STRASA Newsletter Vol 5 Nos 3-4 Aug-Dec-2012-12pg

7/29/2019 STRASA Newsletter Vol 5 Nos 3-4 Aug-Dec-2012-12pg

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tress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia Vol. 5 Nos. 3-4 Aug-Dec 20

Whats inside...

M.H. Dar, S. Singh, N.W. Zaidi, and S. Shu

Drought is more complex than otherabiotic stresses. It can occur atany point during the season and for

any length of time, causing heavy

crop losses. IRRI, in collaboration with

national programs in India and other

countries in South Asia, developed a

range of lines with different maturity

groups by conventional breeding.

One such line, IR74371-70-1-1-

CRR-1, showed a consistently good

performance under rainfed direct-

seeded upland and transplanted

lowland conditions in India,

Bangladesh, and Nepal. In India, it

was recommended for cultivation in

the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, and

Chhattisgarh, and for transplanted

conditions in Tamil Nadu. This line

was released and notied in October

2010 with the name Sahbhagi Dhan

(SD) by the Central Rainfed Upland

Rice Research Station, Hazaribagh,

although prerelease seed

multiplication and dissemination have

been undertaken ever since 2009.

During its rst evaluation in

farmers elds in eastern Uttar

Pradesh (UP), when seed was

provided through NGOs such as

Grameen Development Services

(GDS) and Gorakhpur Environmental

Action Group (GEAG), a femalefarmer, Meera Devi from Mohanjyoth

Village, Maharajgung, who cultivated

SD for the rst time, harvested 4.5

tons/ha in 105 days with more straw

than the earlier variety to feed her

cattle. Her fellow farmer, Prabhavati,

harvested 5 t/ha, more than a 1 t/ha

increase from her earlier variety. Both

women also acknowledged its better

grain and cooking quality than NDR

97, which is one of the most popular

varieties in that area. Realizing thepotential of this variety, GDS decided

to scale up its seed multiplication

through its cooperative Lehera APCL

(Agricultural Producers Company

Ltd.). Demand for the seed also rose

exponentially because of requests

from farmers in neighboring villages.

During the last two years, many

farmers have switched over to SD,

resulting in almost total replacement

of NDR 97 in those villages. Farmers

benets are multiple: in addition to

higher yield, this variety is changing

the cropping pattern in many areas

where farmers can grow three

cropsrice and early peas followed

by late-sown wheat varieties, thus

increasing their annual production and

income. Some farmers prefer potato

because it fetches a good market

price in March, followed by cowpea,

chillies, or mungbean.

Things did not stop here. Seed

was distributed to many states through

various channels, including the minikit

distribution of the National Food

Security Mission (NFSM) program

of the government of India. Various

promotional activities took placeacross the states, which inspired the

KVK Saran in Bihar, with the help

of the NICRA (National Initiative on

Climate-Resilient Agriculture) project

to distribute SD seed to farmers in the

2010 kharif season. Narvadeshwar

Giri, a progressive farmer from

Aphaur Village, afrmed that he

planted SD on 5 kathas (a local unit)

and Rajendra Mahsuri on his adjacent

plot of 1 acre. Both varieties were

cultivated with good managementpractices, which he calls SRI (the

System of Rice Intensication). Giri

explained how he beneted by

growing SD, with numbers to back

him up. He got an average yield of

5 t/ha from a neighboring variety

in 140 days and 4 t/ha from SD in

110 days. However, he did not need

to irrigate 5 ha of his eld with SD,


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which saved him a signicant amountof money (each irrigation cost 1,700

rupees/ha). He roughly estimatedsaving 30% in production cost for SDcompared with Rajendra Mahsuri.

Also, he was able to geta mid-crop of fenugreek

before wheat, whichgave him additionalbenets. Another farmer,Babban Singh, claimed tohave harvested 5t/ha in his eld. Manyother farmers who arecurrently using hybridswanted to switch to SD inthe next season if seedwere available for them.

STRASA-I

RRI/India

Year-end Address

by Abdelbagi M. IsmailOverall Project Leader, STRASA

During our visit to NalandaDistrict in Bihar, we talked withDeputy Director for Agriculture Mr.Sudama Mahto, who mentioned theperformance of SD in his area, where

it was distributed by the NFSM. Heexcitedly mentioned how he had seenthis crop yielding well under severedrought when elds were showingprominent cracks.

