Sunday 10 – Field visit
Yüklə 292,1 Kb.
|
- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- IV. Tasks undertaken for other FAO units
- VIII. Recommendations/Action to be taken
- The Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains
- Commonalties of research findings across sites
- Wheat varietal development
- Cultivar for Country Crop bed planting
- Capacity Building-Training
- RWC-PRISM Information system (
- Geographical Information Systems (GIS) activities
- Agricultural machinery highlights
- States/theme Districts Area (ha) coverage
- New Publication: “Addressing Resource Conservation Issues in Rice-wheat Systems of South Asia – A resource book”
- Adoption Studies and Impact Analysis: New Initiatives for Socio-economics Research in the Rice-Wheat Consortium
- New initiatives and opportunities IFAD Project “Sustainable intensification of rice-wheat systems in eastern IGP”
- CABI: Reaping the Benefits: impact assessment of RCTs
- The CGIAR Challenge Programme on Water and Food (CP)
- Working group on Eastern Indo-gangetic Plains – Main issues
- Working group on Northwestern Indo-gangetic Plains – Main issues
- External Review of the RWC
- Wheat in Nepal: research and extension
- The National Wheat Research Programme (NWRP)
- PERSONS MET AND VISITS MADE
|
Cleared by Mr D. Tran, FFCG leader _______________ Date_____________________
TRAVEL REPORT SUMMARY I. Submitted by: Helena GÓMEZ MACPHERSON Cereals Officer, Field Food Crops Group, AGPC II. File Code: 2.1.2.2. PL 6/1 Gómez Macpherson III. Travel to: Nepal IV. Tasks undertaken for other FAO units: None. V. Dates of travel: 2 - 10 March 2003. VI. Co-travellers: None. VII. Purpose: To attend Regional Technical Coordination Committee meeting of the Rice-wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains. VIII. Recommendations/Action to be taken. (i) AGPC to discuss with GIII and LEGA terms of collaboration to include the “Resource rice-wheat book” in AGPC CD on wheat. (ii) AGPC to follow up TCP proposal for maize production in Nepal.
Mr K Tsurumi, FAOR, India Mr M Solh, AGPD Mr R Labrada, AGPP Groups AGPC Mr E Kuenemann, AGPC Mr D van Tran, AGPC Horticultural Mr E Guimaraes, AGPC Grassland Gómez chrono Industrial AGP Reg. PL 6/1 Gómez Field Food
The RO attended the 11th Meeting of the Regional Technical Coordination Committee (RTCC) of the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (RWC) held during 4-6 March 2003 in Kathmandu, Nepal. During the meeting two groups were formed to discuss main issues concerned with either eastern or northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains within the ADB funded project. After the meeting, the RO visited the National Wheat Research Programme (NWRP) in Bairahawa, farmers’ fields in Rampur and hill site in Naldung during 7-9 March. The Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains The RWC was established in 1994 as an ecoregional initiative of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), involving the National Agricultural Research Systems of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan and some International Agricultural Research Centres and Advanced Research Organizations. The goal of the Consortium is to enhance productivity and sustainability of intensive rice-wheat cropping systems through multi-disciplinary collaborative research. The major research themes are: tillage and crop establishment; participatory breeding; water, nutrient and pest management; and, socio-economic and policy issues. The RWC management structure comprised the Regional Technical Coordination Committee (RTCC), the Regional Steering Committee (RSC) and the Facilitation Unit. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) acts as the Convening Center of the Consortium. The facilitation unit, based in New Delhi, implements the Consortium activities. Dr Raj K Gupta is the facilitator (based in New Delhi) supported by Dr Craig A Meisner (based in Bangladesh). The RSC consists of the Chief Executives of the NARS and the Convening Center and it has been established primarily to provide policy guidance and monitoring for the overall initiative and endorses research priorities, work programs, and budgets for the collaborative work as prepared by the RTCC. More RWC information can be found in: www.rwc-prism.cgiar.org/rwc/ The RTCC consists of one senior representative (Coordinator) from each of the four NARS, one representative each of IRRI, CIMMYT, IIMI, ICRISAT, CIP and Cornell University staff assigned to Rice-Wheat activities in the region, and the co-facilitators. The RTCC may invite other resource persons to participate (See List of Participants in Annex I). The RTCC has the following main responsibilities:
The agenda of the meeting is attached in Annex II. The RTCC coincided with the RSC during part of the meeting. Progress during 2002 The RO had attended previous RTCC meeting held in February 2002 (India). Since then, major activities related to development and adoption of reduced tillage techniques, participatory breeding, nutrient and water balance and management and weed control continue. As agreed in that meeting, the socio-economic area has been reinforced and an international review of the RWC is taking place. Commonalties of research findings across sites
Wheat varietal development Breeding continues in the major following areas: Tillage: Interaction between wheat genotypes and tillage options:
Participatory evaluation of wheat genotypes under different tillage conditions.
