Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia

Vol. 4 Nos. 1-2 June 2011

Bill and Melinda Gates visit STRASA and CSISA projects at ICAR research farms in Patna, India

Uma Shankar Singh

ill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and party visited the research farms of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in Patna on 23 March. They received briefings on the ongoing activities of Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) and the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), two important projects generously supported by the BMGF.

to increase farm productivity and farmers incomes through an integrated value chain approach. He also discussed CSISAs research trials and innovations for mechanization, swift delivery efforts, the role of partnerships, and capacity building. The BMGF delegation interacted with the STRASA and CSISA teams, farmers, and partners on numerous issues, including the development
Bill and Melinda Gates (center) also met with women farmers during their visit.

The Gates expressed their appreciation of the efforts of the two projects to make new varieties and sustainable technologies available to farmers in the region and for the opportunity to interact with the scientists, partners, and especially the farmers.

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A peek inside...
South Asia: STRASA Phase 2 series of meetings held............p. 3 Benin: Africa component of STRASA project launches second phase........................ p. 5 Stress-tolerant rice seeds get a boost with NGO multiplication in West Bengal.......................p. 6 Salt-tolerant variety excites farmers in Bihar, India ........................ p. 7 Drought-tolerant rice eases effects of climate change.......................p. 8 Bangladesh: BMGF team visits IRRI project sites.......................... p. 9
Special Feature Awards and recognitions p. 10

Dr. U.S. Singh, South Asia coordinator for STRASA, and Mr. M. Srinivas Rao, CEO-CSISA, explained the frameworks of their respective projects to the BMGF delegation. Dr. Singh pointed out that STRASA is working with 254 partners in three countries and that variety SwarnaSub1, which has been tested and was released to farmers in 2009, has shown an excellent performance in farmers fields, both with and without flooding. Mr. Rao explained CSISAs initiative

and dissemination of different stresstolerant (drought, flooding, salinity) rice varieties; increasing agricultural productivity; the role of mechanization; and the adoption of innovative climate-resilient agricultural practices. Bill and Melinda Gates showed keen interest in the quantity of seeds being distributed through minikits, tolerance of stagnant flood, and anaerobic germination. They also discussed issues such as the availability, planting, fertilizer needs, and eating quality of flood-tolerant variety Swarna-Sub1 with visiting women farmers.