Large-scale demonstrations of SDare being carried out by differentstates. Moreover, STRASA, underNFSM-IRRI collaboration, has carriedout 1,700-ha cluster demonstrations

The year 2012 witnessed exciting

developments for STRASA, in both South

Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This year is

particularly important for us, as it marks the

5th year of the projected 10-year period of

the project. These rst 5 years have been

exceedingly successful, with STRASAestablishing a strong network of partners in

both South Asia and Africa. Numerous stress-

tolerant varieties were developed and over

20 of them were commercialized in the past

4 years, reaching over 4 million farmers, at

a pace implying STRASA will not fall short of

reaching its ultimate goal of 20 million farmers

by 2017. We had a good share of media

coverage this year, reaching over 140 in

Bangladesh alone.

Several elements have been critical

to the success and visibility of STRASA. A

marketable product, the choice of varietiespopular among rainfed lowland farmers

for deploying SUB1 with such consistent

effects in different backgrounds and

environments was the rst triumph, followed

by additional varieties with discernible yield

advantages over existing ones, especially

when conditions were less favorable, with

incidences of drought or excess water and

salt. Sabhagi dhan was the front-runner this

year where rice production in most areas was

severely restricted by delays in monsoon

and shortages of rain (see page 1). The

joy expressed by farmers in these areas isgratifying; in one of our visits in Odisha last

October, David Bergvinson inquired, Why

did we let these farmers wait so long? And

Achim Dobermann saw it as the best impact

assessment upon his recent visit to a similar

group of farmers in UP. Other success factors

include a far-reaching network of partners

along the research to adoption continuum,

exceeding 450 in South Asia alone; an effective

awareness program targeting appropriate

partners, policymakers, and farmers; and strong

policy support and additional resources made

available by international donors and national

programs, primarily to supplement STRASA

activities in producing and distributing good-quality seeds and to strengthen national seed

systems. To all of them, we are particularly

grateful.

The strong backing and support by the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, especially

by David Bergvinson over the past 5 years,

in being part of the team, contributed

tremendously to such success. David now took

over another responsibility in the Foundation

but promised to keep up with STRASA and use

it as his rst case study in the new initiative

he is leading to develop a new eld of Digital

Revolution in Agriculture. We wholeheartedlywelcome Gary Atlin as the new senior

program ofcer of the Foundation responsible

for STRASA. Gary is not new to rice, and

his previous work on drought contributed

considerably to STRASA success in this major

component of the project. We are excited to see

him back in rice again and look forward to team

up with him. Gary spent a few days in India

visiting STRASA sites last November, and then

at IRRI; he held discussions with the STRASA

team and IRRI management.

The expansion of STRASA activities

means challenges: more resources arein demand and more partners are being

added. We were privileged to have additional

investments from governments, donors, and

development agencies to support STRASA

activities over the last few years, and we do

hope this trend will continue to keep STRASA

in the spotlight and as the agship project,

both for IRRI and for the Foundation. Nothing

is more fullling than having Bill Gates praising

STRASA in several of his talks and as the best

example where all pieces come together in

his address at IFAD on 23 February.

Numerous collaborative and awareness

visits were organized this year. Of those, 33

scientists and senior ofcials visited IRRIfor various purposes. The recent visit of the

secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and

Cooperation, government of India, is featured

in this issue (see page 3). The most recent

visits of Baboucarr Manneh and Venuprasad

Ramiah of AfricaRice Center coincided with the

visit of Gary Atlin to IRRI; we had stimulating

discussions covering various strategic issues

for STRASA, and what is needed to keep

up the tempo, in both product development

and the delivery pipeline. Several signicant

workshops were also organized during this

year, including an awareness workshop atIRRI involving 10 senior ofcials from India,

Bangladesh, and Nepal, and a Leadership

Workshop for Asian and African Women held a

IRRI. Several women from STRASA countries

were sponsored.

Several events are lined up for 2013,

including the mid-term external review of

STRASA, holding annual planning and review

meetings in March-April, and putting together

elements for building Phase III of the project.

Sincere gratitude goes to my colleagues at

IRRI and AfricaRice and to all our partners,

advisors, and support staff; only with yourseless efforts and commitments did STRASA

make it this far, but we are just half way!

I wish all of you and your families a

marvelous festival season and a healthy and

prosperous 2013.


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Indian Agriculture Secretary visits IRRI, signs MOA forstronger ties Paula Bianca Ferrer and Maria Rowena Baltazar

Hon. Shri Ashish Bahuguna,secretary, Ministry of Agricultureand Cooperation, government of India,visited IRRI on 8-11 November 2012.

He was accompanied by Ms. Reena

Saha, director for crops, and Mr. R.K.

Trivedi, deputy commissioner for seed

quality control in the Ministry.

