Ripple Apr Jun 2007

Ripple April-June 2007

In this issue…

RIPPLE 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.

April 2006, Vol. 1, No. 2

Waves of action ..............3Guangdong gung-ho on new rice technology

Weedy rice attacks Asia’s direct-seeded rice

Research streams ............5Cleverly cutting costs in CambodiaEffective nutrient man-agement for Iloilo rice

Ripples of change ...........8A rewarding 2006 for IRRC in Myanmar

Saving water for food security in India

IRRC co-sponsors extension workshop with MAS

Book review: Global advances in ecology and management of golden apple snails

2nd IRRC SC meeting held in Indonesia

Profiles .................................13Steering IRRC in the right direction

The weed doctor is in

Publications and ............15 upcoming events

Rice Knowledge Bank and the IRRC: bringing science to rice farmers

www.irri.org/irrc/

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

April-June 2007, Vol. 2, No. 2

International Rice Research Institute

Across Asia, rice has a crucial role to play in achieving

the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Improvements in rice farming will help not only farmers, farm workers, and their families but also the millions of poor people who are totally dependent on rice.

An increase in rice production is strongly needed, and it should come primarily from higher yields from existing rice fields in the irrigated and favorable rainfed lowland ecosystems, as opportunities to increase rice planting area are limited. It is even more difficult to achieve higher rice yields in less favorable agricultural environments. Irrigated rice accounts for about 50% of the global rice area and about 75% of the total world rice

production, and is cultivated on about 135 million hectares of harvested rice area. It produces more than 530 million tons of paddy rice every year.

The good news is that a wealth of valuable knowledge on rice farming exists from the research efforts of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its part-ners. However, if technologies developed by rice research are not effectively delivered to farmers, their livelihoods are unlikely to improve. The challenge is to move this research-based rice farming knowledge from the research centers to the doorsteps of rice farmers across Asia.

Two agents working hand in hand in bridging the research-extension gap are the Irrigated Rice Research Con-sortium (IRRC) and the Rice

Knowledge Bank (RKB). All of IRRI’s research findings that are directly relevant to the extension community are “deposited” in the RKB, much like a real bank’s func-tions. These research findings are supplemented with train-ing and support knowledge that extension agents need to effectively transfer new technologies to farmers.

IRRI continues its efforts to better assemble and pack-age knowledge and training on each validated technology around themes that respond to farmers’ needs. Informa-tion is now being organized using the seed-to-seed cycle.

This cycle provides researchers and extension specialists with an excellent one-stop shop to help them support farmers by

> continued on page 2

More than 2.7 billion people rely on rice as their main source of food. (Photo by R. Panaligan)

2Ripple April–June 2007

1. Designing, conduct-ing, and reporting farmer participatory research—much development in agriculture depends on local research and its on-farm validation.

2. Raising awareness on success cases of up-scal-ing and the skills required.

3. Strengthening their professional skills: a range of computer-based courses are provided, which increase the capacity of officers to manage their time, conduct meet-ings, and design projects.

In addition, the RKB also contains English language support in the form of a 120-lesson introductory course that teaches effective use of English.

The RKB not only includes IRRI research results but also encour-ages countries to showcase their local research findings, adapt research knowledge from IRRI for their own situation, or translate IRRI knowledge into their own languages. Countries out-

Rice Knowledge Bank...from page 1 side Asia, such as several in Africa, have also found IRRI’s validated research-based technologies useful.

The RKB is being promoted widely to all extension agencies, includ-ing government agencies, nongovernment organiza-tions, the private sector, and universities. In addition to the extension audience reached in many countries, masteral and PhD scholars at IRRI and from Asia’s universities and agricultural colleges use the knowledge and train-ing from the RKB to better equip themselves as they continue studies on improving rice research and rice farm-ing. The IRRC, at the same time, also links with country partners to share promising rice-growing technologies and strengthen their capacities. The Consortium also spon-sors students and researchers to attend training courses, thus developing new net-works, which is crucial to an effective organization.

More than 2.7 billion rice farmers and consumers depend on the sustainable productivity of the irrigated

Contributions welcome for rice black bug book

rice ecosystem for their supply of food. And they require information on state-of-the-art technologies so that they can increase their efficiency in rice production. With the partnership between the RKB and the IRRC, farmers can now access this valuable information.

The RKB is a dynamic, living “document” that all agents working in extension can use as their “first port of call” when seeking to provide rice farmers with informa-tion. The RKB, together with the IRRC, will continue to deliver relevant knowledge and associated training to farmers through as many channels as possible so that, as farmers encounter prob-lems, help can be literally just a mouse click away. Through the RKB and the research partnerships between IRRI-IRRC and its collaborators, the essential knowledge needed to improve rice farm-ing is being made available by successfully bridging the research-extension interface.

David Shires ([email protected]), graphics by Lauro Atienza

Scientists from the Philippine Rice Research Institute

(PhilRice) are inviting contributions for their upcoming book, “The Invasive Rice Black Bugs (Scotinophara spp.) of the World: Identification, Biology, Ecology, and Management.”

Editors Alberto Barrion (rice entomologist), Ravin-dra Joshi (crop protection specialist), and Leocadio Sebastian (plant breeder and PhilRice executive

director) are eager to receive country status reports for this book, which will ad-dress globally the problems, current status, and manage-ment of this cryptic inva-sive alien rice insect pest.

So far, they have been getting excellent responses from many rice entomolo-gists and insect taxonomists in Australia, Europe, and Africa. They encourage contributions, especially from South and Southeast Asia, since the rice black bug cryptic species has a com-

plex and confusing taxonomy or classification system throughout these regions.

For more information, email [email protected] or [email protected].

IRRI photo

3Ripple April-June 2007

Guangdong gung-ho on new rice technology

It’s never a simple life for rice farmers. They get up at dawn, toil in the mud

all day, and don’t get home until sunset. And, even with all their hard work, they still aren’t assured a bountiful harvest, with nagging problems such as pests and diseases, less land, less labor, and less water, and more.

But, in Guangdong, one of China’s major rice-growing provinces, farmers have a reason to celebrate. A new, environment-friendly technol-ogy that will help them achieve high rice yields with fewer pests and diseases has received the stamp of approv-al and is now ripe for adop-tion.

On 10 January, the ‘three- controls nutrient management technology for irrigated rice’ was appraised successfully in Guangzhou by an appraisal committee of seven scientists and specialists organized by Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Bureau.

