Philippines: Farmers and children train on NM Rice

A series of training events on Nutrient Manager for Rice (NM Rice) was held for farmers and their children in four rainfed lowland rice-farming areas in the provinces of Tarlac, Pangasinan, and Nueva Ecija in the Philippines.

These were conducted under the project Improving livelihoods and overcoming poverty in the drought‐prone lowlands of Southeast Asia funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“This was a series of on-farm activities where LGUs, farmers, and their children are taught how to access NM Rice, a decision support tool that upholds the site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) approach to judicious and efficient application of fertilizer,” explains Stephan Haefele (IRRI scientist, IFAD principal investigator, and CURE Working Group leader for drought-prone rice environments).

The new NM Rice is an interactive decision tool that caters to irrigated and lowland rainfed ecosystem. It aims to help rice farmers in these areas improve the growth and yield of their crop through on-farm validation and the development of a nutrient management technology using a combination of improved rice technologies for different ecosystems. NM provides a fertilizer guideline for a rice field based on responses to easy-to-answer questions and is accessible through the Internet on personal computers, mobile phones, and smartphones.

“NM Rice was initially distributed through CDs, but we soon realized that extension workers and farmers can be reached faster through the Internet or mobile phones,” Haefele added.

The training team, composed of Dr. Haefele and Niño Paul Meynard Banayo and Ranee Christina Mabesa (IRRI assistant scientists for soil-agronomy) facilitated the training series, held for local government units and farmers and their children, from June to October 2012 in Pura and Victoria, Tarlac; San Nicolas, Pangasinan; and General Tinio, Nueva Ecija.

The series of capacity enhancement activities was held in collaboration with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). The IFAD Philippines team, headed by Haefele, are now looking at upscaling the application through its adoption by the local governments of Pura, Victoria, San Nicolas, General Tinio, and other lowland rainfed areas in the Philippines.

Nutrient Manager for Rice was developed by the team of Roland Buresh, IRRI's principal scientist and nutrient management expert.


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UPLB celebrates 94th Loyalty Day

Close to a hundred IRRI employees celebrated with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) alumni by joining the annual Loyalty Day parade on 10 October. Deputy Director General for Communications and Partnerships V. Bruce J. Tolentino led the IRRI contingent.

The Loyalty Day recalls events from 10 October 1918, when the former UP College of Agriculture, from the dean down to the last laborer, volunteered en masse for the Philippine National Guard to defend the country against aggressors. UPLB has since devoted the month of October for the commemoration of this valor.


Students, faculty members, staff, alumni, and members of civic organizations, surrounding barangays, schools, and various institutions in Los Baños come together every year for the annual parade in the customary spirit of Loyalty Day.


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IRRI holds 'olympics' for local emergency preparedness trainees

IRRI hosted the Neighborhood Emergency Service Team (NEST) Olympics, with participants from 6 barangays in Los Baños and Bay, on 13 October.

The one-day Olympics served as a refresher course and test for current NEST trainees on various emergency skills. Events included medical response, carrying an accident victim, and fire-fighting response ("pila balde").


The Barangay Sto. Domingo Team from Bay won, with barangays San Antonio (Bay) and Tagumpay in second and third places.

Deputy Director General for Communications and Partnerships (DDG-CP) V. Bruce J. Tolentino awarded the trophies to the winning teams. Los Baños Vice-Mayor Josephine Sumangil-Evangelista was present during the awarding ceremony.

IRRI's Host Country and Community Relations Office and Safety and Security Services office organized the NEST training, which started in January 2012 and will continue until December 2013. It is being held with support from the United Parcel Services (UPS). Facilitators came from the Emergency Research Center, Inc.

The NEST training is intended to strengthen and improve the preparedness of members of IRRI' host communities in case of emergency and help them avoid crime and terrorism, prevent fire incidents, and learn the use of basic firefighting equipment. Trainees thus contribute to the safety and security of the community and help save lives.

During a major emergency, large numbers of victims, failure of communication, traffic, and road blockages will prevent victims from accessing essential emergency services on time. People will have to rely on one another for immediate life-saving and life-sustaining needs. Under these conditions, family members, schoolmates, fellow employees, and neighbors will naturally try to help each other; emergency skills and preparedness are thus very important.


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Cambodia: Laser leveling reintroduced

The Department of Agricultural Engineering (DAEng) demonstrated laser leveling in the rice fields of Don Bosco School and Toul Samrong Agricultural Engineering Development Center in Battambang Province and in a farmer’s rice field at Kandal Province.

The resurgence of laser-leveling comes as the country attempts to ease labor shortage through the use of agricultural machinery, such as combine harvesters.