IRRI Director General Robert

Zeigler and Deputy Director General

for Communications and Partnerships

Bruce Tolentino, along with several

scientists, made short presentations

about ongoing activities of IRRI in

India and discussed potential areasfor future collaboration. "Working with

India for the last 12 years and also its

research institutions, I noticed that India

is quite progressive in the improvement

in the capacity of its research

institutions, said Dr. Abdelbagi

Ismail, overall leader of the Stress-

Tolerant Rice for Africa and South

Asia (STRASA) project. In the past, we

used to develop technologies, but right

now things are changing, and Indian

institutions are involved in technology

development at all levels. We have

good scientists, and good platforms to

take this partnership forward."

The secretarys visit to IRRI was an

initiative of STRASA and the project

facilitated this. Dr. Ismail and STRASA-

South Asia Regional Coordinator

Dr. Uma Shankar Singh briefed

him about the STRASA project. The

impact of the project in developing

drought-, salt-, and submergence-

tolerant varietiesand their proper

managementwas also

discussed during the

meeting with Dr. Ismail,

Dr. Singh, and other IRRIscientists.

On 10 November

2012, Hon. Shri Ashish

Bahuguna signed

a memorandum of

agreement with IRRI

ofcials (Dr. Robert

Zeigler, Dr. AchimSecretary Bahuguna (left) after signing

the MoA with IRRI DG Robert Zeigler. IRRI-Philippines/CPS

in drought-prone areas of UP, Bihar,West Bengal, and Odisha. Farmersfrom all the states have shown anoverwhelming response for thisvariety. Different state governmentsare carrying out approx. 8,000-ha cluster demonstrations under

the Bringing the Green Revolutionto East India (BGREI) program. InMayurbhunj District of Odisha, wheretribal farmers grow long-durationvarieties and always face threats, theycultivated SD in 2012 and harvestedalmost double their usual yield withless expenditures than for the existingvarieties. This project has helped in thepenetration of this valuable variety inthese areas where farmers could havenever imagined being successful.

Farmers in Mayurbhunj generallyleave land fallow after rice andthey look for work in other areas as

laborers. The early harvest of thisvariety has added to the number ofdays they can work and thereforethey can earn more to supporttheir families. One farmer whohad cultivated SD wants to growearly brinjal (eggplant) so that hecan obtain a good market price.

During a eld day organized by alocal NGO, DDA, Mr. SudharshanMohanty expressed his happinessabout the performance of the varietyand its demonstrations in the area.He mentioned to the farmers theunavailability of such varieties in thepast. Raygada, another drought-prone district where a 100-hademonstration of SD was carried outin 2012, considered SD as a blessingto its farmers as it outyielded earlier

varieties such as Konark, which hasgiven only half the yield of SD.Similar results have been obtained

from other districts in Odisha andWest Bengal.

Different characteristicshave contributed to the successand versatility of this variety. Itsperformance under both droughtand favorable conditions has beengreat, which has not only encouragedfarmers to consider this variety but

also encouraged seed producers tocome forward. Seed multiplicationwas immense immediately after itsrelease. The Central Rainfed UplandRice Research Station in Hazaribagh,the center from which this variety wasreleased, obtained a record breederseed production of 19 tons underthe Department of Agriculture andCooperation, Ministry of Agriculture.This amount of seed can be used toproduce more than 50,000 tons of

certied seed in the next two years,which will sustainably reach thousandsof farmers.

Dobermann, Dr. Bruce Tolentino,

Dr. Abdelbagi Ismail, and Dr. Uma

Shankar Singh) to further strengthen

future collaborative undertakings.

Other activities by the secretary

and his party during their 2-day stay

at IRRI were a visit to the IRRI farm

and an ecological intensication site,

greenhouse and eld experiments, C4

rice plant growth facilities, Riceworld

Museum, the Training Center, the

International Rice Genebank, the

Cyber village project in a nearby

village, and several IRRI laboratories.


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Annual meeting of the Eastern Indian Rainfed LowlandShuttle Breeding Network (EIRLSBN) completed

Bertrand Collard

The annual selection meeting of the

Eastern Indian Rainfed Lowland

Shuttle Breeding Network (EIRLSBN)was held at the Central Rice Research

Institute (CRRI), Cuttack, India, on 16-

17 November. During these meetings,

breeders from all centers of the

network participated in joint selection

of segregating material for use at

their own stations and evaluated xed

lines that are suitable for each region.

Typically, hundreds of single-plant

selections were made and the meeting

also provided participants with

opportunities to spend valuable timeinteracting and discussing matters. This

activity was coordinated by Dr. J.N.

Reddy (CRRI), the network coordinator

at CRRI, Cuttack, Odisha.

