Rice-based Systems Research
program: food security in Lao PDR,
Cambodia & Bangladesh
Overview
The Rice-based Systems Research (RSR) program is one of four new programs developed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) under the Food Security through Rural Development initiative announced in the 2009 federal budget. ACIAR is a statutory authority that operates as part of the Australian Government’s development cooperation programs. The Centre encourages Australia’s agricultural scientists to use their skills for the benefit of developing countries and Australia.
The Focus
Rice-based farming systems in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Bangladesh
ACIAR’s 2011–12 Revised Corporate Plan identifies improving food and nutrition security as a core goal; to be achieved by targeting productivity gains in smallholder agricultural systems of developing-country partners. The RSR program will explore opportunities to alleviate poverty through improving the productivity and profitability of rice-based farming systems. These systems comprise both rainfed and irrigated agriculture, and are typically integrated with livestock production.
The program invests AUD$14.8 million over a 5-year period (2009–14). Its integrated portfolio comprises five large-scale farm-productivity projects, together with a suite of smaller policy-focused projects, in Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Collectively, the projects span crop and livestock development; best practice management; technological advances; new cropping niches; targeted marketing and extension; and alternative evidence-based policy options.
Background
The Food Security through Rural Development initiative announced in the 2009 federal budget was a core element of the Australian Government’s response to escalating staple crop prices and related community unrest in neighbouring South and South-East Asia in 2007–08.
High food prices in Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh are of particular concern as these countries are rated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as ‘alarming’ and ‘serious’ on the Global Hunger Index (GHI)1. The GHI is a multi-dimensional approach to measuring hunger and malnutrition.
It combines three equally-weighted indicators: the proportion of undernourished as a percentage of the population, the prevalence of underweight children under the age of five, and the mortality rate of children under five.
The Challenge
Responding effectively to a structural change in the price of food.
While prices for staple crops have fallen, they remain significantly higher than in the 1990s and early 2000s, and are unlikely to return to earlier levels in the foreseeable future.
Revised forecasts for wheat, corn and soybeans by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in February 2012
are anticipated to further lift its already bullish expectation for prices to remain above 20-year averages for the next decade. The average price of wheat for the past 20 years is about US$3, and the USDA estimates that it will trade near US$5 a bushel for this decade. Corn has traded at about US$2.5 in the past 2 decades, and is forecast to trade above US$4 a bushel. Similarly, the price of soybeans is likely to reach US$10 a bushel from the long-term average of about US$7 a bushel2.
The USDA’s forecasts are primarily driven by its expectation of a 104% increase in the ‘middle-class’ ranks of emerging economies by 2020; this compares with a 9% jump in developed countries. This translates to a global increase of 400 million middle-class households by 2020 in addition to the current 600 million.
While more general population increase adds further mouths to feed, higher incomes spur greater demand for resource-intensive meat and dairy products, and enable higher energy consumption. When incomes rise by 10% in developing countries about 40% of the total will be spent on more food and on different sorts of food. This is not the case in developed countries. A 10% rise in income results in next to no extra spending on food. Income elasticity is therefore much higher for food in emerging countries, and has significant implications for grain demand3. At the same time, policy settings to tackle climate change are driving the substitution of carbon-rich fossil fuels for biofuels, such that an increasing proportion of the world’s crops are diverted to biofuel production. Additionally, irregular weather patterns are contributing to increased price volatility.
Research has a pivotal role to play in responding to the challenge of food security in South and South-East Asia. Many opportunities exist for increasing the production and profitability of crops and livestock and, at the same time, reducing dependence on food aid. Although rice is the primary dietary staple of most of these communities, the profitability from both land and labour inputs is poor. As a consequence, rice farmers remain in poverty and have little incentive to increase rice production. Innovation is needed to increase yields (varieties, agronomy, irrigation) and reduce labour inputs (direct seeding, weed management, mechanisation, irrigation), and to ensure that market returns are optimised. In doing so, individual production systems will need to achieve a significant reduction in their environmental footprint.
