WG6: Work Plan 2006
Intensive upland systems with long growing season
*Detailed version can be downloaded here.


2006 Work Plan Summary*

Arakan Valley , Philippines, and Lampung, Indonesia


Key Site: Arakan Valley, Philipppines; University of Southern Mindanao

IRRI team: CM Vera Cruz (WG Leader), E Javier, T Paris, D Johnson, N Kobayashi, N Castilla, I Oña, M Laza, J Janiya, FA Elazegui
Arakan Valley team: E Hondrade (Key Site Coordinator), RFD Hondrade, E Requita, VG Oliva; K Barroga, M Casimero L Sebastian (PhilRice); Arakan Valley local government unit

  • Inventory farmers’ current practices involving high-value crops, biotic constraints to productivity, and farmers’ perceived needs for this research, in a project linked with the USAID’s IPM CRSP (new).
  • Collect and grow 41 traditional varieties commonly used in Arakan Valley for farmers to evaluate agronomic performance and yield at a field day (continuing).
  • Evaluate top-yielding lines in PVS trials for sensory and physico-chemical properties (continuing).
  • Send seeds of local and elite varieties to IRRI for DNA analysis to study varietal resistance to blast and brown spot, in a project linked IPM CRSP (new).
  • Collect pathogen isolates when disease occurs this cropping season in order to do their characterization (continuing).
  • Conduct multi-locational PVS trials to identify farmers’ preferences for new upland varieties; involve baby trials to get farmers’ reactions on candidate varieties to the National Cooperative Test, and test varieties for weed competitiveness, as well as test practices for integrated weed management (continuing).
  • Scale up rice genetic diversification and mixed cropping practices to achieve food and seed security in uplands of Arakan Valley.
  • Promote in situ conservation of farmer-preferred traditional and modern varieties through the Community Seed Bank, and devise effective seed storage, multiplication and distribution systems in cooperation with the local government unit (continuing).
  • Conduct farmer participatory experiments (FPE) and training for seed health management among farmers (continuing).
  • Nominate USM collaborators for training on specific skills when appropriate courses are available (continuing).
  • Develop crop monitoring instruments for farmers, which will be shared with the co-research team at the CURE key site at Lampung, Indonesia.
  • Develop evaluation instruments to assess socioeconomic and environmental effects of newly adopted technologies, to be shared with the Lampung key site

Key site: Lampung, South Sumatra, Indonesia; Indonesian Center for Food Crops Research and Development (ICFORD)

IRRI team: CM Vera Cruz (WG Leader), E Javier, T Paris, D Johnson, N Kobayashi, N Castilla, I Oña, M Laza, J Janiya, FA Elazegui
Lampung team: Suwarno (Key Site Coordinator), E Lubis, A Hairmansis, Santoso, A Nasution, Y Soelaeman (IIRR); Yunus, M Bustamam (ICABIOGRAD); Z. Zulkifli, Arfi (AIAT)

 
  • Collect data to fill in data gaps on farmers’ current practices in terms of high-value crops, such as rubber and palm oil plantations and perennials, grown with rice, on farmers’ preferences for new crops, and their perceived importance of diseases, insects, and weeds thus, identifying research needs to improve integrated pest management for rice and high-value crops.
  • Conduct germplasm exchange in order to characterize agronomic traits, yield and to analyze for genetic diversity; to involve evaluation of 500 advanced breeding lines for eventually selecting 20-30 lines for eventual testing using farmers’ crop management in the development of a seed package that can be deployed to farmers in the future.
  • Evaluate 500 advanced breeding lines against 25 diverse blast pathogen races, for selecting 20-30 lines for a future evaluation against blast pathogen races in the development of a seed package that will eventually be deployed to farmers for managing blast.
  • In cooperation with the IIRR research facilities, evaluate 300 breeding lines for sensory and physico-chemical grain qualities for the eventual selection of 20-30 lines identified for eating quality and physico-chemical characteristics that will be deployed to farmers in a seed package.
  • Inoculate the blast pathogen M. oryzae to blast monogenic lines and also characterize the newly collected blast isolates in order to understand the blast pathogen population structure for scaling up the deployment of diverse rice elite lines and varieties in Lampung.
  • Conduct participatory evaluation (PVS) of promising elite lines and farmer-preferred traditional varieties following the “mother-baby” trials in farmers’ fields.
  • Conduct field trials on interplanting techniques to determine the best cropping pattern to minimize blast. Trials will involve: a) interplanting and relay planting of rice, peanut, and possibly mungbean, and cowpea in young rubber or oil palm plantation, and b) diverse rice cultivar mixtures to manage blast.
  • Promote program to key farmers, local agricultural officers of various districts and provinces and of other related institutions during field day and during visits to major upland rice-growing areas in the provinces.
  • Continue to work, with the close collaboration of IIRR seed specialist, Dr. Sri Wahyuni, on the establishment of a Community Seed Bank that will be a seed distribution system for in-situ conservation of traditional and improved germplasm. Farmers will be monitored on their capability to produce quality seeds for their own cultivation.
  • Organize a study tour to project sites to let farmers share experiences in implementing the technologies; conduct farmers’ meetings to evaluate farmers’ observations on the demonstrated technologies.
  • Conduct on-site training for farmers by the seed health consultant, and nominate a researcher from the key site to attend the Application of Participatory Approaches to Agricultural Research and Extension workshop at IRRI Headquarters, Philippines.
  • Develop, in partnership with the Arakan Valley key site coordinator, a monitoring instrument for use by farmers to analyze crop performance.
  • Develop an evaluation instrument, in cooperation with the Arakan Valley key site, to assess socio-economic and environmental effects of adopting the new innovations in cropping and cropping systems. USM is validating the instrument that will be shared for validation at the Lampung key site.