IRRI-India

Bill and Melinda... from page 1

Excerpts of a conversation between STRASA South Asia coordinator Umesh Singh and Bill Gates follow: Bill Gates: What is the average farm size in Bihar and quantity of seeds being distributed through minikits? U. Singh: About 79% of the farmers in Bihar are marginal, having less than 1 ha of land, and another 11% are small, with 1 to 2 ha of land. The government is providing 5 kg of seed as a minikit per farmer. The seed requirement is 30 kg per hectare. Bill Gates: At this rate, would it take a long time to reach all the farmers? U. Singh: As mentioned by David Bergvinson, the multiplication factor of the seed is high, approximately 100 times. The Bihar government now has about 300 tons of seed of Swarna-Sub1. They require approximately 30,000 tons of seed to cover 1 million ha, which they should be able to achieve by 2012. The state government of Bihar is going to promote drought-tolerant Sahbhagi dhan in a similar way and has already initiated a program. The state government also multiplied 78 tons of seed of salinity-tolerant variety CSR36 in 2010. The government also plans to promote seed multiplication of Swarna-Sub1 and Sahbhagi dhan through Seed Village and Chief Minister Rapid Seed Multiplication schemes. In kharif 2010, Swarna-Sub1 minikits were distributed to 5,000 farmers in Bihar. Bill Gates: How much time is required or needed for the release (releasing the seeds commercially)? U. Singh: It is generally 5 to 6 years and another 2 years before the seed reaches the farmers. The first year is for the production of foundation seed from breeder seed and the second year is for the production of certified seed from foundation seed. However, for the marker-assisted selection (MAS)generated varieties such as Swarna-Sub1, the government of India has reduced the testing time by 1 year. Through the STRASA project, we have been able to convince the government of India that, for promising varieties, we promote prerelease and do large-scale seed multiplication. This will save another 2 years time. Although IR64-Sub1 and Samba Mahsuri-Sub1 are not yet released in India, NFSM (National Food Security Mission) has decided to distribute 100 tons of truthfully labeled seed of each of these as minikits in kharif 2011. The seed chain includes breeder seed, foundation seed, and certified seed, in that order. Bill Gates showed keen interest in tolerance of stagnant flood and anaerobic germination, and asked whether work on these genes was done at IRRI. U. Singh explained the difference between flash flood and stagnant flood and mentioned that IRRI has already
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combined SUB1 for tolerance of flash flood with tolerance of stagnant flood and these lines are being evaluated by the national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES). IRRI scientists have already characterized a QTL for anaerobic germination and are in the process of combining all three to develop a variety with tolerance of flash flood and stagnant flood and with anaerobic germination. This should be ideal for all types of flood and for both direct seeding and transplanting. He also mentioned that work on these QTLs was begun by Dr. David Mackill and is being carried forward by other scientists. Bill Gates: What is anaerobic germination? U. Singh: SUB1 gene is expressed only in seedlings and cannot provide submergence tolerance to seed and therefore plants with SUB1 are not effective under direct-seeded conditions if they are submerged before germination. For that, we need another gene for anaerobic germination so that seed can germinate even under water. Dr. Singh explained about the drought-tolerance QTLs IRRI has identified and mentioned that now we have a few promising QTLs and three of these QTLs have already been transferred to a Swarna-Sub1 background. He also showed a photograph of Swarna-Sub1 with drought-tolerance QTLs. Bill Gates: When will this new line likely reach farmers? U. Singh: In kharif 2011, we are going to share seed of this line with our NARES partners for evaluation, then evaluation in farmers fields may start in 2012. We are expecting it to reach farmers fields in 2015 and it will replace SwarnaSub1 as most of the rice areas are now becoming prone to both stresses. Dr. Singh also explained that, through MAS, IRRI scientists have already transferred the salinity-tolerance QTL Saltol1 to three mega-varieties. We shared seed of BR11-Saltol with NARES in 2010. IRRI has already combined SUB1 and Saltol, which should be quite useful for the coastal areas. Dr. Singh also mentioned that drought-tolerant Sahbhagi dhan is already released in Nepal and has shown good performance in Bangladesh, where it is likely to be released soon. He also explained about coastal salinity-tolerant varieties released in Bangladesh and the status of their release in India. Bill Gates asked about the salt-tolerant GMOs versus salttolerant varieties developed through MAS. U. Singh mentioned that the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has developed salinity-tolerant transgenic rice but it is yet to be tested in the field. Lines developed through conventional breeding and MAS are showing good field tolerance.

South Asia: STRASA Phase 2 series of meetings held

R.M. Baltazar

Dr. Zeigler further congratulated all the participants, acknowledging them as the true heroes. He concluded how proud he was being associated with these partners and he is looking forward to working with them in the coming years. With rice production in rainfed ecosystems limited primarily by drought, flooding (submergence), and adverse soils (salinity/iron toxicity), as well as climatic factors such as cold temperature in the uplands, STRASA has been addressing these concerns since its inception in 2007 until January this year. The project involves three countries in South Asia and 17 countries in Africa. With IRRI as the lead institute, Abdelbagi Ismail currently serves as the project leader for Phase 2, succeeding David Mackill.

he Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project recently completed its Phase 1 activities, banking on a strong base with advances made in developing varieties tolerant of abiotic stresses and their widespread dissemination and adoption in the last three years. Jump-starting from Phase 1 achievements, an inception meeting and planning workshop were held at the National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) Complex in New Delhi, India, officially launching STRASA's Phase 2 (February 2011-December 2013). The event ran from 5 to 7 April 2011.

Participants in the Phase 2 inception and planning meeting in Delhi, India, 5-7 April.

In his welcome remarks, S. Ayyappan, secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), commended the partnerships among the institutions and networks that were formed and their contribution to farmers food and income security in unfavorable rice ecosystems. Dr. Ayyappan said, Im happy for STRASA to bring together all of you and Im grateful to all those involved in STRASA Phase 1, and now, on to Phase 2 for another 7 years, and I believe this will go a long way. In his opening remarks, IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler shared his appreciation for the good feedback from Bill and Melinda Gates on STRASAs work, given during their recent visit in Bihar, India. I want to share two points on our workone, at the end of the day, we do not have to worry that our lives are not wasted, and, two, when we look in the mirror, we would not worry if there were anyone looking back at us, Dr. Zeigler said.

The countries in South Asia are Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, with Uma Shankar Singh as the regional coordinator. In Africa, Baboucarr Manneh of AfricaRice is the regional coordinator and Rakesh Kumar Singh of IRRI-Africa is the East and Southern Africa (ESA) regional coordinator. A strong network with NARES partner institutions from the participating countries composes the STRASA project to ensure its effective implementation and coordination. A total of 152 participants attended the India meeting. Meanwhile, the IRRI and Bangladesh partners inaugurated the second phase of STRASA, at an inception and planning workshop held at Spectra Convention Centre Ltd. in Dhaka on 9 April. The government of Bangladesh acknowledges the contribution of STRASA, which fits well in our vision of increasing rice productivity in stress-prone areas to ensure food security in the country, said C.Q.K. Mustaq Ahmed, secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, government of Bangladesh, who inaugurated the function.