Participatory varietal selection: mother (PVS-Mother Trial) and baby trials (PVS-Baby Trial):
Seed Multiplication for genotypes of PVS and participatory plant breeding (PPB)
Resistance to Helminthosporium leaf blights and rusts. Capacity Building-Training Number of people trained by theme:
* Either NARS or New Zeland Project supported Pest, diseases, weeds Dirty panicle, leaf folder, gundhi bug and stem borers are major diseases and insect pests in rice and Helminthosporium blight and leaf rust were major problem in wheat. In what respects to weeds control, the RWC has helped FAO to identify participants of the regional workshop on “Rice-wheat cropping systems - weed related issues” (14-17 March 2003, Haryana University, Hisar, India) and Dr Raj Gupta, RWC facilitator, gave a presentation. Improving weed control through integrated crop management is a priority for the rice-wheat systems. A training programme is required for this and FAO could play a key role supporting its implementation.
The RWC website facilitates sharing of expert knowledge. The RWC-PRISM has 20,000 users/month and 200,000 hits through web presence every month. The registered base in IGP includes:
RWC-PRISM next steps are:
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) activities:
Agricultural machinery highlights Bangladesh:
Pakistan:
India:
The RO discussed the suitability of diverse implements for Bangladesh TCP proposal. Resource-conserving technologies area coverage in RWC countries in the 2001-2003
New Publication: “Addressing Resource Conservation Issues in Rice-wheat Systems of South Asia – A resource book” Rice-wheat systems have been intensively studied yet valuable information remained underutilazed by practitioners, policy makers and development administrators who often have difficulty with documentation generated primarily for the research or academic community. With this book, the RWC has identified and repacked existing research studies to make them available to a non-specialist audience. The book includes 68 short papers of good quality. The RWC has agreed that an electronic version of the book may be included in the CD on wheat being prepared by AGPC. The resource book will be a good complement to AGPC guidelines for irrigated wheat and wheat database.
There is a general feeling that whereas useful information was being generated and new technologies were being developed, the involvement of the social scientists in RWC activities remains much to be desired. A prime reason identified for this weakness related to non-availability of manpower in social science discipline in participating agricultural research institutions in NARS. Another issue discussed was how to judge the role and impact of RWC interventions on its partnerships and the other stakeholders. A Socio-Economics Research Planning Meeting was held in New Delhi, India, during 23-24 May 2002. During the meeting advantages and disadvantages of coordinating socio-economic research were discussed. The following cross-cutting research themes were examined: Adoption and impacts of RCTs:
Constraints to diversification:
Farm-level impacts of macro policies:
Environmental issues:
New initiatives underway:
Funding approved:
New initiatives and opportunities IFAD Project “Sustainable intensification of rice-wheat systems in eastern IGP” The project will focus on small farmers in the rainfed rice-wheat area in the eastern IGP. The project funding is for about US$1.5 million for 3 years and the activities will be carried out jointly by researchers from national organizations working in collaboration with researchers from IRRI and CIMMYT. The first stake holders meeting was held during 8-9 March 2003 (New Delhi, India). Activities include:
CABI: Reaping the Benefits: impact assessment of RCTs DFID funded project with main purpose of maximizing opportunities and options for livelihood improvement by ensuring the relevance, impact and sustainability of new production interventions and establishing participatory mechanisms to reach all social strata involved in agriculture. The collaborating institutions are: CABI Bioscience, RWC, NARS (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal), IACR Rothamsted (UK). The duration will be 3 years (started January 2003). The project approach:
The CGIAR Challenge Programme on Water and Food (CP) The CP proposes to launch a research, extension and capacity building program in order to increase the productivity of water used for agriculture. The CP is managed by an 18-member consortium, composed of 5 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (IRRI, CIAT, ICLARM, IWMI, IFPRI), 6 National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems institutions, 4 Advanced Research Institutes and 3 international NGOs. Initial set of CP Water and Food benchmark basins are:
