM

approach in major rice-grow-

ing provinces (especially

West Java, Central Java, East

Java, North Sumatra, and

South Sulawesi) throughthe Prima Tani initiative;

(iii) working through the

Assessment Institutes for

Agricultural Technologies

(AIAT) at the provincial and

district levels, and the local

agricultural government

agencies (e.g., Dinas Perta-

nian) in all major rice-

growing

provinces to

develop

guidelines

and training

materials

harmonized

to province-

and distr ict-level needs.

The second initiative

was the holding of a national

workshop on hermetic stor-

age, which led to the develop-

ment of an expert team with

a national focus. The IRRC

Postproduction Work Groupleader Martin Gummert is an

advisor to this expert team.

In addition to these

national initiatives, provin-

cial initiatives that have an

adaptive research focus have

been established. This is a

bottom-up approach, in which

researchers and extension

agencies have developed a

program of activities based

on the important needs of and

constraints to rice production

identified by farmer groups.

New projects in South Su-

matera, South Sulawesi, and

Southeast Sulawesi facilitate

learning and adaptive man-

agement for irrigated rice.

The IRRC aims to increaseefficiency of rice production

by 10% through matching

crop management technolo-

gies with farmers needs.

Given the variability in

the biophysical and social en-

vironment across the provinc-

es, a necessary precursor to

adoption is that the adaptive

integrated crop management

package be flexible enough to

meet the needs and require-

ments of local farmers, butstill general enough to allow

future scaling out for sustain-

able and widespread adoption

Using a social anthropologica

platform, we will develop a

strong understanding of the

economic, social, and cul-

tural factors that influence the

farm-level adoption process.

An important

output of

these stud-

ies will be

the identi-

fication of

technological

limitations

that affect the adoption and

adaptation of technologies.

This approach has

required the assembly of

multistakeholder teams that

span research to extension

at the provincial level, to

extension and outreach at thesubdistrict orkabupaten level

The team includes research-

ers from the ICRR, IRRI, and

local universities, extension

specialists from AIATs and

Dinas Pertanian in each of

the provincial headquarters,

and extension staff at the

district and subdistrict levels.

In Indonesia, irrigated riceaccounts for 61.75% of the

national rice area, cultivatedon about 4.8 million hectares.It adds to the countrys riceproduction of 54.45 milliontons.

About 30,000 people attended the national farmers field day in Julyin Palembang, where IRRC technologies were on display.


16/20


Strengthening ties...from page 15

The lead technologies

are direct seeding, nutrient

management, hermetic grain

storage to reduce postharvest

losses and maintain grain

quality, and ecologicallybased weed and rodent man-

agement. Water management

technologies such as alternate

wetting and drying are in

their infancy in Indonesia.

Plans are in place to develop

field trials to validate this

technology in those prov-

inces where water availabil-

ity is a major constraint.

Ecologically based rodentmanagementIndonesiais a leader in SE Asia

Rodents are the number-

one preharvest pest in

Indonesia. Losses on average

are 17% per year. To put this

into perspect ive, a loss of 17%amounts to enough rice to

feed 25 million people for a

year. The ICRR rodent

laboratory is a leader in

rodent management in

Southeast Asia. Through

linkages with IRRI and

scientists in Australia, they

have developed a good

understanding of the popula-

tion ecology of

specific rodent

species, leading

to effective

community

methods of

control that are

simple to applyand environment-

friendly. Village-

scale field trials

in the lowland

irrigated rice

crops in Java in Indonesia

resulted in a 50% reduction in

the use of chemical rodenti-

cides and increased yields by

about 0.5 ton/hectare. The

ICRR rodent specialists are

linking with the IRRC in the

adaptive research projects in

Sumatra and Sulawesi.

Story and photosby Grant Singleton

Work groups pushforward in China

Although China is the

worlds largest rice

producer, accounting

for 3235% of total world

production, it is also the

most populous country in

the world, with about 13

million people added to the

population each year. Two of

the countrys main concerns

in rice production nationally

are how to increase rice

productivity to ensure the

nations food security and

how to find varieties that

can cope with the looming

water shortage. The Irrigated


(IRRC) has two work

groups in place in China tohelp national partners find

solutions to these problems.

Taking fertile steps toproductivity andsustainability

Farmers in China com-

monly use high rates of

nitrogen (N) fertilizer, which

is usually not used efficiently

by the crop. The high use of

N fertilizer often results in

luxuriant vegetative growth,

which can increase the sus-

ceptibility of rice to diseases

and insect pests and lead to

high use of fungicides and

pesticides. The excess N could

also leak as a contaminant

into water bodies and escape

to the atmosphere as nitrous

oxide, a greenhouse gas.