Participants were Dr. K.K. Sharma,

Assam Agricultural University, North

Lakhimpur, Assam; Dr. S.K. Chetia,

Regional Agricultural Research

Station, Titabar, Assam; Drs. P.K. Singh

and S.P. Singh, Bihar Agricultural

University, Sabour, Bihar; Drs. S.R. Das

and D.N. Bastia, Odisha University of

Agriculture and Technology (OUAT),

Bhubaneswar; Dr. Indira Dana, Rice

Research Station, Chinsurah, West

Bengal; and Drs. Bert Collard (IRRI

coordinator of EIRLSBN) and Yoichi

Kato (physiologist) from IRRI.

In 2012, three participants from

Meghalaya (a northeastern state in

between Assam and Bangladesh)

were also invited to participate in

the selection activity (Ms. Rita Bahun

Mylliem Umlong, Ms. Baphiralin

Kharshiing, and Mr. Batseng W.

Momin) as part of collaborative

activities between IRRI and the state

of Meghalaya. It is hoped that

Meghalaya will be formally included

in the EIRLSBN in the near future, as

the state establishes its rice breeding

program.

IRRI DG meets with Indias Honorable Minister

of Agriculture Uma Shankar Singh and Tara Chand Dhoundiya

During his visit to India in

September, IRRI Director

General Dr. Robert S. Zeigler had an

audience with the Indian governmentsHonorable Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Sharad Pawar. In their meeting

on 12 September 2012, Dr. Zeigler

apprised the minister of recent

developments in rice research at

IRRI and the support extended to

the government of Assam during a

recent ood in the state. Dr. Zeigler

extended an invitation to Mr. Pawar

to visit IRRI in the near future. Mr.

Pawar appreciated IRRIs contributions

in India and accepted the invitation to

visit IRRI. Dr. Zeigler was accompanied

by Dr. J.K. Ladha, Dr. U.S. Singh, andMr. M.S. Rao during this meeting. Dr. S.

Ayyappan, secretary, Department of

Agricultural Research and Education,

and director general, Indian Council

of Agricultural Research, was also

present during the meeting.

On 11 September 2012, Dr.

Zeigler met with Secretary of

Agriculture Mr. Ashish Bahuguna

and other senior ofcials, including

additional secretaries and joint

secretaries of the ministry. Dr. Zeigler

shared his views on various aspects

related to rice. He also provided asummary of recent developments in

rice research and technologies that

are likely to be available to farmers

in the near future. Mr. Bahuguna

appreciated the IRRI-India partnership

and acknowledged the contributions

of IRRI in India, particularly the great

success of stress-tolerant rice varieties,

namely, Swarna-Sub1, in farmers

Drs. Bert Collard and Yoichiro Kato (2nd and 3rd from left, respectively)of IRRI with some of the participants at the EIRLSBN meeting during

a field visit

IRRI-Philippine

s/BCollard


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M.G. Neogi

Ensuring food security in a changing climate: additional

harvests of short-duration rice in the aus season usingrainwater for reduced cost

Food insecurity is a fundamental

feature of poverty in Bangladesh.

Though there has been impressive

agricultural and socioeconomic

progress in the recent past, feedingthe increasing population remains

a major concern. The increasing

population has also made many

people subject to marginalization and

landlessness. In a subsistence rural

economy like Bangladeshs, poverty

and food insecurity are directly linked

to land productivity. Some 70% of

the rural poor are landless. Per capita

land availability today stands at 0.09

ha and is decreasing with population

growth and expanding urbanization.

Even for those who have access to

land, agricultural production systems

are not adequately sufcient to attain

food security on a sustainable basis

for various reasons, including poor

agricultural technologies and a lack

of improved seeds, seedlings, modern

production techniques, irrigation,

marketing, and storage facilities.

Frequent natural disasters also reduce

or destroy the scarce land resources

of the poor, thus increasing their

indebtedness and taking them deeper

into poverty traps.

The people of the southernregion have to ght against all

kinds of natural disasters, such as

oods, drought, increasing salt, etc.,

making them the most vulnerable to

food insecurity. Late oods being

experienced lately in Bangladesh

are believed to be caused by climate

change. Because of these late oods,

the aman rice crop (monsoon rice)

is often destroyed and the farmers

can no longer replant the crop.

People face untold miseries when

they lose their harvest. In order to

ensure adequate food to feed these

populations, ways to increase food

production are tapped.

Short-duration rice cultivation in

the aus season (immediately after

the harvest of boro rice in late April

or early May) as additional rice

production technology may be a

blessing for southern Bangladesh.