The three-controls technology, developed by the Rice Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GDAAS) and the Interna-tional Rice Research Institute (IRRI), is based on the site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) approach. A series of studies led by Dr. Xuhua Zhong showed astonishing results—increased and stable grain yield, increased nutri-ent-use efficiency, reduced pests and diseases, and a high potential to improve food safety and the environment.

The three controls refer to controlling (1) total nitrogen fertilizer input and

nitrogen fertilizer applied basally and topdressed at tillering stage, increasing efficiency of nitrogen use, and reducing pollution in the envi-ronment; (2) unproductive tillers, reducing the maximum tiller number, and increasing productive tiller percentage and population quality; and (3) the occurrence and development of insects and diseases, reducing pesticide and fungicide use, and improving food safety.

The technology received high scores from the appraisal committee. Both committee members and the officials endorsed its adoption in Guangdong Province soon. They believed that the faster this technology is shared and adopted by farmers, the more beneficial it will be in protecting the environment, improving food safety, and increasing farmers’ income.

In the past, farmers in China have applied too much nitrogen to their rice crops, and, unfortunately, it has not been used efficiently and has even caused some problems.

SSNM’s inclusion in the three-controls technology is a major plus, as past studies have proven its many benefits.

SSNM was introduced in Guangdong in 2001 by IRRI scientists Roland Buresh and Shaobing Peng. After 2 years of field experiments, SSNM was proven more advantageous than farmers’ traditional fertilizer practices, saving 20–30% nitrogen fer-tilizer and producing 5–10% more grain yield. Disease and insect incidence was lower, especially leaf roller, sheath blight, and brown planthop-per. Pesticide use decreased—from five applications in a planting season to only two or three. Lodging, the tendency of weak-stemmed rice plants to fall over, also decreased dramatically in the early-season rice crop.

Beginning in 2003, in a joint effort between IRRI and the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, volunteer farmers from three villages in Xinxing County applied SSNM using the farmer participatory research

Waves of action

approach (see SSNM works in China in RIPPLE Vol. 2, No. 1).

Most of the volunteer farmers produced higher yields with less nitrogen input, prompting their relatives and neighboring farmers to try SSNM in their own fields too. The SSNM fever continued into 2004 and 2005. Training courses and field visits were organized. Farmers who weren’t able to attend the courses learned from those who did. Now, years after the experiment, farmers continue practicing SSNM and, by 2006, the technology had spread to the northern, western, and eastern parts of Guangdong.

With the integration of SSNM into a new three-controls technology that is ready for adoption, farmers in Guangdong, China, can look forward to a healthier harvest of rice with higher yields and reduced pesticide use.

Trina Leah Mendoza ([email protected])

Dr. Xuhua Zhong (standing) discusses farmers’ current practices after the completion of the SSNM project. Dr. Roland Buresh (second from left, sitting) looks on. (Photo by Jiewen Ou)


Weedy rice attacks Asia’s direct-seeded rice

Weedy rice or padi angin (literally, wind rice), as it is known locally in Malaysia, was first detected there in 1988. It is estimated to be causing crop losses of about US$25 million a year in Peninsular Malaysia. (Photo by D. Johnson)

Asia’s rice farmers —already reeling from a host of

problems, including less land, labor, and water to grow the region’s most important crop, as well as the looming impact of climate change —are facing a cancerous new threat called weedy rice.

Just like a cancer grow-ing among human cells, weedy rice grows alongside conventional rice, making it very difficult to see and deal with. In Thailand, it was reported to have infested almost 200,000 hectares of rice in 2005, whereas, in the Philippines, the highest infestation rate has reached 90% in Iloilo Province.

Weedy rice plants are weedy forms of rice that have—in recent years— invaded the world’s major rice-growing areas, includ-ing North America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. But it is in Asia that it has caused the most damage.

The exact origins of weedy rice in the region are still a mystery, although it is believed to be a natural hybrid of cultivated (Oryza sativa) and wild rice species (O. rufipogon and O. nivara), or a result of the degenera-tion of cultivated rice.

It is especially a problem in the direct-seeded rice areas of Asia. Weed scientist Ma-donna Casimero of the Philip-pine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) says that, since it was first found in the Phil-ippines in the 1960s, it has be-come a big problem because it cannot be controlled by her-bicides. “Weed scientists and rice farmers, particularly in Iloilo Province, are all strug-gling to find a sustainable solution but it is a tough chal-lenge,” Dr. Casimero says.

At the crop’s early growth stages, removing wild rice

seedlings by hand weeding is difficult, since they look a lot like the seedlings of cultivat-ed rice. “Some farmers with small farms do manual weed-ing or roguing, and remove the rice panicles by hand,” Dr. Casimero says. “But such strategies are not feasible if the farmer has 3 hectares or more, especially if there is heavy infestation, because the labor cost is too high.”

Dr. Casimero says weedy rice is finally recognizable at harvest time because it tends to be taller, has grains with long awns, and some plants have red grains seen only after milling. “The bad news is that farmers cannot harvest the grains because they shatter easily. To make things worse, the grains left on the ground will germinate when conditions are favorable and produce even more weedy rice.”

Malaysia and Thailand now have the largest areas in

Asia in terms of weedy rice infestastion. “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 weed scientist Azmi bin Man of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute. “Now, most rice fields in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah are affected, and it is estimated that weedy rice is causing crop losses valued at about $25 million a year on the peninsula.” Dr. Chanya Maneechote, a weed scientist from Thailand’s agriculture department, has reported that 200,000 hectares were seri-ously damaged due to weedy rice infestation in 2005.

Once farmers’ rice fields are infested, the control costs for weedy rice are high. At present, no single manage-ment technique can effec-tively control the problem.

One way to prevent weedy rice is to use clean,

certified seed from a known source and then keep ma-chinery and canals free from seeds and infestations. Manual weeding and good land preparation can also reduce initial infestations of weedy rice. Other reported control methods include water seeding (sowing pregermi-nated seeds in water), manual or mechanical transplanting, crop rotation, burning of rice straw in dry rice fields, application of pretilachlor with fenclorim during final land preparation, and higher seeding rates of more than 150 kilograms per hectare.

