Philippines |
IRRI PRESS RELEASE: PEACE AND SECURITY IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA |
16-May-2002 |
Los Baņos, Philippines - A cropping system that unites millions of
farmers across South Asia promises to play a key role in helping to
achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan. Rice and wheat are traditionally planted in rotation in
eastern Afghanistan, as they are on much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, which
extends east of Afghanistan through Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Restoring a productive rice-wheat system in Afghanistan is essential to
reviving Afghan agriculture, ensuring food security, and setting the
war-torn country on the road to economic recovery. "We must focus our attention on re-establishing food
security as quickly as possible," said a senior aid official.
"Restoring Afghanistan's agricultural sector has multiple benefits.
Historically, 80 percent of the population depends on farming and grazing.
Revitalizing this sector not only will reduce dependency on international
food assistance, but give employment to former combatants, help stabilize
the security environment, and spur the economy." The World Bank estimates that cereal production, the
mainstay of Afghanistan's food security, has fallen by almost 40 percent
since 1999 and is only half of what it was during the prewar years. In
addition to wheat, rice is a major staple for the Afghan people, who
consume on average 17 kilograms per capita per year (equal to 30 kilograms
of unmilled rice). Historically, Afghanistan is largely self-sufficient in
rice. However, in the past decade, during which time the country's total
rice requirement rose by 42 percent, the area planted to the grain fell by
35 percent, yields fell six percent to 1.79 tons per hectare (less than
half of the world average), and total rice production plunged by 43
percent. As a result, rice imports have risen 20 fold, from 5,000 to more
than 100,000 tons per year, at an annual cost of more than US$15 million. Imported rice accounts for some 30 percent of Afghan
consumption of the grain, a figure roughly parallel to the one-third of
the Afghan people who depend on international food aid. Ensured productivity The rice-wheat system is the focus of an on-going, ten-year
scientific effort to ensure the continued productivity of the 13.5 million
hectares of the Indo-Gangetic Plain where the system is practiced, as well
as a further 10.5 million hectares in China. "It's crucial that the
rice-wheat farmers of South Asia continue to be able to harvest their
crops and so feed the hundreds of millions of people who depend on
them," warned Ronald P. Cantrell, director general of the
Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). "And,
today, it's a pressing need that the rice-wheat farmers of Afghanistan
receive assistance in restoring the productivity of their farms." In a global effort to assist rice-wheat farmers in South
Asia, the national agricultural research and extension systems of
Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh have joined forces with scientists
from IRRI and other Future Harvest centers - including the International
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico, the International
Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India, the
International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka, and the
International Center for Potatoes in Peru - to form the Rice-Wheat
Consortium (RWC). The consortium is funded mainly by the Asian Development
Bank. The RWC grew out of a joint project between IRRI and CIMMYT
that started in 1990 as part of a major new effort to help rice-wheat
farmers find sustainable new strategies and technologies to improve their
lives. Fundamental to the project right from the start has been
farmer participation, to ensure the research is demand-driven. Equally
important has been close collaboration among scientists from all the
countries involved, including representatives of the often antagonistic
neighbors India and Pakistan. After the first phase of the project was completed in 1994,
the project members established the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic
Plains, a major system-wide eco-regional initiative of the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which includes the
Future Harvest centers named above. The aim of the project has been to
promote research that is fundamental to achieving enhanced productivity
and the sustainability of rice-wheat cropping systems in South Asia. Precision farming In addition to this fundamental strategy, the consortium
has adopted several other key principles. One of the first of these is the
"precision farming" concept, which advances resource-conserving
technologies that can increase crop productivity, while at the same time
reducing crop production costs, increasing farmers' income, and
sustainably improving the quality of each farm's natural resources. Jagdish Kumar Ladha, IRRI soil nutritionist and rice-wheat
coordinator, said that years of intensive cropping in rice-wheat areas has
seriously depleted the level of soil nutrients available to future crops.
"Additionally, the inappropriate use of fertilizers, which has been
rampant in the region, has also adversely affected local soils," Dr.
Ladha added. One of the great successes of the consortium has been the
introduction of a simple tool known as the leaf color chart (LCC) to help
farmers determine the amount of nitrogen a rice or wheat crop needs. A
recent study found that 175 farmers from India's Haryana state were
successfully using the LCC to cut their use of nitrogen fertilizer by up
to 20 percent. Other precision farming techniques, such the deep placement
of nitrogen tablets (or briquettes) and controlled-release fertilizers,
helped further reduce farmers' application of nitrogenous fertilizer by up
to 30 percent. Researchers have enjoyed success in helping grain growers
cut their water use, in some cases achieving savings of up to 40 percent.
This has been achieved by helping farmers introduce new strategies such as
cultivating rice on raised irrigated beds rather than in puddled soils
with standing water. They have also learned how to adapt rice production
to leave the soil in suitable condition for the following wheat crop. Efficient resource use "The future sustainability of such an agricultural
system strongly depends on maximizing input use efficiency and reducing
the cost of cultivation," explained Dr. Ladha, who added that the
consortium research team is intensively monitoring the rice-wheat
ecosystem. "Technological options for producing more rice and wheat
through the more efficient use of resources such as water, labor,
fertilizer and crop-protection agents is a major challenge that needs an
integrated approach based on farmer participation. "Other technologies being considered for integration
into the rice-wheat system," said Dr. Ladha, "include
land-leveling for water savings, growing rice in un-puddled conditions for
greater water and labor savings, alternative practices for weed and
residue management for environmental protection and nutrient savings, and
the conjunctive use of organic and inorganic nutrient sources for balanced
nutrient management and fertilizer savings." More collaboration and trust According to Raj K. Gupta, the consortium's regional
facilitator, and Peter Hobbs, a CIMMYT agronomist, there is no doubt the
consortium is already one of the finest examples of collaboration in South
Asia, providing clear evidence that countries in the region can work
together to help their citizens improve their lives. "The major challenge for the
consortium members is to find new ways to ensure the food security of the
region's millions of grain consumers while at the same time making
rice-wheat farming more profitable," Dr. Hobbs explained. "While
funding is a key constraint because many donor agencies are placing less
emphasis on agriculture, we have to be optimistic." IRRI is the world's leading international rice research and
training center. Based in the
Philippines and with offices in 11 other countries, it is an autonomous,
nonprofit institution focused on improving the well-being of present and
future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with
low incomes, while preserving natural resources. IRRI is one of 16 Future
Harvest centers funded the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an association of public and private donor
agencies. # # # For additional information, contact Duncan Macintosh, IRRI,
DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines; telephone (63-2) 845-0563 or
(63-2) 844-3351 to 53; fax: (63-2) 891-1292 or (63-2) 845-0606; email: d.macintosh@cgiar.org |
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