The main research themes are: 1) crop water productivity improvement; 2) multiple use of upper catchments; 3) aquatic ecosystems and fisheries; 4) integrated basin water management systems; and 5) the global and national food and water system. The budgeted amount for the first cycle of funded research projects will amount to about US$40 million, of which 75% will be spent on work in the benchmark basins. The balance of the funding may be used to support research in other basins, as well as research of a global nature. The deadline of the concept note submission is on 15 April 2003. The second cycle of competitive grant funding under the CP will be in 2005. The proposed research projects should be of two to five year duration and cost effective. The total expenditure should be between US$ 200,000 and US$ 2 million. Certain types of organizations must show matching funding, which may be done in kind (e.g. staff salaries) or through contributed projects. Many researchers attending the meeting are concerned with the CP promoting competition rather than cooperation between Centers. Many participants thought the mechanisms of the CP are unclear and not transparent. Thus recommended that the RWC be very active to represent all the NARS and IARCs partners in it. The ADB Funded Project The first discussing day of the meeting was dedicated to present and discuss results of a large ADB funded project “Study on sustaining rice-wheat production systems of Asia”, which involves the four NARSs, CIMMYT, IRRI, ICRISAT and CIP. The objectives of the project are: i) to improve understanding of productivity and sustainability problems; and ii) to address some specifically identified problems through research. Activities include research, training in and out of the region and information development and networking. After country presentations, participants formed two groups for discussing specific issues related to eastern and northwestern Indo-gangetic Plains. The RO attended the first group.
Diversification: How much is possible: limited possibilities under rainfed conditions (supplemental irrigation may be available in karif); How much is expected: some sites have good area/work others less; Timely establishment of rice for wheat and other crops; Liming: Lime is found far away from acidic areas. The is a concern on using dolomites as it might put too much Mg into the soil; Searching for genotypes for acidic soils; Weed management in direct seeded rice in permanent beds: cocktail of herbicides: define if should be promoted or not; need more work and bring in integrated pest management; weed complex/flora needs documentation- how is it changing under reduced tillage and new cropping systems; Concerns on soil health: include soil micro flora studies as until now mostly focused in physical constraints being collected by other public institutions or projects; More work on RCTs for small farmers (more emphasis on livelihoods): power tillers implements; bullocks for plains and hills.
Problems with fund release from headquarters to the sites, to IARCs (not met), for potato work in Nepal site. Linkages Coordination and correctly reported between related linked projects. It should be distinguished between linkages in name (no modus operandi) and linkages in action (truly collaborative to generate technologies). Social science lacking Impact Assessments (gender differentiated); Participatory impact assessment – social science brought in; Training of scientists and engineers in participatory methods and participatory project cycles. Challenges Sustainability of funding; Scaling up vs. scaling out.
Evaluation and identification of what is the most cost effective/location specific way to advance the rates of adoption; Examples: Farmer field days; Farmer field schools; Whole family training; Encourage/train service providers; Encourage train local suppliers and manufacturers. Working group on Northwestern Indo-gangetic Plains – Main issues General
Financial Issues
While the CG goes through a period of reorganization and reorientation it is important not lose the sight of being partners with the NARS and together address grower constraints — there is a fear that this may occur. Other Issues
> Build in funds for socio-economists and note that many sites did not have readily available socio-economists involved or available; > There is about $200K in the ADB project that can be instrumental in assessing the impacts of RCTs. Are these resources enough?
