Bangladesh: Farmers choose BRRI dhan48 as best aus rice variety

Farmers from Stkhira District in Bangladesh say aye for BRRI dhan48,
a new variety recommended for cultivation in the aus rice season. 

Ninety farmers from six villages in the Stkhira District of Bangladesh chose BRRI dhan48 as the best aus rice variety after going on a motivational tour and participatory evaluation of aus rice varieties on 18 July 2012.

BRRI dhan48 matures about 10-15 days earlier than Jamaibabu, a variety of Indian origin, and BR26—varieties that farmers currently use because it allows them timely planting of the succeeding aman rice crop. BRRI dhan48 also has longer panicles with more filled grain and could potentially produce higher yields. The farmers also noted that its plant is strong and stout and, unlike Jamaibabu, is not susceptible to disease.

It was also observed that BRRI dhan48 seems to produce more straw, which also has value to farmers as cattle feed. The participants indicated their interest for securing BRRI dhan48 seeds for cultivating in their respective areas in 2013.

The tour was organized by TMSS, a partner of the Cereal System Initiatives for South Asia project in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD).
 
Md. Harunur Rashid, cropping system specialist, and Debabrata Mohaldar, agriculture development officer of CSISA-BD's Khulna Hub, facilitated the event.

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Bangladesh: IRRI holds rice production course in Barisal

A one-day training session on rice production for local service providers or LSPs was held at the Barisal regional station of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute on 18 July 2012.

LSPs are local folk who own or operate an agricultural support service such as a power tiller, water pump, fertilizer and pesticides dealership, or seed trade. Eighteen of them from Barguna, Barisal, Patuakhali, and Jhalokathi districts attended as participants.

Common and area-specific problems were identified and the corresponding information gaps determined during the training. Problems or concerns identified were: newly developed salt- and submergence-tolerant rice varieties, new season-specific high-yielding varieties for favorable ecosystems, quality seeds and suppliers, seedbed preparation and maintenance, quality seedling production, water management technologies, water pumps, area- and variety-specific fertilizer doses and applicators, pests, and pest management.

The role of LSPs and how they were to support local farmers were also discussed.

IRRI organized the event under the project Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) in Bangladesh. Md. Shahidul Islam of CSISA-IRRI in Barisal and Md. Harunur Rashid of CSISA-IRRI in Khulna were among the facilitators of the participatory training program.

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IRRI holds information sessions on NRS career path development

IRRI’s Human Resource Services (HRS) held 12 information sessions between 26, 27, and 30 July 2012 at IRRI headquarters.

Over 450 HQ-based staff attended the information sessions facilitated by Fiona Farrell, director of Human Resource Services, to update staff on the ongoing process of creating NRS career paths. Participants learned about the three-phased approach and the importance of having standard Job Profiles as a foundation for modern career paths. The process for developing the standard job profiles was shared and participants were informed of their roles in the next steps and the timelines for completion and implementation.

The process of developing the NRS career paths has been underway since May 2012 and started with the establishment of the NRS Job Profile Committee consisting of IRRI staff from across disciplines, levels and units. They are supported by external consultants from Towers Watson, the HRS team, and internal consultants/advisors. The first phase of this complex project, the creation of standard job profiles, will run until mid October 2012 and will involve the training of over 100 NRS facilitators and wide consultation with a large number of IRRI staff.

For those staff at headquarters who were not able to attend the information sessions, additional meetings will be organized on Friday, 3 August 2012 at Hawk Room, Training Center. The first session will be from 1315 H to 1415 H while the second session from 1430 H to 1530 H.

Country Office-based staff will also participate via Webex meetings on 9-14 August 2012.

More details can be found in the English and Filipino language brochures. For further inquiries, please email the NRS Job Profile Committee at nrs-job-profile-committee@irri.org.

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IRRI moves to paperless data collection

IRRI researchers collecting data on Android tablets
using the IRRI-developed app, FieldLab.

With the ubiquity of portable digital devices such as smart phones and tablets, data collection in agricultural research is going paperless.

The Molecular Plant Pathology Group has adopted collection of phenotype data the digital way and is one of the teams pioneering paperless data collection at IRRI. The group, led by Chitra Raghavan, is using the app FieldLab, designed specifically to collect rice germplasm data. The app was developed for Android by Alex Cañeda, programmer at the Crop Research Informatics Laboratory at IRRI.

Dr. Raghavan’s group observes diseased leaves and records these in percentage of affected areas (% DLA) for several bacterial and fungal pathogens on the MAGIC rice population. Her assessment shows that paperless data collection takes almost twice the time to gather data as when using paper. But when data is collected digitally, no encoding needs to be made. This saves about 10 hours of encoding work that came with the paper-based method, which was more prone to errors because of the extra step.