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South Asia:... from page 3

Dr. Abdelbagi Ismail, STRASA project leader, IRRIPhilippines, reiterated the strong support to the government of Bangladesh and Secretary Ahmed mentioned the dissemination of stress-tolerant rice varieties to a greater number of farmers for the second phase of the project. Scientists at IRRI are already engaged in developing varieties having combinations of drought-submergence and submergence-salinity tolerance and some advanced Saltol and Sub1 lines are being developed to combat the multiple stresses normally being experienced in the region to increase and stabilize productivity, according to Dr. U.S. Singh, in his remarks during the opening of the event. Other officials who attended the occasion were Dr. M.A. Mannan, director general, BRRI; Dr. Wais Kabir, executive chairman, BARC; Mr. Anwar Faruque, director general, Seed Wing, and additional secretary, Ministry of Agriculture; Dr. Mahabub Hossain, executive director, BRAC; H.E. (Mr.) Bahnarim Abu Guinomla, ambassador of the Philippines to Bangladesh; Dr. M. Zainul Abedin, IRRI representative for Bangladesh; and Dr. M.A. Hamid Miah, IRRI liaison scientist for Bangladesh. A total of 84 participants joined the Bangladesh meeting/ workshop.

projects Phase 1 activities and achievements, as well as the objectives and expected outputs from the meeting. In his welcome remarks, Dr. Bhartendu Mishra, executive director, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), expressed his sincere appreciation to all the partners in helping make Phase 1 successful and contributing to all the accomplishments for Nepal. He thanked the key players, especially the scientists, in the release of three stress-tolerant varieties that are very significant to Nepal farmers will greatly benefit from all these STRASA activities. Meanwhile, in remarks by the chief guest, Hon. Mr. Nathu Prasad Chaudhary, secretary, Agriculture and Cooperatives, government of Nepal, delivered by NARC Director of Research Dr. Niranjan P. Adhikari, he stated, We are very happy to know that the STRASA project focused research on drought and submergence areas, where we have major problems. Mr. Chaudhary added, In the first phase of the project, the outputs of the project in Nepal were very encouraging. Three drought-resistant rice varieties were released as Sukha Dhan 1, Sukha Dhan 2, and Sukha Dhan 3. He stated, Two Sub1 rice varieties (Swarna-Sub1 and Samba Mahsuri-Sub1) have been performing very well in submergence areas of the southern plains, where we have

IRRI-STRASA/Bangladesh Participants in the Phase 2 planning meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 9 April.

In the last stretch for the Phase 2 launching of STRASA in South Asia, a planning workshop was held in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 22 April, at the Annapurna Hotel, Durbar Marga. Dr. A. Ismail, STRASA project leader, inaugurated the event with his introductory remarks and presentation on the
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shallow submergence problems during the rainy season, and these two rice varieties will be released in the near future by the variety releasing committee of the government of Nepal for general cultivation by farmers. The farmers in submergence areas are very happy with these Sub1
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South Asia:... from page 4

varieties, which have saved labor costs because they used to transplant two to three times when their crops were damaged by rain. Reports on Phase 1 accomplishments of various Nepal partners conducting activities on submergence or drought tolerance were given before going into the concurrent workshop sessions for three objectives of the Project(1)

drought tolerance, (2) submergence tolerance, and (3) multiplication, dissemination, varietal tracking, adoption, and impact assessment. A second plenary was held for the presentation of workshop results of each of the three objectives. A total of 40 participants attended the Nepal planning workshop.

IRRI-STRASA/Nepal

Participants in the Phase 2 planning meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, 22 April.

Benin: Africa component of STRASA project launches second phase

he Africa component of the Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project launched its Phase 2 at AfricaRice in Cotonou, Benin, on 9-10 May 2011, with nearly 50 participants attending. These included AfricaRice and IRRI scientists as well as NARES scientists, seed producers, and NGO representatives from 18 African countries. During the inaugural ceremony, AfricaRice Deputy Director General for Research Marco Wopereis welcomed the participants and NARES partners. In his introductory remarks, Dr. Wopereis praised STRASA Phase 1 for the major achievements made in The production of new varieties and breeding lines tolerant of the major abiotic stresses; The production of a large quantity of seeds, which surpassed the target; The strong research collaboration forged between AfricaRice and IRRI scientists through this project; and The strong linkage with NARES that made it possible to achieve the project milestones.