The Chinese experience
External Review of the RWC Despite good progress, farm level impact is still limited. A number of questions have surfaced that point to a need for a fresh look at the future role, strategy and priorities for the work program of the RWC. There is also a need for greater clarity in the role and responsibilities of NARS, ARIs and International Centers. Donors have reframed their strategies for funding research to have greater impact on poverty alleviation, sustainability and the environment. In addition, given the rapid advances in proprietary science, the RWC feels that some of its objectives can be best achieved through strategic partnership/cooperation with the private sector. Given these wide-ranging considerations and a gap of almost three years since the TAC review of Ecoregional Programs, the 7th meeting of the Regional Steering Committee (meeting in Dhaka on February 17-18 2001) recommended a forward-looking review of the RWC. Last year, the Executive approved the implementation of the external review, which is presently being carried out and near to its end. Because of the broad nature of the scope and coverage of the review, a multidisciplinary review team was required. The team members and their specific responsibilities are:
The Review Team had intense discussions in the field, has visited the sites in different countries and has met the senior management in NARs and other stakeholders. The team has conducted a desk study and impact study in NARS. The team members are interacting with large numbers of scientists and managers in the region. Their initial recommendations confirmed the need to strengthen socio-economic and policy issues. They pointed out the need for better links with Extension in order to improve dissemination. Wheat in Nepal: research and extension In the MoA there are two major Departments, Agriculture, that deals with crops and horticulture, and Livestock. Agriculture research is not directly under the MoA but has some level of autonomy; however, the Chairman of Nepal Agriculture Research Center (NARC) is the Ministry of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture for Crops & Horticulture, commonly known as “Department of Agriculture”, is responsible for Extension NARC headquarters is in Kathmandu. NARC has 5 major national programmes of which one is Crop and Horticulture. Under this programme there are 12 independent programmes, each directly involved with a different crop. The National Wheat Research Programme is based in Bairahawa in the south of the country. There are also 5 multi-thematic regional centers and 15 area centers. The regional centers address all programmes: crops, livestock, etc., and their workplan is based on regional priorities. There are a few District Development Offices for descentralized services (on pilot basis). NARC HQs – (RP Sapkota, Executive Director) 5 National Programmes: Crop and Horticulture (Dr RP Sah, Programme Director); Livestock and Fisheries; Planning Process; Administration; and Finance. Under Crop and Horticulture:
The National Wheat Research Programme (NWRP) The NWRP is based in Bairahawa (Rupandeli District), where it was moved from Kathmandu in 1972. Wheat was a minor cereal until 60s when semidwarfs were introduced. Wheat is the third most important crop after rice and maize. Wheat is 0.67 million ha (1.2 million tons); maize is 0.8 million ha; rice 1.5 million ha of which 0.56 million ha are under rice/wheat. Main uses are chapatti, noodles and cookies. The NWRP addresses wheat improvement in three major regions according to altitude:
Major constraints in wheat production are: a) biotic:
b) abiotic:
The main agronomic programmes are:
The cost of contracting sowing/tillage is 300 rupees/h. Conventional sowing (a cross pass) cost around 1000 rupees/ha. The breeding programme receives nurseries from CIMMYT and ICARDA: from the germplasm and research information network and specific South Asia nurseries (mostly for diseases) Their five major wheat variety improvement programmes are:
The wheat cropping area using improved varieties is 91%. The following table shows the present wheat varietal diversification in the country:
QPM Maize CIMMYT has participatory trials mother and baby types for QPM maize in Nepal. It includes open-pollinated varieties as well as hybrids. A simple cross QPM hybrid has been identified from farmers as having good performance under diverse stresses (nitrogen, drought); although it still requires to be tested in the worst fields. It has been released in Vietnam and Bangladesh (where it yielded 12 tn/ha). In Rampur poultry industry is increasing very rapidly and thus maize demand as well. Poultry feed is a mix of maize and soybean (which is imported from India). Part of the soybean could be replaced by QPM, which has 12% protein rather than 9%, decreasing the cost. Hybrids cover less than 5% of the maize country area. Maize sown in winter (10000 ha) rather than April has high yield potential because of the longer season (and photothermal quotient) Seed price of QPM maize 3.5 times common maize seed. The RO visited a group of farmers that produce seeds in a cooperative basis, including hybrids. They receive for free the crossing lines from CIMMYT, thus making the hybrid production cheaper. They produce seed of maize, rice, wheat (4 varieties among which BL1473 seems the preferred one), lentils, cowpea, chickpea. The Department of Agriculture informed the RO that a TCP proposal on Participatory Maize Development has been prepared and will be submitted soon. The project concentrates on maize development in the hills, where some of the poorest farmers of Nepal live. It includes an extensive training programme and variety evaluation. AGPC should support Nepal in the implementation of this training and evaluation programme. ACTION: For the attention of Elcio Guimaraes, AGPC Cereals and Breeding Senior Officer.
4-6 March RTCC Meeting 6 March, Thursday RTCC Meeting Evening - Travel to Bairahawa 7 March, Friday Visit farmers fields
8 March, Saturday Visit participatory variety selection trials for maize. Travel to Kathmandu. 9 March, Sunday Visit Naldung site = Hill site (in reality includes 3 sites, one of them abandoned because of security) accompanied by Dr Shanti Bhattorai, Senior Soil Scientist and Hill Site Coordinator [Division of Soil Science; Khumaltar; Lalitpur] 10 March, Monday Departure for Bangladesh Yüklə 292,1 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||