The battle against weedy rice in Asia has been joined by the Irrigated Rice Re-search Consortium (IRRC) based at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines (www.irri.org/irrc). The IRRC has developed a bro-



Research streams

Weedy rice...from page 4

Cleverly cutting costs in Cambodia

Prey Veng—A new and promising technology delighted farmers,

machine operators, extension workers, manufacturers, local consultants, and government officials during a training and field demonstration on 31 January-4 February. Now, they can reduce their losses and harvesting cost, and produce better-quality rice using a new small-scale combine harvester.

This is good news as

harvesting cost increased recently in many provinces in Cambodia and Lao PDR. Urbanization and attractive labor markets in neighboring countries such as Thailand are causing increasing labor shortage during the peak season. Farmers compete for the same few available laborers for all the different harvesting operations (cut-ting, threshing, cleaning, and hauling) until the rice grains are safe in farmers’ homes.

They now easily pay US$65 per hectare in Prey Veng and up to $70 per hectare in Battambang Province.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has teamed up with Vietnam’s Nong Lam University (NLU) and the Provincial Depart-ment of Agriculture (PDA) in Prey Veng, through a project of the Postproduction Work Group of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC), the Asian Develop-ment Bank, and the Japanese Fund for Poverty Reduc-tion. They aim to transfer the technology to Cambodia and later to Lao PDR to help farmers minimize their rice harvest losses and cost.

Demonstrations were conducted in three areas and attracted more than 150 vil-lagers and potential combine harvesting service providers. On the first day, Prey Veng Governor Ung Samy and of-ficials from the Departments

of Agricultural Engineering and Agricultural Extension were able to view the new technology up close. Field demonstrations and capac-ity-building measures for operators, extension work-ers, and local manufacturers were held. Combine special-ists from NLU and from the manufacturer provided hands-on training on mainte-nance and using the machine, and assisted the local PDA team in demonstrating the combine to key farmers.

In Vietnam and the Phil-ippines, countries facing simi-lar problems, mini combine harvesters are gaining popu-larity among farmers. The harvester was developed by engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton and national re-search institutions from both countries, and was then trans-ferred to local manufacturers. Costing less than $5,000, it


Farmers and scientists inspect a weedy rice field in Thailand. Weedy rice is classified into three different groups in Thailand according to appearance: Khao Hang (rice with awn), Khao Deed (jumping rice), and Khao Daeng (red rice). (Photo by D. Johnson)

The new mini combine harvester can reduce harvesting cost and produce more and better-quality grain. (Photo by M. Pyseth)

chure that describes weedy rice’s traits, the problems it causes, and its preventive measures and control. This brochure is now being distrib-uted widely in Asian coun-tries and can be downloaded from the IRRC’s Web site.

IRRI weed scientists David Johnson and Joel Janiya agree that “A major step toward winning the battle against weedy rice will be to make farmers more aware of the problem, and we hope the brochure will help achieve this.”

In the Philippines, Phil-Rice, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Interna-tional Agricultural Research, has started studies to examine and characterize the biology of weedy rice to develop con-trol strategies. A team, led by Dr. Casimero, has begun sur-veying all provinces in Cen-tral Luzon and parts of the Western Visayas to generate a map showing where weedy rice can be found. Starting next cropping season, they will be testing an integrated weed management strategy

in Iloilo Province involving longer land preparation time

and water management to re-duce weedy rice populations.

Trina Mendoza ([email protected])


can harvest 1–1.5 hectares per day, and consists of a cut-ter-bar for cutting the crop, a small axial-flow thresher, and a built-in cleaner that deliv-ers threshed grains of high purity straight into a sack. This highly mobile harvester needs only three persons to operate, can harvest even in flooded fields, and can be serviced by local workshops.

“Farmers can benefit in two ways from the com-bine,” says Dr. Meas Pyseth, an IRRI consultant based in Cambodia. “First, they can get their crop harvested cheaper; second, they can sell more and better-quality grain because they can reduce the shattering of overmature grain and maintain good qual-ity through timely harvesting. A first estimation showed that local operating costs are around $35 per hectare, leaving a good margin to provide profit to the operator

Cleverly cutting costs...from page 5

and reduce the current high harvesting cost for farmers.”

“This activity is an example of the integrated approach of IRRI’s posthar-vest group to provide rice farmers with options to maximize their profits,” says Martin Gummert, IRRI

postharvest development specialist. “We work with the relevant international and national stakeholders from the private and public sectors to introduce appropriate tech-nologies. We then arrange technology options and capacity building for farmer

Harvesting expert Tran Van Khan of Nong Lam University, Vietnam, explains the combine to Ung Samy (in black shirt), governor of Prey Veng, Cambodia, and to staff of the Provin-cial Department of Agriculture. (Photo by M. Pyseth)

intermediaries. We also encourage support to local small and medium enterprises that will ensure after-sales service to farmers. The result is a sustainable improvement in farmers’ income.”

Martin Gummert ([email protected])

Presenting the International Plant Nutrition Institute

Beginning 1 January 2007, a new global scientific agronomic

organization called the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) starts its operations. IPNI is the former Potash and Phosphate Institute (PPI) and Potash and Phosphate Institute of Canada (PPIC), and a generous donor of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC).

IPNI was estab-lished in late 2006 by a resolution adopted unani-mously by its founding members. PPI’s Board of Directors committed its scientific staff to IPNI.

This nonprofit organi-zation is dedicated to the responsible management of plant nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, secondary nutrients, and mi-cronutrients—for the benefit of families everywhere.

Scientific programs are already established in South America, North America, China, India, and Southeast Asia, with plans to expand to other parts of the world. IPNI’s Southeast Asia Pro-gram, a joint mission with the International Potash Institute (IPI), was previ-ously called the PPI/PPIC-IPI, Southeast Asia Program.

PPI/PPIC and IPI have

played an important role in the development of site-spe-cific nutrient management (SSNM) for rice. Together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the International Fertil-izer Industry Association, they have provided financial support for the development and dissemination of SSNM since 1997. They supported the Reversing Trends in De-clining Productivity project from 1997 to 2000 and the Reaching Toward Optimal Productivity Work Group of the IRRC’s second phase from 2001 to 2004. Now, they assist the Productivity and Sustainability Work Group

in the IRRC’s third phase. The Productivity and

Sustainability Work Group collaborates closely with IPNI’s Southeast Asia Program under Director Christian Witt. One recent outcome of the collabora-tion was the December 2006 issue of International Fertil-izer Correspondent —an electronic publication of IPI —which was devoted to SSNM for rice. The issue is available at www.ipipotash.org/e-ifc/2006-10/index.php.