A. Ismail and B. Manneh

However, he reminded the participants in STRASA Phase 2 to look beyond breeding and consider also crop management issues by developing good agricultural practices, as well as considering the rice value chain. In an overview presentation, STRASA-Africa Coordinator Baboucarr Manneh highlighted details of the major achievements under STRASA Phase 1 that include The screening of more than 600 germplasm accessions for tolerance of drought, salinity, low temperature, and iron toxicity in 14 countries and the identification of over 20 promising breeding lines with farmers. The production of more than 3,400 tons of seed of popular and/or stress-tolerant rice varieties. As part of capacity-building activities, a total of 906 scientists, technicians, and farmers were trained in different aspects of rice research and dissemination. The successful implementation at AfricaRice research stations of marker-assisted breeding platforms for transferring major abiotic stress-tolerance QTLs into the backgrounds of African mega-varieties.
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Benin: Africa... from page 5

The review of Phase I achievements and discussion on challenges continued with presentations on salinity, Fe toxicity, drought, and cold by Drs. K. Bimpong, N. Drame, B. Manneh, and N. Zenna, respectively. Each presenter highlighted the progress made in standardizing screening protocols, selecting tolerant lines through field and screenhouse evaluations and also through participatory varietal selection (PVS), breeding line development, and molecular marker-assisted breeding activities. Impact assessment and targeting of stress-tolerant rice varieties in Africa under STRASA Phase 1 was comprehensively discussed by Dr. Aliou Diagne, program leader and impact assessment economist. Dr. Abdelbagi Ismail, the new STRASA project leader from IRRI, presented the achievements of STRASA Phase 1 in South Asia, covering the three major stresses addresseddrought, submergence, and salinityin three focus countries: India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The 2-day event also included discussions on work plans for 2011 and the budget in STRASA Phase 2 and a presentation by Dr. Raafat El Namaky on highlights of the Green Super Rice project during the plenary session. Other

presentations were made on a consolidated PVS protocol combining PVS with impact assessment, varietal release, and seed tracking. Current seed systems and varietal release procedures of STRASA project countries were also presented. Capping the Phase 2 launch, Dr. Wopereis expressed his satisfaction with the outputs of the event and the discussions. He urged all coordinators to timely provide real data on quantities of seeds produced not only by the NARES but also by other institutions and companies that take part in

Participants in the Phase 2 launching and planning meeting in Cotonou, Benin, Africa, IRRI-STRASA/AfricaRice 9-10 May.

producing certified seeds or truthfully labeled seeds. In order to address the recurring issue of insufficient funding for all STRASA project activities, Dr. Wopereis emphasized the need to find complementary sources of funding (e.g., GRiSP, ADB project). He added that attempts would be made by IRRI and AfricaRice to develop consolidated work plans and a budget for the three ongoing breeding projects (GSR, Breeding Task Force, and STRASA).

Stress-tolerant rice seeds get a boost with NGO multiplication in West Bengal

R.M. Baltazar and M.H. Dar

est Bengal has 57.8 lakh hectares (5,780,000 ha) of land under rice cultivation. Out of this, 1.03 million (10.3 lakh) hectares are floodprone, 1.46 million (14.6 lakh) drought-prone, and 440,000 (4.4 lakh) under coastal salinity. Though the average productivity of West Bengal is higher than in other eastern states, the losses caused by environmental stresses are enormous. IRRI started activities in West Bengal in 2006 when seed of Swarna-Sub1 was multiplied and tested in different farmers fields in Hooghly District with the collaboration of the Rice Research Station, Chinsurah. More seeds of Swarna-Sub1 were multiplied and distributed to other partners from different states, including universities, ICAR institutions, NGOs, and progressive farmers, for dissemination.
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The Nadia Zila Farmers Development Organization (NZFDO), a local NGO that works to help farmers by introducing and validating suitable technologies from state, national, and international sources, has intensified its seed multiplication of the stress-tolerant rice varieties in partnership with STRASA to further encourage farmer adoption and widen the scope of dissemination to more districts in West Bengal, India. Stress-tolerant varieties, particularly Swarna-Sub1 (submergence-tolerant) and IR72046 (salt-tolerant), are being multiplied for dissemination to farmers in Nadia and other districts in West Bengal.
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Stress-tolerant... from page 6