Normally, farmers transplant boro

rice seedlings in late December to

January, and harvest in late Aprilto early May. Farmers generally

transplant aman rice seedlings on

the same land in late July to early

August, and harvest in late November

to early December. So, the land is

left fallow for more than 2 months

between the boro and aman seasons.

Farmers can use this fallow period

by introducing aus cultivation as an

additional rice production technology

and can obtain three harvests (boro,

aus, and aman) in the same yearinstead of only two (boro and aman),

and thus ensure higher income for

better livelihood. If farmers are able

to harvest aus as an additional rice

crop in early August, farmers will get

rice, and agricultural day-laborers

will get work and straw to feed their

cattle. Immediately after harvesting

aus, farmers can cultivate the aman

crop. Through aus rice technology, it

will be easier to motivate farmers tocultivate other crops such as wheat,

maize, mustard, pulses, etc., in the

boro season, especially in highlands

instead of boro rice, as this will ensure

two rice crops (aus and aman) in a

calendar year. If boro in particular

is replaced with other crops without

affecting total rice production, a

signicant amount of nonrenewable

energy will be saved.

In partnership with the USAID-

supported IRRI-SRSPDS project, arecent innovation has been piloted

in farmers elds, showing that the

production of short-duration rice

between boro and aman seasons,

referred to as aus rice, can produce

around 1 million tons more rice from

a half million hectares of land in

southern Bangladesh. If this production

technology is extended throughout the

Wastage of rainwaterUSAID-S

TRASA\IRRI-

Bangladesh


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country, it is possible to produce more

than 6 million tons of additional rice

from about 3 million hectares of land.

The varieties tested for suitability for

the aus season are BRRI dhan56, BRRI

dhan57, BINA dhan-8, BR26, BRRI

dhan27, BRRI dhan48, CR dhan 40,Ciherang-Sub1, IR64-Sub1, Pariza,

and Nerika.

Upon the success of these

adaptive trials on short-duration

rice varieties in farmers elds in

the aus season, it may be possible

to develop an alternative cropping

pattern or technology of three crops

a year. Most of these varieties are

now acceptable to farmers in terms of

their relatively shorter duration and

higher yields compared with otherlocal short-duration rice varieties. As

most of these varieties ripen before

late oods, the harvest is also secure.

Aus rice cultivation is a traditional

cultivation technology in Bangladesh,

but, due to the introduction of high-

yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice in

the boro season using groundwater

or surface-water irrigation, the aus is

now almost extinct. Out of all these

tested varieties, Pariza requires

95100 days from sowing seeds

to harvest, while BINA dhan-8 and

CR dhan 40 require 105110 days

and remaining varieties require

110118 days. However, if 20-day-

old seedlings are transplanted, Pariza

can be harvested in just 7580 days,

while BINA dhan-8 and CR dhan

40 can be harvested after 8590

days and others will be harvested

within 100 days of transplanting. Per

hectare yield of Pariza can be 33.5

tons, and 3.54 tons for the remaining

varieties. These rice varieties also

attract farmers because of their lower

production costs and the medium-ne

grain of some varieties, which secures

better market value. In this way,

farmers can manage three harvests

instead of two in a calendar year on

the same piece of land.

elds. Dr. Zeigler also addressed

various queries from senior ofcials of

the ministry.

Dr. Zeigler also met with Dr.

S. Ayyappan on 12 September

and discussed with him ICAR-IRRI

collaborative programs. Dr. Rita

Sharma, secretary, National Advisory

Council, and IRRI Board member,hosted a dinner in honor of Dr.

Zeigler. The secretary of agriculture

and joint secretary (seed) from

the Ministry of Agriculture and the

director general and deputy director

general (crops) from ICAR joined the

dinner.

USAID-S

TRASA\IRRI-Bangladesh

Hon. Minister of Agriculture Mr.

Sharad Pawar talks with IRRI

DG Robert Zeigler.S

TRASA\IRRI-India


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Highlights on submergence research under STRASApresented in IRRI Seminar Maria Rowena M. Baltaza

a monthly meeting for nationally

recruited staff and scientists at

IRRI who are in the early stages of

their career. Its aim is to provide

an opportunity for discussion with

senior scientists on a range of topics

that include science and career

paths (http://irri-news.blogspot.

com/2012/11/africarice-breeder-is-

guest-in.html).