Program framework
The RSR program focuses on improving rainfed and irrigated rice-based farming systems, as the mainstay of staple production throughout South and South-East Asia. The main target countries are Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
The Rationale
Productivity improvements can drive food security at multiple scales.
The rationale for the research program’s core theme of ‘productivity improvement’ is that it will act as a driver or catalyst for enhancing food security at a number of levels:
· at the household and village level through moving more households towards year-round food security
· at the district and provincial level through using market and other mechanisms to ensure that staple foods can be made available year-round to a higher percentage of the community
· at the national and regional level through supporting several partner countries as net rice exporters.
The program will examine rice grown in conjunction with wheat, maize, grain legumes and a range of other cropping system components. Targeted research will also look for ways of improving livestock production, as an integral component of many rice-based systems throughout Asia. Existing technologies offer scope for rapid improvements in crop productivity in the short-term. These technologies are most effectively applied in environments that support farmer uptake, such as market access, functional extension systems, and scope to realise higher commodity prices.
The program has five core strategies:
1. Intensify crops in rice-based production systems by increasing the number of crops grown on the same land each year following the main rice crop
Crop intensification may be achieved by using shorter season varieties, improving on-farm water and soil fertility management (e.g. water-harvesting practices, minimum tillage, supplementary irrigation), and introducing rotation crops (such as legumes, which can catalyse multiple cropping options).
2. Boost yields by improving the efficiency of water and nutrient use
The entry point for yield enhancement is to improve the crop water-use efficiency of both irrigated and dryland components of rice-based systems. Water productivity gains will need to be underpinned by sustainable soil fertility.
This will necessitate targeted research to develop site-specific nutrient management systems, including more efficient use of fertilisers, soil ameliorants, green and animal manures, and residues. Tailoring agronomic practices (e.g. weed management, planting methods) to local conditions will further enhance water and nutrient efficiency.
3. Improve livestock production by integrating animals more effectively with rice-based farming systems
Livestock production is highly dependent upon feed sourced from crops – grains and tubers, stover, green forage, and processing by-products – together with weeds within and beside crops. The transformation of poor farmers from livestock keepers to active market-oriented producers will require improvements in livestock reproduction and nutrition coupled with better access to markets.
4. Strengthen policy settings by improving understanding of the linkages with, and impacts on, food security
Food security is affected by the mix of policy settings at local to international scales. Achieving more productive and sustainable rice-based farming systems will necessitate better understanding of and integration across formal and informal policies, especially in the arenas of agricultural industry and trade, land and water resources management, agricultural extension systems, and marketing systems for rice and related products.
5. Build capacity of individuals and institutions by establishing effective collaborative relationships and facilitating knowledge sharing
Effective and lasting results for food security will depend upon developing strong in-country capacity for framing, conducting and extending R&D. This capacity extends from individual researchers to the broader institutional arrangements. The principal mechanism for capacity building is through partnering of Australian and in-country institutions to jointly deliver project outcomes.
1. Developing improved farming and marketing systems in rainfed regions of southern Lao PDR
(Project CSE/2009/004)
This project aims to increase food supply and income from lowland and upland farming systems in the rainfed regions of southern Lao PDR, which have significant potential for market surplus in rice, other crops and livestock. It is working in collaboration with a US$40m IFAD/ADB-funded development program. The project will examine opportunities to intensify and diversify these production systems with livestock and other crops. It will achieve this by using a four-pronged approach.
First, a diagnosis and integrated assessment will be undertaken of the farming and marketing systems. Second, new crop and livestock technologies will be developed, together with targeted approaches to marketing and extension. The third element involves knowledge sharing and the scaling-out of varieties, crop and livestock technologies, and marketing approaches. The project will work with partners to test, share and scale-out knowledge, offer training and other capacity development opportunities, and develop simple and effective tools, including ‘RiceCheck’ and best-bet management practices. Finally, the fourth pillar looks at opportunities for supplementary irrigation through water-use efficiency, with a view to enhancing drought security and prospects for short-duration post-rice crops and forages for livestock production.