The INGER Multi-Environment Rice Varietal Testing group, led by Angelito Galang, has also started using FieldLab to collect agronomic data from their varietal trials in and outside the IRRI campus.

Other adopters of the technology include scientists from the C4 Rice Center, agronomy, nutrient management, crop modelling, irrigated rice breeding, and submergence breeding.

Other laboratories and research teams are lined up next to go digital in their own data collection.

Tablets used for data collection were provided by the office of the Deputy Director General for Research. The Research Data Management team of the Risk Management and Quality Assurance office is providing training and support on the use of these devices.

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IRRI breeder is guest in July researchers' lunch

Parminder Virk (third from left) is a scientist in plant breeding at IRRI.

Parminder Virk, plant breeder at IRRI, was the guest scientist in the Young Researchers Lunch for July.

Dr. Virk led a very informative discussion on topics related to breeding for yield potential, such as target genes for marker-assisted selection, yield potential traits, and aspects of variety release. He encouraged the young researchers to stick to the task and dedicate at least 5-10 years in plant breeding, because that is the amount of time needed for one to see the results of one's work and have an impact.

Lunch attendees were Crisanta Bueno, Hasina Begum, Michaela Hoffelmeyer, Tahir Awan, and Ma. Rebecca Laza.

The Young Researchers Lunch is a monthly meeting for scientists who are in the early stages of their careers. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for discussion with senior scientists on a range of topics that including research and career paths.

For more information, please contact Joy Sagabay (M.Sagabay@cgiar.org) or Amelia Henry (A.Henry@cgiar.org).

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India: IRRI South Asia rice breeding hub opens

Robert Zeigler (left) and William Dar (second from right), directors general of
IRRI and ICRISAT, respectively, inaugurate IRRI's new rice breeding hub
in India. Darshan Brar (in red turban), former head of plant breeding
at IRRI, also came to witness the event.

The IRRI South Asia Rice Breeding Hub at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India, was inaugurated on 9 July 2012 by Robert Zeigler and William Dar, directors general of IRRI and ICRISAT, respectively.

The opening of the breeding hub at ICRISAT is part of IRRI's strategy of targeted breeding efforts for South Asia, done in collaboration with national partners in various countries in the region, and is a step toward achieving the objectives of the CGIAR Research Program on Rice-Based Production Systems through the Global Rice Science Partnership or GRiSP.

Dr. Zeigler, who was in Hyderabad to also attend an international meet on designer rice, said the new facility would go a long way in IRRI’s endeavour for a strong regional presence in South Asia. He thanked ICRISAT for its support and for hosting the hub in the ICRISAT campus.

Dr. Dar, in turn, expressed gladness for IRRI coming to ICRISAT to carry out rice research for South Asia, and assured IRRI of continued support.

Speaking during the occasion, E.A. Siddiq, former deputy director general (crop science) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and former member of the IRRI board of trustees, said that he has "desired so long for IRRI to have a regional facility in South Asia" and expressed happiness on IRRI's decision to open a regional facility in India.

B.C. Viraktamath, head of the Directorate of Rice Research in Hyderabad, is confident that the presence of IRRI in India shall complement rice research that is being carried out by ICAR and agricultural universities in India.

The inaugural ceremony was attended by several representatives from ICRISAT (Hector Hernandez, Rajesh Agrawal, and M. Prabhakar Reddy) and IRRI (J.K. Ladha, M.S. Rao, Paul Quick, Ajay Kohli, Jauhar Ali, Michael Thomson, Arvind Kumar, and Murali Krishna Gumma), including former IRRI scientists Darshan Brar and Melissa Fitzgerald.

The IRRI South Asia Rice Breeding Hub office is located in Rooms 121-126 in Building 303 of ICRISAT and can be reached by phone at 0091-40-30713071, extension 2091 to 2093.

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Bangladesh: CSISA holds training workshop on rice technology adoption

A training workshop on rice-based cropping systems and adoption of rice production technology was held in Khulna for rice-related service providers.

The workshop was organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD), with the assistance of the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE), and was held on the CSISA-IRRI Khulna Hub premises on 19 July 2012.

Eighteen local service providers from remote areas in 6 upazilas in Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat districts attended as participants. The service they provide include supplying seeds of new high-yielding, salt-tolerant, and other rice varieties, and of other crops; fertilizers; pest and disease management; irrigation; and crop management.

Participants learned to identify information needs of farmers against the type of information provided by them and the technological packages recommended by the NARES and CSISA-BD project for the area. They determined the gap between what is available and what is sought, and discussed ways to overcome this gap.

M.A. Aziz, DAE deputy director in Khulna District, encouraged the participants to provide services appropriate to a community and emphasized the judicious application of fertilizer and other farm inputs.

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