Rice varieties for eastern Indian lowlands |
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| Client-oriented breeding in rice - improved varieties for transplanted, rainfed lowland conditions in eastern India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Poor farmers in eastern India now have a wider choice of rice varieties. Where the land is not irrigated, rice is transplanted into flooded paddies in the monsoon. But plant breeders focused on rice for irrigated areas, and neglected the need for drought-tolerant strains for rain-fed areas. So farmers in these areas relied on old varieties prone to disease and drought. Farmers given improved seed to test were free to grow it as they pleased. They found that the new varieties gave better quality grain, higher yields and were more drought-tolerant. Although farmers now have a wider choice of seed, supplies are limited. Because the seed is un-released it needs to be certified to be eligible for official subsidies. So, to realise the full potential of these varieties, groups need to be helped to produce certified seed. Project Ref: PSP10:
Research Programmes: PSP, DFID India, Programme development Relevant Research Projects: R7122, R8071, R8099 Partner Institutions:
Rice varieties for transplanted rainfed lowland rice ecosystems for eastern India. These include Sugandha-1, Barkhe 3010, Barkhe 3004 and Judi 578 (origin Nepal) and Ashoka 165 and Ashoka 900F (origin India). The varieties from Nepal were developed by LI-BIRD and CAZS-NR (R7122 and R8071) from 1997 to 2002 for the rainfed lowlands of the Nepal terai (Joshi et al., 2002) using client-oriented breeding (COB) methods (Witcombe et al., 2005). Since several of these varieties were bred from parents adapted to eastern Indian conditions (IR64 and Kalinga III) they were imported into India for testing by participatory varietal selection (PVS) in 2003 in the medium and semi-deep lowland rice ecosystems. They were tested from 2003 to 2006 in various trials (both research and farmer fields). The varieties from India were also bred by COB (Virk et al., 2003) and tested by PVS in a CAZS-NR, GVT, BAU collaborative programme based in Jharkhand. Other varieties from eastern India for the medium and lowlands are BAU-GVT 21, 22 and 23 and varieties derived from crosses of IR64 with Punjab and IRRI rice varieties. These varieties are all medium in height and are resistant to major diseases.
Fig. 1. The rice continuum in India and the new varieties all produced by COB. (The two upland varieties are described in PSP16). Problem addressed and description of outputs: Low-resource farmers in eastern India are dependent on rice as the major staple and in much of their land no other crop is suitable. The medium and semi-deep rainfed lowlands are agriculturally the most important and productive rice lands but farmers have been growing either low yielding and disease susceptible old varieties or landraces because of a lack of suitable modern varieties (Witcombe et al., 1998). The most popular varieties are still IR36 and IR64 both of which are very old varieties. IR36 has poor grain quality (bold grains), is now susceptible to diseases, and does not fetch a high price in the market. IR64 is relatively poorly adapted to the medium lands as it is highly drought-susceptible. Farmers wanted varieties that were drought tolerant in the rainfed medium and semi-deep lowlands. The participatory testing of these varieties provided a much wider choice to farmers in these important rice ecosystems. This removed a major limitation of public-sector varietal testing in India where only a few released varieties are given to farmers not for testing but under the assumption they will be adopted using a classic, linear transfer of technology model. The new varieties proved to be higher yielding and more drought tolerant and they have better grain quality than IR36 and, sometimes, IR64. Simultaneously, these varieties were tested in the research trials and All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project (AICRIP) Trials by the ICAR. They were not promoted in these trials that did not represent farmers' conditions. However, these varieties were preferred by farmers.
The main commodity is the rice grown in medium and lowland ecosystems particularly under rainfed conditions. The outputs focus on the provision of suitable varieties to farmers and also promoting the process of participatory varietal selection (PVS) with the GOs and NGOs. These varieties can be combined with cropping systems that include wheat and legumes (mainly chickpea) grown in the post-rainy season (see PSP35).
The introduction of new varieties of rice for the medium and lowland rainfed conditions can be linked with the rainfed rabi fallow technologies developed by CAZS-NR and its collaborators in eastern India where the short duration varieties of rice can promote the cultivation of pulses in the post-rainy (rabi) season in land that was previously left fallow. In PVS, the new intervention that is tested is a crop variety and this can be combined with the testing of other interventions that are synergistic with it such as techniques for improved crop protection and improved crop agronomy. Since farmers evaluate varieties for all traits including fodder quantity and quality then clustering with improved livestock nutrition would be synergistic.
