Training on mass metrology held for IRRI staff

A training-workshop, Technical requirements for calibration and measurement traceability of weighing instruments and meter sticks, was held at IRRI on 12 September 2012 to enhance accuracy and traceability of data collected using the weighing balance and the meter stick.

The workshop was held in two parts: a lecture on technical calibration requirements and traceability, and a hands-on session on calibration of electronic weighing balances and meter sticks. It was attended by 55 staff from IRRI's various laboratories.

Proper calibration of weighing instruments will ensure that measurement data are accurate and traceable to international weight standards. Previous calibration workshops were held in December 2010 and July 2011.

Resource for the workshop was Roxan de Luna Roxas, quality and technical manager of Metrologie Concepts Solutions, Inc. in the Philippines.

The workshop was organized by IRRI's Risk Management Quality Assurance unit.


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Bangladesh: CSISA holds training workshop on rice technology adoption

A training workshop on rice-based cropping systems and adoption of rice production technology was held in Khulna for rice-related service providers.

The workshop was organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD), with the assistance of the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE), and was held on the CSISA-IRRI Khulna Hub premises on 19 July 2012.

Eighteen local service providers from remote areas in 6 upazilas in Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat districts attended as participants. The service they provide include supplying seeds of new high-yielding, salt-tolerant, and other rice varieties, and of other crops; fertilizers; pest and disease management; irrigation; and crop management.

Participants learned to identify information needs of farmers against the type of information provided by them and the technological packages recommended by the NARES and CSISA-BD project for the area. They determined the gap between what is available and what is sought, and discussed ways to overcome this gap.

M.A. Aziz, DAE deputy director in Khulna District, encouraged the participants to provide services appropriate to a community and emphasized the judicious application of fertilizer and other farm inputs.

Thailand: Young socioeconomic researchers undergo methodology and data management training

The Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE) organized a training-workshop on methodologies and data management for socioeconomic studies for young researchers on 11-13 July 2012 at the Nakhon Ratchasima Rice Research Institute (NRRC) in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand.
 
Eleven researchers and assistant researchers (8 women and 3 men) from the NRRC participated in the training-workshop, which aims to enhance the skills of CURE’s NARES partners in the conduct of socioeconomic surveys, data management, and in the use of systematic data entry.

Digna Manzanilla, social scientist and associate CURE coordinator, and Leo Angelo Ocampo, assistant scientist of CURE, conducted the training-workshop, which covered the socioeconomic aspect of research, the survey questionnaire, and good practices in the conduct of surveys.

The training-workshop kicked off the conduct of surveys in the two villages of Srapatoom and Nongbuan in Nakhon Ratchasima. It was organized with support from the IFAD project Improving livelihoods in the drought-prone lowlands of southeast Asia in collaboration with Varapong Chamarerk, senior scientist and CURE keysite coordinator in Thailand; Sommai Lertna of NRRC, and the Ubon Ratchathani Rice Research Center.

The activity was graced by Duangjai Suriya-Arunroj, NRRC senior scientist, who represented the center director.