Current developments onsubmergence research, which is

the focus of objective 2 of the STRASA

project, were presented in one of the

weekly IRRI Thursday Seminars (on

13 September 2012). Dr. Bertrand

Collard, IRRI plant breeder and

STRASA project objective 2 leader,

gave the seminar. He explained

the previous work in developing

Sub1 varieties, for which the major

milestone in the development

of ood-tolerant rice

varieties was the discovery

and characterization of

SUB1, a major quantitativetrait locus (QTL) conferring

protection for 10 to 14 days

of complete submergence,

commonly caused by ash

oods.

Dr. Collard detailed

that the SUB1 gene was

subsequently incorporated

into many rice mega-

varieties such as Swarna

both South and Southeast Asian

countries for Nepal, Sabitri-Sub1;

for the Philippines, PSBRc82-Sub1

in collaboration with the Philippine

Rice Research Institute; and for

Pakistan, IR64-Sub1 and Super

Basmati-Sub1. Work is also being

done on improving disease resistance,

particularly for bacterial leaf blight,

and on developing shorter duration

versions of Swarna-Sub1, and others

with photoperiod sensitivity, as well

as developing promising elite lines

with SUB1 and tolerance of stagnant

ooding.

Dr. Collard capped his

presentation with proposed activitiessuch as building new rainfed varieties

with multiple stress tolerance and

getting the SUB1 gene to become

a default gene for all breeding

programs.

Considerable further work

is required, however, to develop

improved varieties for ood-prone

environments and to disseminate and

upscale/outscale them.

AfricaRice breeder is guest at researchers lunch

The monthly IRRI Young Researchers

Lunch welcomed Baboucarr

Manneh, irrigated rice breeder and

coordinator of the STRASA Project in

AfricaRice, as its guest for November.

Lunch attendees (Changrong Ye,

Nurul Hidayatun, Yam Kanta Gaihre,

Samir Ebson Topno, Tahir Awan, and

Zilhas Ahmed Jewel) were curiousabout Dr. Manneh's career and rice-

growing conditions in Africa.

Dr. Manneh cited the widespread

problem of cold-temperature stress in

Africa, a surprising discovery for the

group, and explained that overcoming

this particular stress could greatly

impact the size of land area on which

rice can be grown in Africa.

The Young Researchers Lunch is

and IR64 using an approach called

marker-assisted backcrossing during

the last 10 years. Because the

essential properties of the original

varieties were retained (such as yield

and quality), these new Sub1 varieties

have been, and continue to be, widely

adopted by farmers.

For current breeding activities,

Dr. Collard reported that new Sub1

varieties are being developed, for

Dr. Manneh (center) with IRRI participants

IRRI/Ph

ilippines-C

PS


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Participatory varietal selection of stress-tolerant rice

varieties in submergence-prone areas of LakhimpurDistrict, Assam, India

Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts areknown for their preponderance

of ood-prone areas in Assam and

rice is life for more than 90% of

the people but rice production and

productivity are greatly affected

because of the occurrence of ash

ood, waterlogging, and intermittent

drought in these districts. Stress-

tolerant rice varieties are needed

urgently for farmers to harvest a

good and stable yield over time

and locations. The implementationof the STRASA project in 2010-11

in Lakhimpur District was expected

to boost rice production, especially

in ood-prone areas. In addition, it

will help ensure food and livelihood

security for the poor farmers living in

such areas.

Under the project, 17 varieties

developed in different research

institutes for the ood-prone ecology

were evaluated in the district

during 2012. Two mother trials

were conducted with 17 varieties in

Dakhinkolabali Village located about

25 km away from the research station

along with baby trials in 17 farmers

elds in the same village. One mother

trial was conducted in a ash-ood-affected area and another in a

waterlogged eld. Another mother

trial was conducted with the same

varieties on the research farm of

the Regional Agricultural Research

Station, North Lakhimpur, under

shallow lowland conditions.

Before transplanting of rice

in a farmers eld, a 1-day

training of both participating and

nonparticipating farmers was

conducted. Altogether, 39 farmers,including 13 women, took part in

the training program. The farmers

were apprised of the objective of

the program under STRASA and the

varieties given to the participating

farmers. Thereafter, training on

scientic cultivation and management

of rice was also provided. In addition,

the identication of various pests and

diseases along with proper treatment

was also demonstrated to them. These

farmers were also apprised of the

different methods of integrated pest

and disease management in rice.

Two preference analyses were

conducted in the mother trial. One

was conducted in Dakhinkolabali

Village and the other at the researchfarm. Preference analysis was

conducted for the mother trial at the

maturity stage before harvesting of

the crop in Dakhinkolabali Village on

3 November 2012. Altogether, 36

farmers took part in the preference

analysis, of which 33% were female

farmers. The socioeconomic prole

of these cooperators in participatory

varietal selection (PVS) showed that

more than 87% of the farmers were

marginal and small farmers and therest (13%) were large farmers. The

average age of male farmers was

39 years while that of females was

36 years, indicating that women were

younger than men by an average of

3 years. Similarly, the study showed

that men are more educated than

women, with an average of 9 years

of schooling for men and 5 years

for women. Male farmers were more

experienced in farming, by 3 years,than women.