How the outputs were validated: How validated: The PVS process involves validation by the end users. These were resource-poor, indigenous people who cultivate smallholdings in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. As a first step farmers were interviewed to find out the traits they desired in a new variety. On the basis of PRAs and surveys it was known that varieties bred in Nepal had characteristics that should suit the conditions of rainfed rice farmers of medium land and lowlands. Therefore, seed of the new varieties was obtained from Nepal for delivery to farmers for experimentation. Other varieties were bred in Jharkhand using COB and these were also tested in PVS trials. Farmers' experiments used PVS techniques including 'mother' and 'baby' trials. In the mother trials, farmers grew the complete set of varieties and in the baby trials farmers compared just one variety with their local variety. All farmers' trials were conducted under farmers' own management without a package of practices. The on-farm trials were jointly evaluated for the quantitative and qualitative traits using household-level questionnaires and focus group discussions. This research has not yet reached the final stage of PVS where wider dissemination of farmer-preferred varieties is achieved through community-based seed production of truthfully labelled seed. Validation was primarily done by farmers. However, researchers and extensionists from many organisations collaborated (for full list see Annex 1). These included: GOs primarily in Jharkhand such as Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Farm Science Centre (Krishi Vigyan Kendra), Deoghar; Watershed Project Lathehar; Rice Research Station (BAU-Ranchi); Jharkhand Tribal Development Society Farmer self-help groups (SHG) in Jharkhand such as Varno SHG-Group; Bero SHG-Group; Sayam Siddha - SHG Lathehar; NGOs including Karra Rural Development Society; Agrarian Assistance Association-Dumka. The new varieties from Nepal were validated in four research trials by BAU from 2003 to 2006 and by 57 farmers in GVT on-farm PVS trials from 2003 to 2006 (Table 1a). In addition, 1510 farmers validated the varieties in informal research and development (IRD) on-farm trials in 2005 and 2006 (Table 1a). The varieties bred in India were tested in four on-station trials by BAU and by Farmers (Table 1b). Table 1a. Number of farmers who validated the new varieties with on-farm mother trials conducted from 2004 to 2006 in three states of eastern India. In parentheses are the total number of farmers who were given seed for testing.
Table 1b. Number of farmers who validated the new COB varieties from India in on-farm trials from 2002 to 2006 in eastern India
The target groups of farmers were mainly the resource-poor farmers in the villages in which GVT was working but seed was also provided to all categories of farmers and social groups (resource-rich and medium-resource farmers including women farmers). The wealth categories were determined through local informants and households were classified in three wealth categories primarily on the basis of land holding and other sources of income. Evaluation of PVS trials included participating and non-participating farmers (including women) for the evaluation of the pre-harvest traits such as fodder yield, shattering and earliness. However, the evaluation of the post-harvest traits invariably involved women in the household-level questionnaires for assessing the cooking quality and taste, and quality of fodder as well storage properties. Increases in productivity: High increase in grain yield and straw yield over the most widely adopted modern variety IR64 were obtained in both research station trials of BAU and in the on-farm trials of GVT from 2003 to 2005 (Tables 2a and 2b). The improvements in new varieties was not only limited to the grain or fodder yield but they also excelled in other traits such as the aromatic grains of Sugandha-1 (Table 3). Table 2a. Yield of new varieties from Nepal for grain yield and straw yield compared with the best modern variety IR64 (shown as a % increase or decrease) in on-station trials of Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Ranchi and in on-farm PVS trials by Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT) in three states, 2003 to 2005.
Although Sugandha-1 and Judi 578 do not appear to be superior they have a higher economic yield than IR64 as their grain quality is superior. This is particularly true for Sugandha-1 as the grain is aromatic. Moreover, these varieties mature earlier than IR64 reducing the risks from end-of-season drought. Table 2b. Yield of the new varieties from India for grain yield compared with the best modern variety IR64 in trials in eastern India, 2003 to 2005.