For more information on the IPNI Southeast Asia Pro-gram, email [email protected] or visit www.ipni.net/seasia.


Effective nutrient management for Iloilo rice

It all started with a sincere desire to improve rice-growing conditions and

farmers’ livelihoods. Greta Gabinete, then a PhD student majoring in soil science at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and a professor at West Visayas State University (WVSU), College of Agriculture and Forestry, Iloilo, thought of how to increase rice yields in her province. “Iloilo is considered the rice granary of region six, and it’s usually second or third in rice production in the Philippines,” says Dr. Gabinete. “But the high production of rice is not due to the high yield per unit area of rice but to the large area devoted to rice production. I saw great potential for improving the productivity of rice in the province.”

She found out that farm-ers did not practice effec-tive nutrient management, and their timing in applying fertilizer was off. They were used to applying fertilizers for crops with longer maturity periods of 100–120 days. If they use early-maturing crops (90–95 days), they still use the same schedule in apply-ing fertilizer. Iloilo farmers were also applying either too

much or too little fertilizer. In addition, the Department of Agriculture (DA) was on the lookout for new technolo-gies in rice production.

With all these thoughts at the back of her mind, she approached the International Rice Research Institute and presented her study pro-posal to Dr. Roland Buresh, her would-be supervisor. Dr. Buresh then introduced her to site-specific nutri-ent management (SSNM).

Dr. Gabinete proceeded with a study on formulating fertilizer recommendations for rice in Iloilo using soil- and plant-based approaches. Hers was not an easy task. Starting in the wet season in May 2005, she encouraged 59 farmers from five towns to participate in her study. They established omission plots to determine the nutrients already present in the soil. The nutrient that is lacking to achieve the yield target dictates which fertilizer to apply. With the help of Dr. Buresh, Dr. Gabinete formu-lated recommendations and tried them out when the dry season came. Only 14 farmers tested the recommendations, while the others continued the omission plots. Finally, after the dry season, they refined

the initial recommendations based on their field experi-ences and created a one-page handout for Iloilo Province. This can now be seen at www.irri.org/irrc/ssnm.

“SSNM, combined with an improved lower seed rate of 100–120 kilo-grams per hectare, increased yields by 0.9 ton per hectare higher than farmers’ prac-tices,” says Dr. Gabinete.

Her study was finished in March 2006, but, since then, there has remained a bigger task at hand. “I felt that I needed to bring this technology to Iloilo,” says Dr. Gabinete. After gradua-tion, she went home with the one-page handout and wrote letters to the DA’s regional director, the provincial agri-culturist, the director of the Western Visayas Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium, and the president and the research director of WVSU, informing them of the new technology and her commit-ment to pass it on to farmers.

In January, she presented the recommendations at the monthly regional technical working group meeting of the DA, where all the proj-ect leaders and provincial agriculturists attended. This

April, she will be presenting SSNM to municipal agricul-tural officers with her UPLB collaborators. In the coming months, Dr. Gabinete will be sharing the technology with Iloilo farmers through field demonstrations and focus group discussions.

Two projects have sprung from her research, in which nutrient management will be integrated with best manage-ment practices. One is a col-laboration with the IRRC La-bor Productivity Work Group. With weed scientists David Johnson and Joel Janiya, she will study the productivity of direct-seeded rice with SSNM, sown using a drum seeder (see RIPPLE Vol. 1, Nos. 1 and 2 for more on the drum seeder) with added potassium and zinc fertilizers.

Another study under development is a comparison of different techniques to determine nutrient require-ments, with Dr. Wilfredo Cosico and Dr. Rodrigo Ba-dayos of UPLB’s Depart-ment of Soil Science.

But first on her list is a trip back to the farmers. “I promised them I would return once I had the recommenda-tions,” says Dr. Gabinete. “And to say thanks.”


Greta interviews a farmer on her ex-periences in using SSNM in her field.

Greta Gabinete teaches a farmer how to use the leaf color chart, a simple, inexpensive tool that measures a crop’s nitrogen status based on leaf color. (Photos by Artyel Gabinete)



A rewarding 2006 for IRRC in Myanmar

Myanmar—The year 2006 may have seemed to

have gone by quickly as the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) and its local collaborators eagerly promoted the use of sustainable, benefit-enhancing technologies to further boost rice production of smallholder farmers growing rice in the lowland regions.

The frenzy of activities kicked off in late January, with IRRC agricultural econ-omist Arelene Malabayabas pretesting a baseline survey questionnaire and conducting a workshop on Socioeconomic Survey: Application to IRRI-Myanmar Collaboration with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) associate scientist Zenaida Huelgas. In March and April, the trained Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS) staff served as field staff, who, guided by Mala-bayabas, conducted a series of household surveys. These surveys provided the baseline information for follow-up surveys in 2008. Together, these two surveys will en-

able the IRRC to measure the impact of its technolo-gies on farmers’ livelihoods over a 2.5-year period.

In April, the IRRC Postproduction Work Group, led by Martin Gummert, integrated e-learning using computer packages in training on Postharvest management for improved quality of rice grain and seed at the Central Agricultural Research and Training Center in Hlegu, Yangon. Participants shared computers and learned about the theories behind posthar-vest processes. In the fol-lowing days, they trained on threshing, drying systems, storage, milling, grain and seed quality, and determina-tion of quality traits using the IRRI grain quality kit.

A training on laser land leveling in rice production was also held in April in Nat Ta Lin, West Bago. This was a joint effort of the IRRC, MAS, and the Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders’ Associa-tion (MRPTA). The Postpro-duction Work Group assists national partners such as MRPTA and local agricultur-

al machinery manufacturers in producing commercially viable drying systems, and also collects baseline and yearly data on rice markets. The group is now focused on evaluating hermetic stor-age systems with farmers and rice millers/traders.

In late May and early June, soil scientist Marianne Samson of the IRRC Produc-tivity and Sustainability Work Group trained extension staff in Kyaiklatt, Ayeyarwaddy, and in Letpandan and Pyay, West Bago, on the modified mat nursery. This nursery ap-proach is simple for farmers to use and provides healthier seedlings for transplanting. She also provided train-ing on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) and the modified mat nursery to regional officers and staff of the MAS Land Use and Extension Division. SSNM is an approach that enables farmers to maximize the ef-ficient use of fertilizers when growing their rice crop.