The result of preference analysis

in Dakhinkolabali Village showed that

variety TTB 281-9-2-1 is the most

preferred by the farmers, with a high

preference score of 0.10 because the

plant is tall with a strong culm and it

has medium slender grains, uniform

and compact panicles, more grains

(300) per panicle, fewer leaves but

more panicles, and no lodging.

The next preferred variety was TTB283-3-38-2, with a preference score

of 0.071. Among the 17 varieties

evaluated, IR69485-10-2-B-1-TTB

86-1-4 and IR73728-TTB-3-1 were

the least preferred by the farmers,

with a negative preference score of

0.075 and 0.054, respectively.

The preference analysis of the

mother trial at the research farm

M. Maibangsa, K.K. Sharma, D. Chowdhury, S. Maibangsa, T. Paris

A. Cueno, and D. Villanueva

ST

RASA-R

ARS/India


9/12

9

Nepal recognizes three IRRI scientists

under shallow lowland conditions

was conducted on 23 November

2012. The analysis revealed that

varieties BR11-Sub1 and IR69485-

10-2-B-1-TTB 86-1-4 were the

most preferred by the farmers, with

a high preference score of 0.092

and 0.067, respectively. This is dueto their medium height with strong

culm, medium size, lled grains, and

fewer leaves but more grains per

panicle, and the panicles are uniform.

Swarna-Sub1 and Jalashree were

the least preferred varieties by the

farmers, with a negative preference

score of 0.050. These two varieties

were least preferred because they

are short, panicle initiation is

not uniform, they are susceptible

to pests and diseases and to

rat damage, the panicles are

short with fewer grains, and are

susceptible to lodging, and the

grains are bold and colored, with

chafness.

The two preference analyses

under different submergenceconditions revealed that the

varieties performed differently

in each situation, that is, shallow

lowland area and waterlogging

area. In waterlogging area,

variety IR69485-10-2-B-1-TTB

86-1-4 was the most preferred by

the farmers while it was the least

preferred in shallow lowland area.

Three IRRI staff were awarded

plaques of appreciation by

the Nepal Agricultural Research

Council (NARC) during the workshop

Enhancing womens livelihoods in rice-

based farming systems, held at Hotel

Annapurna in Kathmandu, Nepal, on

4-6 November 2012.

Thelma Paris, senior scientist(socioeconomics) and gender

specialist, was recognized for her

contributions to the capacity building

of women scientists, researchers,

and farmers of Nepal as well as to

research and development (R&D) in

rice and rice-based cropping systems

at the grass-roots level.

Uma Shankar Singh, senior

scientist and South Asia regional

project coordinator of STRASA,was cited for his contributions to the

dissemination of stress-tolerant rice,

particularly submergence-tolerant

varieties, and for capacity building of

Nepalese scientists.

Julian Lapitan, senior manager

of National Program Relations, was

acknowledged for his contributions

to and support of establishing

the IRRI Country Ofce in Nepal,

for collaboration in rice and rice-

based cropping systems, and

for development of Nepal's Rice

Knowledge Bank.

The awards were presented by

Dil Bahadur Gurung, NARC executive

director.

The workshop was attended by

20 women from Nepal, Bangladesh,

and India and was conducted to (1)provide opportunities for women

engaged in research, development,

and extension to acquire and use

their technical knowledge in rice

production, postharvest, seed

management, and seed health to

enhance the livelihoods of poor

women farmers in India, Bangladesh,

and Nepal; (2) develop an action

plan for addressing the technology

needs of women in production, seed

management, and seed health by

their institutions; and (3) develop a

cadre of women leaders who can

Three IRRI scientists, holding plaques of recognition (L-R): Julian Lapitan, Thelma

Paris, and Uma Shankar Singh, with NARC ED Dil Bahadur Gurung

IRRI/Nepal

The participants making a tally of the

preference analysis results


10/12

10

Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, India, 11-13

April

Annual planning and evaluation meetings...

Field visits...

Sahbhagi dhan in a field in

Gorakhpur (top photo) and

harvesting Swarna-sub1 during

Chief Minister of Bihars visit (right).