The research will target two lowland and two upland areas in the provinces of Savannakhet and Champassak. On-farm research in these areas will engage approximately 300 farms in 10 villages, including in the priority poor upland districts of Sepon and Phim. On-farm trials will give emphasis to resource management, direct seeding, short-duration post-rice crops such as pulses, vegetables or forages, and the integration of ruminant livestock. On-station trials will take a whole-of-system approach and look at the interconnectivities of these diversified mixed-farming systems.
Setting
· Southern Lao PDR
· Rainfed rice-based systems
· Lowlands and uplands
· In collaboration with US$40m IFAD / ADB-funded development program
Research snapshot
Intensify and diversify with other crops and livestock
· Better understand farming and marketing system
· Develop new technologies and marketing approaches
· Share and scale-out knowledge and technologies
· Supplement irrigation by smarter water use
2. Improved rice germplasm for Cambodia and Australia
(Project CSE/2009/005)
This project aims to develop and enhance access to improved rice varieties that are better matched to Cambodian rice cultivation systems. These systems have been changing significantly over the past 5 years. With increasing variability of seasonal conditions, it is critical that varieties can endure both early-season drought and inundation. Germplasm development also needs to account for the increased use of direct seeding. This research will build on Cambodia’s established rice breeding program to develop rice germplasm for adoption across three rice-based systems, namely the lowland rainfed system and the dry-season system using residual moisture or fully irrigated production. The dry-season crop is exported, which also provides an opportunity for better quality varieties that target higher value export markets.
Setting
· Cambodia
· Lowland rice systems
· Rainfed and dry season
(residual moisture and irrigated)
Research snapshot
Improve rice varieties
· Survey germplasm needs and design dissemination strategy
· Understand sensory quality and build technical capacity
· Develop and disseminate improved rice varieties
· Demonstrate commercially viable
direct-seeded practices
There are four main components to the research. A survey will be conducted to identify the germplasm needs of Cambodian farmers and traders to determine the priorities and strategies for new germplasm development and dissemination. This work will be supplemented by investigations to understand the sensory quality of Cambodian rice and to develop in-country capacity for rice-quality assessment and marker-assisted selection (MAS). The third component will identify, develop and disseminate improved rice germplasm for three distinct agroecological rice systems. The final component involves demonstration of commercially viable direct-seeded practices derived from tropical Australian rice production.
3. Improved rice establishment and productivity in Cambodia and Australia (Project CSE/2009/037)
This project aims to enhance rice system productivity in rainfed and irrigated lowland systems in Cambodia, especially in those that are direct seeded. The approach for achieving this is through better matching of production systems to soil type and water availability/quality and through mechanisation. The work is framed within the context of three major changes reshaping agriculture in Cambodia: the spread of direct seeding, the replacement of draught animals with mechanised forms of field preparation, and a significant increase in the proportion of irrigated rice.
An assessment will be undertaken of the current and potential rice-establishment methods used by farmers in at least three target provinces (Takeo, Kampot and Kampong Thom) to develop strategies for raising productivity. Significant research effort will target spatial database development.
The Cambodian Agriculture and Research Development Institute (CARDI) soils laboratory will also be improved by upgrading equipment and building human capacity. The project will conduct 50 targeted adaptive trials on rice-establishment techniques and associated practices and options. A further 50 trials on improved agronomic practices in irrigated dry-season rice on-farm and on-research-station aim to raise productivity by 25%. The project intends to increase the capacity of its partners to lead demonstrations of rice-establishment techniques and agricultural equipment. The project’s Australian component will investigate current and predicted future problems with rice seedling establishment.
AusAID’s CAVAC program, through ACIAR management of its extension component, will assist with outreach about new rice system approaches (irrigation, direct seeding and mechanisation), while other CAVAC components will help in creating a better policy and market environment for dissemination of new agricultural machinery and herbicides.