Nutrient omission plot trials, a tool of SSNM, are being conducted in parts of Myanmar to develop locally adapted recommendations for effective use of a limited sup-ply of fertilizer. These recom-mendations are being evalu-ated in 13 locations in West

Bago, Ayeyarwaddy, Sagaing, and Yangon, with plans to expand to 29 sites this year.

Training courses on integrated weed management in rice were held in March and October, attended by 48 participants from MAS and the private sector. Weed scientist Joel Janiya of the IRRC Labor Productivity Work Group discussed topics such as rice crop establish-ment methods, introduction to weed management, weed control methods, and yield loss assessment. Participants gained hands-on experience in weed sampling, weed iden-tification, herbarium prepa-ration, sprayer calibration, and herbicide calculation.

The IRRC Water-Saving Work Group established dem-onstration sites of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and aerobic rice technologies in Ayeyarwaddy, West Bago, Sagaing, and Mandalay. AWD can lead to a reduction in water use by 25% while still maintaining yields. After a year, areas with scarce water resources such as central and upper Myanmar showed high potential in adopting AWD and aerobic rice varieties.

Clearly, the Myanmar leadership is totally com-

Trainees learn how to set up a low-cost dryer during a postharvest training activity in April. (Photo by G. Claessens)

IRRC researcher Arelene Malabayabas (back row, second from right) trains field and MAS staff on interviewing farmers at the Han Thar Aye private monastery in Theikklar Chaing village, Letpandan, West Bago. (IRRC photo)

Ripples of change


mitted to developing more in-country activities. Happily playing a supporting role, all four IRRC work groups are working harmoniously, with plans to develop demonstra-tion sites showcasing a combi-nation of technologies. The private sector, through the MRPTA, is also on board, and new farmer associations are being established at the state and division levels. These activities are being coordi-nated at the national level by the IRRC Myanmar Out-reach Program (IMOP). This program is led by U Hla Myo, general manager, Extension Division, MAS, and U Than

A rewarding 2006...from page 8

Aye, general manager, Project Planning Management and Evaluation Division, MAS.

The year finished with an excellent meeting of all four work groups and the coordi-nating group led by U Than Aye (MAS) and Dr. Grant Singleton (IRRI), in Decem-ber at MAS headquarters in Yangon. Five scientists from IRRI in the Philippines, 10 scientists from MAS, state and division managers of MAS, and township man-agers participated in these fruitful discussions. Prog-ress of all the work groups was reviewed and activities for 2007 were discussed.

With the flurry of ac-tivities in 2006, let’s hope Myanmar and IRRC col-

laborators have saved enough energy for an even busier and more rewarding 2007.


Saving water for food security in India


Participants from MAS classify weeds in a training course on integrated weed management. Two training courses were held in March and October last year. There are plans to conduct another training course this year. (Photo by J. Janiya)

Water scarcity: a global issue

Water scarcity is becoming more and more a global

concern. With increasing population and competing demands from agriculture, industry, and urban areas, water is quickly turning into a limited resource. This problem is aggravated by abnormal climate patterns and diminishing water quality. By 2025, it is predicted that two-thirds of the world will experience water scarcity. Based on a study of T.P. Tuong and Bas Bouman, water scientists of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), 90% of fresh water in Asia is diverted to its irrigated areas. If the prediction does come true, Asia’s food production will be greatly hurt.

In India, signs of water scarcity are already evident

in agricultural areas. Their water table is dropping due to overpumping of groundwater for agriculture and domestic use, thus greatly affecting the long-term sustainability of water resources for food production. A water table is the top layer of groundwater.

In times of serious drought, water table levels may drop and wells may run dry.

Another problem that farmers are facing is the high cost of fuel, which is needed to run the pump to draw out groundwater. This affects the profitability of production.

Oftentimes, farmers earn less from their harvest as com-pared to their expenses, so some of them are forced to stop growing crops. In some areas, farmers use electric-ity to run their pumps, but the supply of electricity is erratic. The inconsistent sup-ply makes it hard to ensure the availability of irrigation when it is needed by the crop.

Rice as a focus of water-saving initiatives

Rice is the most impor-tant agricultural crop and the major user of available fresh water in Asia. It is one of the major crops in India, and in some areas it is grown subsequently with wheat. The usual way of growing rice is by transplanting in flooded and puddled soil. Rice is

The areas in red will have limited water supply, while the areas in blue will have little or no water scarcity. The regions in orange will still have available water supply, but the costs to obtain water will be high. The shaded regions indicate countries that will import more than 10% of their cereal consumption in 2025.


Saving water...from page 9

grown with standing water throughout the growing season. This practice of growing rice needs a relative-ly large amount of water compared with other cereals. However, most of the supplied water in the field evaporates in the atmosphere or drains deep down and across the soil layer.

With the looming prob-lem of water scarcity, IRRI rice scientists and hydrolo-gists, and partners from the national agricultural research and extension systems, have begun conducting research activities with farmers to control this problem. One of the potential water-saving technologies being studied is the aerobic rice system. The Irrigated Rice Research Consortium and the Chal-lenge Program on Water and Food are two programs that support the ongoing research activities on aerobic rice in India through the Water Technology Centre (WTC) of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).

Working with farmersThe aerobic rice system

is a rice cropping system that uses varieties that can

be grown without stand-ing water (similar to upland rice), but can produce yield values that are only 20–30% lower than those of lowland rice (grown with standing water). Good management practices are applied to ensure the productivity and sustainability of the system.

The participatory nature of the activities guarantees that the system is adjusted to the common farmers’ practice. The WTC has been working with farmers in Bulandshar, Uttar Pradesh, where they practice a rice-wheat cropping system. Wheat is a rabi (dry-season) crop, while rice is a kharif (wet-season) crop. During the kharif season, they test

the performance of potential aerobic rice varieties. Fac-tors considered for selection are yield, water savings, and farmers’ preference (which includes eating quality and marketability of the variety).

Ten rice varieties were tested in farmers’ fields in three different villages. The varieties used were the better-performing ones that were tested under aerobic conditions at the IARI experi-ment station. Pusa Sugandh 3, an aromatic rice variety with relatively high market-ability potential, performed particularly well in this variety selection activity.