Ghana, West Africa, 22-26 February

Spectra Convention Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 16-17 April

Salt-tolerant variety seeds distributed to

farmers through IRRI-NFSM collaboration

Swarna-sub1 in fields of West Bengal

Sierra Leone, West Africa, 22-26 February

Field day in Madagascar, Africa, March


11/12

11

Trainings...

Rice breeding course at AfricaRice in Senegal Three African scientists train at IRRI Headquarters,

Philippines

STRASA-sponsored visits to IRRI Headquarters...

Indian Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and

Cooperation, and party, 8-10 November

Several participants from South Asia were

sponsored by the project(photo: IRRI-CPS)

Key government officials of India, Bangladesh, and Nepal for an

awareness and consultation workshop, 23-25 May


12/12

12

Contributors

Bertrand Collard, IRRI, Philippines

D. Chowdhury, RARS-Assam University, India

Amelia Cueno, IRRI, Philippines

Manzoor H. Dar, IRRI-STRASA, India

Tara Chand Dhoundiyal, IRRI-STRASA, India

Paula Bianca Ferrer, IRRI, Philippines

Mercydi Maibangsa and S. Maibangsa, RARS-AssamUniversity, India

M.G. Neogi, STRASA-USAID, Bangladesh

Thelma Paris, IRRI, Philippines

K.K. Sharma, RARS-Assam University, India

S. Shukla, IRRI-NFSM, India

Sudanshu Singh, IRRI-IFAD, India

Uma Shankar Singh, IRRI-STRASA, India

Donald Villanueva, IRRI, Philippines

Najam Waris Zaidi, IRRI-STRASA, India

Content/editorial advisers

Abdelbagi Ismail, STRASA overall coordinator

Baboucarr Manneh, SSA coordinator, AfricaRice

Uma Shankar Singh, South Asia coordinator, IRRI-India

Editor

Bill Hardy, IRRI-CPS

Editorial stafPriscilla Grace Caas, IRRI-CPS

Writer/graphic design and layoutMaria Rowena M. Baltazar, STRASA/IRRI-Philippines

Issue coordination and circulation

Krystle Anne M. Ambayec-Dino, STRASA/IRRI-Philippines

For comments, suggestions, and submissions, pleasesend them toDr. Abdelbagi M. Ismail [email protected]

PRODUCTION TEAM THIS ISSUEaddress the technology and livelihood needs of grass-roots

women engaged in rice-based farming systems.

Resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Paris, Dr.

Singh, and Mr. Lapitan; Sudhanshu Singh, postdoctoral

fellow (IFAD-EC Drought Project, IRRI-India); P.K. Singh,

associate professor and nodal ofcer, Mega Seed Program

of Banaras Hindu University, India; Karuna Vishnawat,

professor of plant pathology and site coordinator, All-IndiaCoordinated Project on Seeds, GPUAT, Pantnagar, India;

Devendra Gauchan, chief of the Socioeconomic Division

of NARC; and Mirza Islam, principal scientic ofcer and

head, Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Institute of

Nuclear Agriculture.

The workshop participants shared experiences in

working with women farmers through participatory varietal

selection (PVS) for stress-tolerant rice varieties, community

seed banks, small-scale seed businesses, and other training

activities for womens groups.

Three country proposals were presented and discussed

at the end of the workshop, highlighting their action plans

for strengthening mainstreaming efforts in addressing the

technology and training needs of women at the grass roots,

in collaboration with IRRI.

The workshop was supported by IFAD-EC, the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation, and USAID (http://irri-news.

blogspot.com/2012/11/nepal-recognizes-work-of-three-

irri.html).

STRASA is funded by the

Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation

Visit our Web site at http://strasa.org/

Flood tolerant paddy farming becomes popular amongfarmers, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), 8December 2012

Submerged ood tolerant paddy plant growing well,The

New Nation-Bangladesh, 29 October 2012

Drought-tolerant paddy grows well in Gaibandha, Daily

Sun-Bangladesh, 24 September 2012

Salt-tolerant rice in a changing climate, Daily Sun-

Bangladesh, 19 September 2012
http://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=55718http://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=55718http://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_19-09-2012_Salt-tolerant-rice-in-changing-climate_266_2_17_1_0.htmlhttp://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_19-09-2012_Salt-tolerant-rice-in-changing-climate_266_2_17_1_0.htmlhttp://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_19-09-2012_Salt-tolerant-rice-in-changing-climate_266_2_17_1_0.htmlhttp://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_19-09-2012_Salt-tolerant-rice-in-changing-climate_266_2_17_1_0.htmlhttp://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=55718http://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=55718

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STRASA Newsletter Vol 5 Nos 3-4 Aug-Dec-2012-12pg

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