In a tour of the NZFDO office and seed production sites last April with Dr. Bardhan Roy, he narrated how Swarna-Sub1 is steadily gaining popularity and adoption by farmers in Nadia District. He said that several farmers had already harvested and produced seed for other farmers for two planting seasons. The NFSM (National Food Security Mission) also supplied 8,000 minikits in 2010 and is distributing 31,500 minikits for the current season in different floodprone districts of West Bengal. The inoculation of seed in minikits will help in the faster popularization of these varieties in other districts. The seed is also moving fast by diffusion from one village to neighboring villages and within villages from one farmer to other farmers. Moreover, private entrepreneurs have already obtained breeder seed from research institutes and the farmers will more likely be able to buy the seed of Swarna-Sub1 at their door step in the next few years. Dr. Roy has been working for the farmers by multiplying the small quantity of seed received from STRASA for testing and upscaling to other villages, hopefully inspiring other farmers about the benefits of using the stress-tolerant rice varieties. Showing the fields for seed multiplication as well as for evaluation of better varieties tolerant of submergence and salinity, Dr. Roy explained that Sub1 and Saltol varieties from neighboring country Bangladesh, which has similar agroecological conditions, are also being screened and multiplied for farmers use. He believes that, with the existing partnerships with seed producers/distributors and enhancing further collaboration of STRASA with state and central government schemes, the goal of reaching 5 million farmers in Phase 2 of the project will be easily achieved.

Salt-tolerant variety excites farmers in Bihar, India

S. Tiwari and R.M. Baltazar

xtreme drought did not stop farmer Shri Gajendra Prasad Shahi from harvesting his rice fields planted with salt-tolerant variety Usar Dhan-3. The variety performed extremely well as it exhibited a luxuriant yield of 4.5 t/ha in the kharif season. One of the STRASAselected farmer-partners (Shri Gajendra Prasad Shahi) from Pana Chapara Village, in the district of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, expressed tremendous interest in growing this salttolerant rice variety again since it not only fulfilled his food and seed requirements but also allowed him to sell any crop surplus. Shri Banka Yadav from Gopalganj District also had similar views. According to him, due to excessive pH and salt concentration in the soil, in the past most of the crop varieties, including rice, were badly affected and burned, which ultimately resulted in very poor yield. But, this year, he was overwhelmed by variety Usar Dhan-3, with its yield of 5.0 t/ha. However, in a mother trial at the Rajendra Agricultural University (RAU), in Pusa, the yield of Usar Dhan-3 surpassed 6.0 t/ha, to the amazement of everyone in the project. The state of Bihar has a total area of 9.38 million ha and a total of 38 districts in the state. Bihar is classified into three agro-climatic zones, and the third zone is further classified as zone 3 (a) and zone 3 (b). But, the effectiveness of salttolerant variety Usar Dhan-3 can be very well portrayed in the agro-climatic region of zone 1 comprising 11 districts, namely, West Champaran, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Sheohar, and Saran, as these districts have one major type of problem soil (i.e., salt-affected), and it is being addressed through STRASAs salinity objective. RAU has been chosen and included as one of the partners of STRASA (salinity component). For its activity under STRASA this year, RAU, Pusa, conducted mother trials of 11 salt-tolerant rice varieties at three different locations, Pusa, Peperakothi (East Champaran), and Saran. Out of the 11 salt-tolerant rice varieties, six were collected from the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) in Karnal and Lucknow, one from NDUAT (Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology), Faizabad, and four from RAU, Pusa. In the mother trial, all of these varieties underwent screening for the evaluation of the best suited salt-tolerant rice variety for the salt-affected areas of Bihar.
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Salinity trial at farmer's field at village Panachhapra, Motipur Block, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

IRRI-STRASA/India

Salt-tolerant variety... from page 7

Similarly, for farmers field trials, 120 farmers from five salt-affected districts (Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, and Saran) were selected on the basis of soil analysis collected from several of these farmers fields. A total of 7.05 quintals (about 700 kilos) of seed of Usar Dhan-3 were given to the selected farmers from different districts under the supervision of Dr. Sanjay Tiwari, soil scientist and principal investigator for STRASA salinity component, for its popularization and multiplication. The overwhelming harvests from Shri Gajendra Prasad Shahis and Shri Banka Yadavs fields (photo below) will surely boost farmers adoption of Usar Dhan-3 in future cropping seasons.