Research on the devel-

opment and evaluation of

site-specific nutrient manage-

ment (SSNM) for rice began

in 1997 in collaboration with

Professor Guanghuo Wang at

Zhejiang University. Based

on the promising results,

research on SSNM started

in 2001 in Jiangsu, Hunan,and Guangdong provinces,

and later started in Hubei

and Heilongjiang provinces.

After 2 years of experi-

ments in Jiangsu, Hunan, and

Guangdong, SSNM was

shown to be superior to

farmers traditional fertilizer

practices, producing 510%

more grain yield with 2030%

less N fertilizer. Disease and

insect incidence was lower,

especially for leaf roller,

sheath blight, and brown

planthopper, and pesticide

use could be reduced. Lodg-

ing, or rice plants falling

over, also decreased.

In 2003 and 2004, Profes-

sor Ruifa Hu of the Center for

Chinese Agricultural Policy

(CCAP), Chinese Academy

of Sciences, collaborated

with partners in Guangdong,

Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangsuin farmer participatory

research for on-farm testing

of improved N fertilization

in 14 villages. Among 514

farmers, 95% were willing

to adopt either a standard

or locally modified SSNM,

while 76% were willing to

conduct experiments using

either of the technologies.

As compared with tradi-

tional fertilizer practices,

SSNM and modified SSNM

raised yields slightly by 0.2

ton/hectare using signifi-

cantly less N fertilizer and no

increase in labor input.

The extension of SSNM

continues across six provinces

through partnerships within

the provinces. In addition, the

principles of SSNM for rice

were incorporated into a na-

tional initiative on improved

fertilization led by ProfessorZhang Fusuo at China Agri-

cultural University (CAU),

and which included partners

working on SSNM from the

six provinces. The Productiv-

ity and Sustainability Work

Group (PSWG) continues to

collaborate with CCAP and

CAU in building harmoniza-

tion on improved nutrient


Dr. Shaobing Peng (left),an IRRI crop physiologist,is a major contributor tothe introduction andspread of SSNM in China.(Photo by NongrongHuang)



conducted in 1999-2000 at

sites in irrigated lowland ar-

eas in China (Hubei) and the

Philippines (Nueva Ecija) tocompare continuously flooded

fields with AWD fields. By

keeping the rice field alter-

nately flooded and drained,

5387 millimeters (1316%)

of irrigation water was saved

without affecting grain yield

significantly (7.2 to 8.7 tons/

hectare). Water productivity

was significantly higher in

AWD conditions than in the

flooded field in two out of

three experiments, indicating

higher resource-use efficiency

of water. (For more on aero-

bic rice and AWD in China,

read RIPPLE Vol. 2, No.3.)

With SSNM, aerobic rice

and AWD, rice product ion in

China has better chances of

increasing yields to meet the

growing consumption

demand.Trina Mendoza

Bas Bouman, and Roland Buresh

are, compared with $442 for

flooded rice, $301 for maize,

$133 for soybean, $715 for

peanut, and $652 for cotton.When water is too scarce to

grow flooded rice, aerobic

rice was an attractive option

and yield targets of 6 tons/

hectare were most common.

The driving forces behind the

adoption of aerobic rice are

farmers wishes to grow their

own rice and labor shortage

(aerobic rice requires less

labor than flooded rice).

In the temperate climate

of northern China, IRRC

research focuses on improved

management practices,

characterizing and mapping

extrapolation domains, and

impact assessment. More

studies are needed on im-

pact and adoption to identify

suitable target domains.

AWD is a common water

management practice in

China. Field experiments were

Team

EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION TEAM:Cover photo: Grant SingletonIRRC: Trina Leah Mendoza, Grant Singleton, Jennifer Hernandez, Rica FlorCPS: Tess Rola, Bill Hardy, George Reyes, Juan Lazaro IV, Manny Panisales

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Bas Bouman, Roland Buresh, Martin Gummert, JoelJaniya, David Johnson, Ruben Lampayan, Marianne Samson

Farmers appreciated the low productioncosts, resistance to water scarcity, andgood eating quality, but expressedconcerns over lower yields, weedinfestation, and marketability.(Photo by B. Bouman)

In China, irrigated riceaccounts for 93% of thenational rice area and isgrown on about 26.4 millionhectares, adding to thenational produ

ripple oct dec 2007

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