Farmers also observed the performance of the variet-ies under different irrigation treatments. In one part of the field, the farmers irrigated frequently to keep the soil near saturation. In another section, they irrigated twice a week (except when it rained) to keep the soil moisture at field capacity (approximately when the tensiometer reading is 20 kPa). In the remain-ing part, irrigation was done once a week to maintain soil moisture at 40 kPa (except when it rained). These treatments were compared with the traditional farmers’ practice. The varieties tested for this experiment were Pusa

Rice Hybrid 10 and Pusa Sugandh 3. These varieties performed well under aerobic conditions in the experi-ment field. Significant water savings (around 60%) were observed and yields were on a par with that of puddled transplanted paddy. However, the common constraint seen by farmers who tried this system were the weeds (Read about David Johnson, the weed doctor, on page 14).

The aerobic rice system produced promising results on its initial year of test-ing. The IRRI’s aerobic rice team and WTC counterparts will continue to look at the sustainability and profit-ability of the system.

Other water-saving technologies and indigenous practices are also being tested in the field to determine the comparative advantages of the technologies. In their fields, farmers have been testing the transplanting of rice on beds. Farmers irrigate roughly once a week, and keep water at a half-furrow depth.

Indian farmers greatly value rice as an economic crop, especially the aromatic varieties. They yearn for cultural practices that can reduce irrigation require-ment and pumping cost. It is important for them to reduce the cost of production to increase crop profitability.

IRRI is very much aware of their plight. With the help of its partners, IRRI con-tinues to develop technolo-gies such as aerobic rice to answer farmers’ concerns. Ruvicyn Bayot ([email protected])

Watch out for more on aerobic rice and other water-saving activities in the July issue of RIPPLE!

Dr. Christine Kreye (right), an international research fellow at IRRI, interviews Dr. Sarwan Kumar Dubey, senior scientist from WTC, and a farmer who participate in the aerobic rice testing. At the time of the visit in March 2006, wheat was still the standing crop. (Photo by R. Bayot)

Cooperating farmers pose in front of an aerobic rice field planted with Apo variety (IR55423-01) in October 2006. This promising aerobic rice variety was tested in the Philippines, and it is now also perform-ing well under Indian field conditions. (Photo by C. Kreye)


IRRC co-sponsors extension workshop with Myanma Agriculture Service

The Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) and the

Myanma Agriculture Service (MAS) sponsored a workshop on the Research-Extension Interface in Myanmar on 28 February at the Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Yezin.

The workshop was opened by U Tin Htut Oo, director general of agricul-tural planning of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irriga-tion. The workshop aimed to review current structures and possible changes in the research-extension interface in Myanmar, develop a better understanding of pathways for the dissemination of mature technologies to farmers, and share IRRC scientists’ knowl-

edge of the strengths and weaknesses of the agricul-tural extension processes of other countries in Southeast Asia. The workshop was at-tended by Dr. Grant Singleton (front row, 3rd from right in photo) and Dr. Flor Palis (5th from right) from IRRI.

Opinions were exchanged freely during the workshop, and seven recommenda-tions were developed for the consideration of the direc-tor general of agricultural planning. The presentations and discussions also provided excellent input into the plan-ning of the IRRC and MAS for sharing of IRRC technolo-gies to farmers in 2008.

Among those who attend-ed were U Than Aye, general manager of the MAS Planning

Division; U Hla Myo, general manager of the MAS Exten-sion Division; three directors (program leaders) of DAR; IRRC in-country work group leaders U Chit Thien and Dr. Myo Kyaw; four township managers from Kyaik Latt and Myaung Mya (Ayeyar-waddy Division) and Pyay

and Letpandan (West Bago Division); and four farmers from each of the townships. The two sessions were chaired by Dr. Kyaw Than and Dr. Tun Saing, vice presidents of the Myanmar Academy of Agriculture, Forestry, Live-stock, and Fisheries Sciences.

Grant Singleton ([email protected])

Book review: Global advances in ecology and management of golden apple snailsEdited by Dr. Ravindra C. Joshi and Dr. Leocadio S. Sebastian

The bright pink egg masses of the golden apple snail (GAS)

are scattered throughout Southeast Asia. They are the iridescent calling card of an important invasive species in rice agro-ecosystems, a species that reportedly causes global crop losses of around US$100 billion. Despite its preeminence as a pest of rice for the past quarter of a century, until now there has not been a single publication that provides a resource book on the natural history, taxonomy, biology, specifi c country

and ecosystem impacts, and methods to control GAS. In a comprehensive and beautifully presented 588-page publication, this glaring gap on our library shelves is now fi lled.

The book has an impres-sive lineup of international writers with contributions on the biology and impact of GAS from 11 countries in Asia and also from North and South America.

I was also interested to read about the detrimental impacts of GAS on natural aquatic ecosystems, mainly because of their consumption of native plants that otherwise

provide an important ecosystem service in ensuring good water quality, and on farmers’ health, mainly through the misuse of pesticides.

I strongly recom-mend this high-quality publi-cation to students, research-ers, and extension specialists. And, in an interesting twist, for those who would like to sample GAS cuisine, Dr. Joshi has compiled an interesting collection of recipes from the Asian region—excuse me now while I go and whip up a dish of snails in coconut milk!

For more information, vis-it www.philrice.gov.ph, and or-

der at [email protected] or [email protected].

588 pages, hardboundDimensions: 7.78 cm x 25.4 cm, weight: 1.6 kgISBN 978-971-9081-31-9

Price: developed countries, US$102; developing countries, $52

Grant Singleton([email protected])


2nd IRRC SC meeting held in Indonesia

The 2nd Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) Steering

Committee (SC) meeting was held in Cikampek, Indonesia, on 27-29 November 2006. The meeting was hosted by the Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology under the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD).

The IRRC SC is com-posed of leading representa-tives of national agricultural research and extension sys-tems and nongovernment or-ganizations from seven major Asian rice-growing countries. Members of the committee meet face-to-face yearly.

Donor representatives who attended were Dr. Carmen Thönnissen (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), Dr. Christian Witt (International Plant Nutrition Institute, Southeast Asia Program), and Mr. Hillel Magen (International Potash Institute). Dr. Achmad Suryana, IAARD director general, welcomed the participants. Dr. William Padolina, deputy director general for operations and

support services, represented IRRI during the opening program and in the subse-quent deliberations of the SC.

At the meeting, prog-ress in 2006 and plans for 2007 collaborative work with country partners were discussed. The SC and donors were impressed by the level of activities and achievements of the IRRC during 2006. Their strong message for 2007 was for the IRRC to build on its successes that are directed at timely delivery of tech-nologies to farmers so as to

strengthen collaboration with NARES. Networks and deliv-ery pathways for outreach are in place in the Philippines and Myanmar. China, Indonesia, and Vietnam will be prior-ity countries for developing an effective platform for outreach activities in 2007.