at the vegetative stage. Also, the early departure of monsoon affects the crop by exposing it to drought, which is worsening nowadays due to climate change. One of the most viable options to enable farmers to adapt to climate change is the use of rice varieties with good tolerance of drought. The development of drought-tolerant rice varieties is one of the solutions to increase rice yields in droughtprone environments. A rice variety not only tolerant of drought but also giving high yield despite a lack of water has been spreading through fields in Asia. Breeding line IR74371-70-1-1 is already being planted in India and Nepal, released commercially as Sahbhagi dhan in 2009 and Sukha dhan 3 in early 2011, respectively. Recently, this breeding line has been tested in Bangladesh and so far is obtaining positive feedback. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) developed this rice variety through the STRASA project. Drought-tolerant rice variety IR74371-70-1-1 is a short-duration variety. Its life cycle is completed in 110120 days, with field duration of 90 to 100 days. This variety is high yielding and its grain yield ranges from 4.0 to 4.5 t/ha. Because of its drought tolerance as well as short duration, this variety is especially suitable in monga and droughtprone areas in the northern region of Bangladesh. Monga (the hunger season) generally occurs during September and October every year. Due to the short duration of this drought-tolerant rice variety, the crop can be harvested in October, which then creates employment for day laborers and rice for farmers and thus enables them to reduce the effects of monga. It is a medium-grain rice, which may help farmers to get a higher price in the market. This variety is also unique in producing khichuri and muri (rice dishes in India and Bangladesh).

Drought-tolerant rice eases effects of climate change

M.G. Neogi and R.M. Baltazar

ice production faces the threat of water scarcity due to unpredictable changes in climate. Water scarcity further hampers rice productivity in droughtprone areas. On average, 2,500 liters of water (whether rainfall or irrigation) are needed to produce 1 kilogram of rice using traditional cultivation methods. Because of the persistence of drought as an effect of climate change, farm households cannot continue to grow rice if the water supply becomes increasingly scarce. The impact of climate change is already being felt in Bangladesh through increased incidence and severity of droughts and floods. Around 1 million hectares of land in Bangladesh are drought-prone. Rice farmers in rainfed areas often face crop failure due to drought at different stages of the crop. The delay of monsoon results in delayed transplanting of seedlings, which affects rice yield. A long interval between two rains during monsoon causes drought
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A program was held promoting the drought-tolerant rice variety, Sahbhagi Dhan, in Bangladesh Continued on next page...

Drought-tolerant rice... from page 8

Under the STRASA-BMGF project, the Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS-Bangladesh) tested the aforementioned breeding line on its Rangpur campus in 2009. This line was transplanted on 7 August along with two other different traditional rice varieties (BR 11 and BR 14) in separate plots. The field plots had similar soil fertility and similar characteristics and the crops were equally managed. During planting, no rainfall occurred from 23 September to 16 October 2009. It was found that this breeding line survived and did not require any supplementary irrigation and still yielded 3.4 t/ha, while the other two varieties (BR 11 and BR 14) were found to have wilted on 7 and 9 October, respectively, and required supplementary irrigation in the following days. The drought-tolerant rice was piloted in 27 farmers plots in Rangpur Division in 2010. All farmers harvested their crop within 113119 days and had a very good harvest, with an average yield of 4.2 t/ha. One farmer, Mr. Mosharraf Miah of Tupamari, Nilphamari Sadar, said, I could not cultivate aman previously as rainwater did not stay on my high land unless it rained heavily. But, this season, the drought-tolerant rice has provided me with a good harvest despite little rain. Nowadays, farmers usually irrigate aman rice fields in September-October due to low rainfall during this period. But, cultivation of this drought-tolerant rice enabled them to save a considerable amount of money. Farmers have shown particular interest in this drought-tolerant rice variety for its drought-tolerance capacity as well as short duration and comparatively higher yield advantage. It can be flexible enough to avoid drought during late SeptemberOctober as well as fetch a higher market price due to early harvest.

Farmers found that cultivation of this variety is highly economical as it is harvested early and thus commands high prices in the market, making it more profitable. The variety could further fetch a high price for its medium-size grain. Through 1 year of research in the northern region, it was found that TK 56,171/ha can be earned against a total production cost of TK 36,975/ha. This shows that a net return of TK 19,196/ha with a 1.52 benefit-cost ratio can be obtained with the cultivation of this variety in the northern region of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh: BMGF team visits IRRI project sites

team from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), led by Prabhu Pingali, deputy director for agricultural policy and statistics, visited

BMGF-funded and IRRI-implemented project field sites in Bangladesh on 8-9 March 2011. Other members of the visiting team were Austin Walters and Kristin Grote. The team visited the field sites of three projects, Village Dynamics in South Asia, Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA), and the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), in Mymensingh and Tangail districts in Bangladesh.

Dr. M.A. Mannan (extreme left), BRRI director general, with the BMGF team during an open forum with the farmers.