The ADB-IRRI Postharvest Project supported the field demonstrations by imparting techniques and providing laser kits. The DAEng contributed a bucket and an 82-HP tractor that has been used for laser leveling in target areas since 2011.

Laser leveling activities have been continuously implemented by DAEng with support from the Agricultural Value Chain Program or CAVAC, Australian Programme, and the Kampot Provincial Department of Agriculture at Sdach Kong Khang Cheung Commune, Banteay Meas District, Kampot Province. Thirty hectares of farmers’ rice fields were laser-leveled from end of April 2012 to mid-June 2012.

Beneficiaries and stakeholders have seen the merits of the technology enough to adopt it. During the field day on laser leveling at the pilot project in Kampot Province on 9th September 2012,
It also attracted the interest of Chan Sarun, minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, who recommended putting laser leveling into the national programme.

Laser land-leveling was introduced in Cambodia by IRRI in 1997, with about 200 rice fields around the Tonle Sap Great Lake leveled using it. Joe Rickman, IRRI scientist, and experts from the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institution (CARDI) and DAEng introduced laser leveling then to Cambodian farmers through training activities and field demonstrations. The operation, however, was halted after the project ended, largely because the technology was not widely known in Cambodia at the time and adaptation was low. 


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Bangladesh: Farmers field day held on short-duration rice variety

A Farmers’ Field Day on BRRI dhan56, an early-maturing and short-duration variety, was held at Rajarhat in Kurigram District on 26 September 2012.

Seventy-three farmers came and exchanged practical tips and shared experiences with one another. It is noteworthy that no other rice variety matured in September in the area.

BRRI dhan56 posted a yield of 4.4 tons per hectare. The farmers were thrilled to get this much yield from a short-duration variety. BRRI dhan56 matures in 109 days.

The early harvest of rice provides a longer window for the subsequent non-rice crops, such as mustard and mungbean. Farmers previously harvested only two crops a year; with BRRI dhan, they now have the option of a third one, and an opportunity to increase their farm income.

The field day was organized by the Rangpur Hub of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh.



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Bangladesh: CSISA participates in agronomy conference

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD) took part in the 11th International Conference of the Bangladesh Society of Agronomy on 6 October 2012. The theme of the conference was Advances in agronomic research under changing environment in Bangladesh.


Three hundred fifty scientists from Bangladesh and abroad attended. Three CSISA-IRRI scientists were among those who presented papers during the conference. Dr. Salaque, CSISA-IRRI coordinator, presented a paper titled, Nutrient management for rice production.

CSISA-BD also set up its own booth to highlight its various activities, technologies, and progress. A 42-inch LCD screen played a documentary on CSISA-BD.

Present during the conference opening were Md. Abdur Razzaque, minister for Food and Disaster Management and chief guest; and Zainul Abedin, IRRI representative for Bangladesh, as special guest.


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Thailand: IRRI offers first workshop on herbicide-resistant rice

IRRI conducted the first herbicide-resistant rice (HRR) workshop for Asia in Bangkok, Thailand, on 19-20 September 2012.

HRR is a cultivar of rice that is resistant to a particular herbicide or herbicides that would otherwise damage the rice crop. Herbicides can be sprayed on the resistant rice cultivar and destroy weeds without affecting the rice.


To date, three herbicide-resistant rice systems have been developed: imidazolinone-, glufosinate-, and glyphosate-resistant. Glufosinate- and glyphosate-resistant rice cultivars were developed through transgenic technologies. Imidazolinone-resistant rice cultivars (Clearfield®) are non-transgenic.

Clearfield rice was first commercialized in Asia in Malaysia in 2010 and may be introduced soon in other Asian countries.

HRR is typically used where weedy rice infests rice fields, as weedy rice is not controlled by selective herbicides. Weedy rice is a problem in Asia, particularly in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and parts of India.

The HRR technology is effective and simple, but comes with the risk of the herbicide-resistant weedy rice evolving via gene flow or herbicide selection pressure.

While HRR may help solve weed control problems in rice in the short term, without good stewardship its widespread use may become a threat to the sustainability of the Asian rice industry.

IRRI organized this workshop on HRR with these aims:

• make farmers aware of options on the use of HRR in rice production systems
• identify potential problems related to HRR
• record lessons learned from the introduction of HRR in Latin America and North America
• identify steps to be taken to minimize any negative effects of HRR

Twenty-six participants attended from IRRI, Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA, Vietnam, and BASF.

For more information, please contact Bhagirath Chauhan, weed scientist at IRRI (b.chauhan@irri.org).


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