Sharing of information, research needs, and experi-ences is important for an effective regional consortium. To facilitate this sharing, the IRRC sponsored the atten-dance of collaborators from

agricultural partner institu-tions of Bangladesh, Cambo-dia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet-nam, and the Philippines. They were hosted on the last day by the Indonesian Center for Rice Research at Suka-mandi. At the institute, they visited laboratory facilities and field experiments, and met with the IRRC’s Indonesian colleagues.

Grant Singleton ([email protected])

The IRRC Steering Committee discussed progress in 2006 and plans for 2007 collaborative work. This year, the meeting will be hosted by the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 8-10 October. (Photo by J. Hernandez)

IRRC Coordinator Grant Singleton discusses how the IRRC can help Indonesian farmers by delivering its technologies through the Prima Tani program. Seated at the rightmost is the Bupati (district head) and at the back are extension specialists. (Photo by F. Palis)

Hillel Magen (IPI) and Carmen Thönnissen (SDC) observe the rice husk cook-stove, which can heat one liter of water in about 5 minutes. (Photo by G. Singleton)


Steering IRRC in the right direction

The best-known Indonesian rice dish is probably Nasi goreng,

which simply means “fried rice.” It is a breakfast dish, often made from boiled rice left over from the previous night’s meal. But for avid rice eaters such as the Indonesians, it doesn’t matter how it’s prepared—whether it’s fried, steamed, or with coconut milk—as long as there’s rice on the table.

“Rice is very important for Indonesians because it is a staple food for more than 90% of the Indonesian people,” says Hasil Sem-biring, the director of the Indonesian Center for Rice Research. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the average Indonesian eats about 200 kilograms of rice each year.

Indonesia is one of the world’s leading rice produc-ers, with paddy production of more than 54 million tons and a cultivated area of 11.6 million hectares in 2006. Since 1980, Indonesia’s rice yield has been the high-est in tropical Asia. Rice planting area grew by 33% between 1969 and 1990.

However, since the 1990s, the conversion of many rice lands in Java for nonagricul-tural uses has contributed to a decline in rice yield. Dr. Sembiring considers land con-version of irrigated rice fi elds as one of the most pressing concerns now in Indonesian rice research, along with the decline in soil fertility.

“This is why, as head of the Center, I am constantly thinking of how we can increase our rice produc-tion by more than 5% each year,” explains Dr. Sembiring. “We provide rice technolo-

gies for Indonesian farmers, including new rice varieties that can give a satisfying yield and better life.” Re-cently, they released a variety called Aek Sibundong.

Dr. Sembiring is also the new Steering Committee chair of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC). The IRRC’s international Steering Committee is com-posed of leading representa-tives drawn from developing countries of the region, a donor representative, and a representative from the In-ternational Rice Research In-stitute. The committee meets yearly to examine the prog-ress of the IRRC, and review plans for the following year.

Dr. Sembiring reveals that his role as IRRC Steer-ing Committee chair “is wonderful, but I was really nervous when I was asked

to be the chair.” Despite the nerves, this busy man handles the pressure well, since he’s not a stranger to big respon-sibilities. Prior to his two challenging roles, he was the director of the Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology (AIAT) in North Sumatra from 2001 to 2005, and director of West Nusa AIAT from 1999 to 2001.

Dr. Sembiring is fore-most an agronomist and a soil scientist before taking on his administrative responsibili-ties. He earned his bachelor’s degree in soil science from the Bogor Agriculture University in Indonesia, and MS and PhD degrees in agronomy and soil fertility, respectively, at Oklahoma State University, USA.

Even though he’s been working on rice for quite a while now, he never seems

to get tired of it. In fact, he starts his day by walking around the rice fi elds. “I also watch television and movies, and listen to music, but when I am at home, I try to spend as much time as I can with my family,” narrates Dr. Sembir-ing. Precious family time is spent with the three important women in his life—his wife, Asmanur Jannah, and two children, Sindy and Tannia.

He says he would’ve become a medical doctor had he not been a soil scientist. Luckily for us, he delved into the soil sciences and hasn’t left since. Now, he continues working toward improving rice research in Indonesia and in Asia. He encourages the youth and future rice scientists with this part-ing shot: “Be dedicated to anything you do, love it and enjoy it, because what we do is important not only for us as individuals, but for all the people in the world.”


Profi les

Hasil Sembiring does a great balancing act, juggling his duties as director of the Indonesian Center for Rice Research, as Steering Committee chair of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium, and as a family man to wife Asmanur Jannah and daughters Sindy and Tannia. (Sembiring personal archives)


The weed doctor is in

For most people, weeds are just a nuisance that grow in their

backyard, mess up a picture-perfect park, or give them rashes when they sit on the ground. Weeds are often seen as merely pests, annoying and constantly popping up in all possible places.

This is why David John-son, a senior weed scientist at the International Rice Research Institute, fi nds it hard sometimes to explain his work to people. “Unless people have worked in a fi eld, trying to raise a crop, they often don’t appreciate how se-rious the losses to weeds can be and how much work can be involved in trying to keep them under control. Despite these efforts, we estimate that farmers lose 10–25% of their crop yield to weeds, depending on how the crop is grown,” says Dr. Johnson.

He fi rst realized what a constraint weeds were to farmers when he worked with small farmers in Be-lize, Central America, in the 1980s. These farmers were involved in systems of shifting cultivation, and rice and maize were their two most important crops.

“Typically, a farmer might invest about 50 per-son-days to control weeds in a hectare of rice, which means if a husband and wife are working on the fi eld, and they’ve got 1 hectare, they’ll spend more than 3 weeks working just to clear the weeds,” narrates Dr. Johnson. “When you put that together with the other work that they have to do for the crop—clearing, preparing the soil, and the harvest—weeds count for a very substantial portion of their effort.”

Since then, he has had 20 years of experience in agricultural research and development within national and international programs focused on smallholder crop-ping systems. His expertise on weed management and agronomy of food crops, especially rice, has led him to projects in India and Indone-sia. Before IRRI, he worked at the West Africa Rice Development Association in Côte d’Ivoire, from 1992 to 2000, and in Ghana, Mali, and Tanzania from 1999 to 2003.