The team went to see for themselves the work under the three projects and learned up close about the activities, outputs, and impact of each through group discussions with farmers and interactions with project staff. Because of their ground-level experience, the members of the team also gained better understanding of various biophysical and socioeconomic constraints and the emerging challenges faced by small-scale farmers in Bangladesh. The field visit was organized by Humnath Bhandari, with the assistance of Salauddin Ahmed (Socioconsult Ltd.), M.A. Bari (STRASA), and Akkas Ali (CSISA) (http://irri.org/newsevents/irri-bulletin/2011.10).
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The droughttolerant rice variety

IRRI-STRASA/Bangladesh

Booklet on new rice varieties released in Rwanda

R.M. Baltazar

Awards and Recognitions

India: David Mackill recognized for his work with STRASA
D.C.R. Lampayan
David Mackill, who will be an IRRI consultant for 3 years, received a plaque of appreciation for his contributions to rice research and development in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, and Nepal) and Africa. Also cited was his strong commitment to rice improvement for unfavorable rice ecosystems and his pioneering efforts as an initiator and leader of the StressTolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project. Dr. Mackill received the plaque during the inception and planning meeting of STRASA-Phase 2 held in New Delhi, India, on 5-7 April 2011 (http://irri.org/news-events/irribulletin/2011.16). IRRI-STRASA/India

A booklet on the most recently released 20 rice varieties in Rwanda is now available. The Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR) developed the booklet, which features the rice varieties released in June 2010. Farmer participatory selection has fast-tracked the dissemination of these varieties in all ten rice-growing schemes in Rwanda. The booklet presents information on each of the 20 rice varieties such as their basic identification (name, species, variety group), morphological characteristics (plant, panicle, paddy/caryopsis), agronomic characteristics (ecology, duration, days to 80% heading, potential yield), and grain quality (cooking quality, aroma, degree of milling). Nine of the 20 rice varieties have their origin from IRRIPhilippines: Kigega, Nzahaha, Terimbere, Kanyabukungu, Garukuhunge, Mbangukahaze, Ndamirabana, Jyambere, and Mbangukira.

IRRI's scuba rice wins in UK Climate Week

Climate Week was launched with its inaugural awards, which celebrate the UKs most innovative, effective, and ambitious organizations, communities, and individuals and their efforts to combat climate change. The Department for International Development (DFID) funded project Scuba Rice won the award for Best Initiative by a Governmental or Statutory Body. Scuba rice is flood-resistantit can survive under water for up to 2 weeks and recover once the waters subside. It responds to complete submersion by effectively becoming dormant, saving energy until the floodwater recedes, when it can continue growing again. In this way, it escapes drowning. It was developed by IRRI, which receives core funding from DFID. Scuba rice is targeted at South Asia and minikits containing 5-kilogram packets of seed are currently being distributed to farmers across India. Within 1 year of release, the flood-resistant rice has reached more than 100,000 Indian farmers and it's hoped that it will be fully adopted within 5 years (http://irri.org/news-events/irri-bulletin/2011.11).
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Swarna-Sub1 farmers honor former IRRI plant breeder David Mackill

Uma Shankar Singh
Farmers of West Champaran District in north Bihar honored David Mackill, former principal scientist and plant breeder at IRRI and father of the SUB1 gene. Dr. Mackill was responsible for the development of submergence-tolerant rice variety Swarna-Sub1. Farmers of Samauta, Somgarh, and adjoining villages in Narkatyaganj block of Champaran District started growing Swarna-Sub1 when they received seeds through the Rajendra Agricultural University (RAU) in Pusa, Bihar, under IRRIs Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project, during the cropping season of 2009-10. During that cropping season, rice fields in the village were flooded for 8 to 12 days and the crop failed completely. However, some farmers who had planted Swarna-Sub1 were surprised to see rice plants in their fields rapidly regenerated after the water receded. These farmers harvested 56 t/ha from their fields, and found the new type of rice to be good in cooking quality as well. They called it a miracle variety.

IRRI social scientist recognized

R.M. Baltazar
Sushil Pandey (extreme right in photo below), senior scientist in IRRI's Social Sciences Division, was recognized by the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) for his contributions to rice research.