Working on rice in these different countries, it struck him that small farmers face similar problems such as labor shortage, lack of land tenure, few opportunities to diversify their production systems, and long distance from markets. “One of the most rewarding and memo-rable aspects of working in these countries is seeing how appreciative small farmers are of someone taking an interest in their crop, and in them,” says Dr. Johnson.

For 3½ years now, he has called the Philippines his

home. But he doesn’t get to stay at his IRRI offi ce for too long, since he’s always headed to one of the fi eld sites of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium’s (IRRC) Labor Productivity Work Group. He’s either in India or Bangladesh, where they have activities in direct seeding, or in Malaysia, working toward managing its serious weedy rice problem. Dr. Johnson and his team also make the rounds to Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Northern Lao PDR, and the Philippines to work with researchers involved in the management of weeds. In the future, they hope to be able to develop management options that can be widely applied across Southeast Asia.

If there’s one place though that Dr. Johnson doesn’t mind going often to, it’s the ocean. In fact, he would have gone off to sea, sailing professionally and going scuba-diving, were it not for weeds. “Being by the sea, scuba-diving, and relaxing with my wife, Liz,

and sons, James, 14, Charles, 12, and Matthew, 9, are my favorite occupations,” says Dr. Johnson. He often dives in Anilao, Batangas, a famous diving site in the Philippines, with his son Charles, who, Dr. Johnson proudly reveals, has recently received his diver’s license. This April, they plan to explore Palawan and the Sulu Sea in the Philippines.

He says, however, that “with the challenges that farmers are facing now—shortages of irrigation water to suppress weeds, shortage of labor to control them, the emergence of new weed prob-lems such as weedy rice and resistance to herbicides, and more serious weed problems brought about by farmers shifting from transplant-ing to direct seeding—we need to put more effort into anticipating the problems that farmers are going to face and providing solutions to at least some of them. When that job is done, that will be the chance to spend more time by the water.”


We almost lost a brilliant weed scientist in David Johnson, who, in his early twenties, thought of taking up sailing professionally. He pursued agriculture at London University instead. Nowadays, he goes scuba-diving to quench his thirst for the seas. (Johnson personal archives)


Publications

International journals

Brown PR, Huth NI, Banks PB, Singleton GR. 2007. Relationship between abundance of pest rodents and damage to agricul-tural crops. Agriculture Ecosystems and Envi-ronment 120, 405-415.

Jacob J, Hinds LA, Singleton GR, Sutherland DR, Ylönen H. 2007. Is the reproductive potential of wild house mice regulated by extrinsic or intrinsic factors? Austral Ecology 32, 202-209.

Book chapters

Aplin KP, Brown PR, Singleton GR, Douang Boupha B, Khamphoukeo K. 2006. Rodent ecology in the rice environments of Laos. In: Rice in Laos (Eds. JM Schiller, MB Chanphengxay, B Linquist, and S Appa Rao), Chapter 19, pp. 291-308, International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines.

Singleton GR, Krebs CJ. 2007. The secret world of wild mice. In: The Mouse in Bio-medical Research, second edition. Volume I – His-tory, genetics and wild mice (Eds. JG Fox, C Newcomer, A Smith, S Barthold, F Quimby, and M Davidsson), Chapter 3, pp. 25-51, Else-

vier, San Diego, CA, USA.

Conference proceedings

Buresh RJ, Setyorini D, Abdul-rachman S, Agus F, Witt C, Las I, Hardjosuwirjo S. 2006. Improving nutrient management for irrigated rice with particular con-sideration to Indonesia. In: Sumarno, Suparyono, Fagi AM, Adnyana MO, editors. Rice industry, culture and environment. Book 1. Pro-ceedings of the International Rice Conference, 12-14 Sep-tember 2005, Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia. Subang (Indone-sia): Indonesian Center for Rice Research. p. 165-178.

Chandrasekar V, Gummert M, et al. 2006. Development and testing of rice hull

furnace for preheating the air for paddy drying. 2nd International Rice Congress 2006, New Delhi, India.

Gummert M, Rickman JF, et al. 2006. Hermetically sealed storage systems for farm-ers and rice millers. 2nd International Rice Congress 2006, New Delhi, India.

Conferences and workshops

International Workshop on Aerobic Rice jointly organized by the IRRC Water-Saving Work Group and the CPWF STAR project, China Agricultural University (CAU), Beijing, China, 22-24 October 2007

Country visits

Water-Saving Work Group

Monitor water-saving activities in Vietnam, April 2007

Visit water-saving field sites in Thailand and Lao PDR, May 2007

Visit field experiment sites in India, June 2007

Upcoming events (April-June 2007)

Postproduction Work Group

Visit Vietnam for the midterm review of the ADB- and IRRC-funded project Improving Poor Farmers’ Livelihoods through Improved Postharvest Management, April 2007

Training on combine harvesting and laser leveling in Savannakhet, Lao PDR, April 2007

Demonstration and training of mini combine harvester and seed and grain quality training for extension staff in Myanmar, May 2007

Labor Productivity Work Group

Training on weed management in Nepal, 23-27 April 2007

EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION TEAM: IRRC: Trina Leah Mendoza, Grant Singleton, Jennifer Hernandez CPS: Tess Rola, Bill Hardy, George Reyes, Juan Lazaro IV

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Ruvicyn Bayot, Martin Gummert, David Shires

Team

Visit field sites in Indonesia, May 2007

Visit field sites in India and Bangladesh, July 2007

Productivity and Sustainabil-ity Work Group

Planning meeting on SSNM dissemination in Iloilo Province, Philip-pines, April 2007

Visit field demonstration and verification trials in Indonesia, July 2007

Community trap-barrier system (CTBS) located beside Zea Oat Extension Camp, Pyay Township, West Bago Division, Myanmar. The CTBS has been a successful alternative to conventional trapping of rodents in Indonesia and Vietnam, and it is now being tested in Myanmar.

(Photo by A. Malabayabas)

Credits: The authors kindly provided pictures for their articles. Copyright for pictures belongs to the authors.

Please direct further correspondence, com-ments, and contributions to

Dr. Grant SingletonIRRC Coordinator

International Rice Research InstituteDAPO Box 7777

Metro Manila, Philippines

E-mail: [email protected]/irrc/

This newsletter presents the personal views of indi-vidual authors and not necessarily those of IRRI, SDC,

or collaborating organizations in the IRRC.Copyright IRRI 2007

Ripple Apr Jun 2007

Documents

Transcript of Ripple Apr Jun 2007