IRRI-STRASA/India

The farmers and their families with Dr. Mackill and STRASA-India staff members. When the farmers of the area heard about Dr. Mackills visit to India, they requested J.P. Singh of RAU to invite him to Champaran. About 60 farmers from the area, led by Sri Anand Singh, Sri Kundan Singh Rana, and Sri Siddharth Roy, assembled on 8 April 2011 in Samauta Village in Bihar and congratulated Dr. Mackill, whom they described as the messiah of the farmers of the submergence-prone region of north Bihar. The farmers also shared their experiences and concerns with Dr. Mackill. Some farmers wanted more submergence-tolerance genes added to Swarna-Sub1 so that it can withstand longer periods of flooding. Farmers who have not had the chance to grow Swarna-Sub1 were excited about growing it in the forthcoming season, which starts in June. Dr. Mackill thanked the farmers and expressed his happiness at hearing from them, and promised that their feedback would help further improve rice research (http://irri.org/news-events/irri-bulletin/2011.20).

The award was given to Dr. Pandey in a simple ceremony held during a dinner hosted by NARC for the participants in the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE) on 20 April 2011. The plaque, handed to Dr. Pandey by NARC Executive Director Bhartendu Mishra, had the following citation: "NARC extends this Certificate of Recognition and Appreciation for the Outstanding Contributions in Rice Research Partnership and Capacity Building for Rice Sciences in Nepal." Dr. Pandey is currently involved in Objective 6 of STRASA Phase 2multiplication, dissemination, varietal tracking, adoption, and impact assessment (http://irri.org/newsevents/irri-bulletin/2011.18).

IRRI-India-based STRASA staff is one of outstanding staff members

National IRRI staff members were recognized in award ceremonies held after the Board of Trustees (BoT) report on 15 April 2011 in D.L. Umali Laboratory at IRRI. The awardees were Rowena Oane (Outstanding Scientific Achievement), GQNC's Quality Evaluation Team (Outstanding Research Support), and Tara Chand Dhoundiyal (Outstanding Administrative Support), of IRRI-India and STRASA. IRRI-STRASA/India Witnessing the awarding were BoT Chair Emerlinda Roman; Vice-Chair Jillian Lenn; members Stephen Baenziger, Seong-Hee-Lee, Mutsuo Iwamoto, Rita Sharma, Achmad Suryana, Usha Barwale Zehr, Joyce Kikafunda, Mohammed Syeduzzaman, Proceso Alcala, and Alfredo Pascual; IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler, and staff and heads of units in IRRI. Continued on next page... 11

Dr. Mackill given a traditional welcome by women farmers in Samauta Village, Bihar

IRRI-Philippines

IRRI India-based... from page 11 Winners received plaques of recognition and cash. Each gave a message of thanks, sharing the honor with family members as well as supervisors and colleagues. The event was hosted by Joyce Finegan and Caling Balingbing (http://irri.org/news-events/irri-bulletin/2011.16).

IRRI-Philippines

T.C. Dhoundiyal flanked by IRRI Board of Trustees Chair Emerlinda Roman (left) and IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler.

STRASA in the news

Expanded farming of flood-tolerant paddies can ensure food security: Experts, The Bangladesh Today. com, 16 June 2011 New variety of paddy ushers in hope to farmers, The Financial Express-Bangladesh, 3 May 2011 Ready for Climate Change, Rice Today, April-June 2011 BRRI releases 2 new stress-tolerant rice varieties, The Financial Express-Bangladesh, 10 April 2011 Waterproofing gene may also protect rice from droughts, SciDev.Net, 10 March 2011 US: Mars to build global network of rice researchers, Just-Food.com, 14 February 2011 NARC to bring flood-proof rice varieties, Kathmandu Post Daily-Nepal, 21 January 2011 New rice variety could ease Mozambiques supplies, SciDev.Net, 18 January 2011 Bihars extreme weather crop tests a success, Gulfnews.com-India, 13 January 2011 Visit our Web site at http://irri.org/strasa
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This issues contributors

M.H. Dar & U.S. Singh, IRRI-STRASA, India S. Tiwari, RAU, Pusa, India B. Manneh, STRASA-AfricaRice M.G. Neogi, RDRS, Bangladesh A. Ismail and D.C.R. Lampayan, IRRI-Philippines

Content/editorial advisers
Abdelbagi Ismail, STRASA project leader Baboucarr Manneh, SSA coordinator, AfricaRice Rakesh Kumar Singh, ESA coordinator, IRRI-Africa Uma S. Singh, South Asia coordinator, IRRI-India

Editor
Bill Hardy, IRRI-CPS

Editorial staff

Priscilla Grace Caas, IRRI-CPS

Writer/graphic design and layout

Maria Rowena M. Baltazar STRASA/IRRI-Philippines

Issue coordination and circulation

Daisy Corazon R. Lampayan STRASA/IRRI-Philippines

IRRI-Philippines