Table 3. Some of the additional important traits of the new varieties in comparison to IR64 check variety
Where the Outputs were Validated: The outputs were tested in the semi-arid system mostly in the rainfed medium and semi-deep lowland ecosystem. GVT was the primary partner NGO. It directly operates in 13 districts of Jharkhand (Ranchi, Palamu, Hazaribagh, West Singhbhum, Kharsavan, Goda, Gumla, and Bukaro), Orissa (Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj) and West Bengal (Midnapur and Purulia) for the improvement of livelihood of 0.4 m people in an area where:
The majority of the area is under rainfed crops areas (only 5% of the land is irrigated in Orissa, 8% in Jharkhand and 13% in W. Bengal). Rice is the major crop in all three states with about 31% medium lowland and 23% semi-deep lowland which is mostly rainfed and where the crop is prone to frequent droughts. The All India Coordinated Rice Improvement Project trials of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research tested Judi 578 and Sugandha-1 in 2004, Barkhe 3010 in 2006, Ashoka 900F in 2003 and 2006, and Ashoka 165 in 2006 in the IVT MEI (Initial Variety Trial Medium-Early Maturity, Irrigated) trials throughout India. Who are the Users? Farmers were given only 5 kg seed of any new variety to test and adopt. Some farmers saved the seed of varieties they preferred and are continuing to grow them on an increased scale from the farm-saved seed (but this is limited by the small landholding size). There has been seed exchange among farmers but this is limited by the relatively small amounts of surplus seed in the system and the limited capacity of farmers to afford to store seed between the rice growing seasons. In addition to the farmers in the GVT project villages these varieties continue to be grown by the farmers working with the associated NGOs listed under "How the outputs were validated". The only official mechanism of producing seed of un-released varieties is to produce 'truthfully labelled' (TL) seed. Such seed is not eligible for official subsidies that certified seed attracts in all states in India. GVT has facilitated groups to produce TL seed of all of these varieties. Where the outputs have been used: The outputs are being used in India in three eastern Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa especially in 13 districts adopted by the GVT as given under "Where the outputs were validated", and in the villages adopted by the intermediary NGOs. The BAU is using the outputs in research for validation and release by the formal system. Other pipeline varieties, BAU-GVT 21, 22 and 23, are being tested by GVT and BAU in eastern India. Scale of Current Use: The major target of GVT has been upland rice as a poverty-focused approach. However, the medium lands and lowlands have a larger area and a higher production but only recently have these ecosystems received any attention. Hence, although more than 1,500 farmers in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa have grown these varieties no formal studies have yet been made on their adoption and the spread from farmer to farmer. Seed production was undertaken by the GVT in the dry season of 2004-05 and 2005-06 in Orissa with the self-help group farmers (Table 4). Further seed production is being undertaken of varieties in the rainy season of 2006 (Table 4). At a seed rate of 40 kg ha-1 a total of 107 ha has been covered in two years (2005 and 2006). From the seed produced in 2006 rainy season, the expected spread of new varieties will be 150 ha so the new varieties will cover about 260 ha from the seed directly supplied by the GVT. In addition, there will be increases in the land devoted to these varieties that is sown from farm-saved seeds. No seed production of Barkhe 3004 (a variety that was released in Nepal in 2006 and is already proving to be well accepted) was undertaken by the GVT and the BAU only produced seed for their research trials. Table 4. Quantity of seed and estimated area it can plant of three rice varieties. Seed was produced in Orissa in the dry season and distributed by the GVT in the rainy seasons of 2005 to 2006 (with planned distribution for 2007) to GOs, NGOs and farmers for testing and adopting. Data for 2007 relate to planned production and distribution.
The present coverage of these varieties is very limited although increase from farmer-to-farmer seed spread may be high for these varieties as their yield and yield stability will be high, particularly in the semi-deep lowland situation. Clearly, whatever the rate of spread it will be insignificant in relation to the 18 M ha of medium and lowland rice (irrigated and rainfed) in whole of eastern India Muralidhran et al. (1988). In the three states of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal, 31% of the rice area is medium land and 23% is semi-deep lowland giving a total area under medium and semi-deep rice of about 9 M ha (Jharkhand 1.4 M ha, Orissa 3.7 M ha and West Bengal 3.9 M ha). Assuming a very conservative adoption of new varieties on 10% of the area and a 10% annual seed replacement rate there will be an annual demand of 3,600 t of seed to cover about 0.09 M ha in eastern India. Hence, a large scale production and dissemination of the new varieties is required if they are to cover a significant proportion of the rice area. Policy and Institutional Structures, and Key Components for Success: The activities relating to the dissemination of these varieties are still at an early stage. The institutions that have some awareness of these varieties have been listed under "How the outputs were validated". The State Departments of Agriculture have programmes for promotion and popularisation of released rice varieties in the states through various types of demonstrations. In the past some interested officials have helped promote unreleased 'pipeline' varieties but this is always done on a limited scale. As more seed of these varieties becomes available State Departments of Agriculture will be prepared to test them. To promote adoption of new varieties at any significant level the varieties have to be released (and they have sufficient advantages for this to be possible). Failing this the private sector has to be willing to undertake the multiplication of truthfully labelled seed. So far, the involvement of the private sector in getting the outputs of PSP research into use has been limited though efforts are underway to do this for upland rice (see PSP16). Policy: The varieties preferred by farmers are not released. Only if a variety is released can certified seed be produced. In the absence of the official release of the varieties that allows 'certified' seed production, private companies and NGOs can take up 'truthful' seed production. Official policies of government agencies such as Department of Agriculture and State Agricultural Universities actively discourage the spread of non-released varieties. Lessons Learned and Uptake Pathways Promotion of Outputs: The current promotion is by GVT in 13 districts of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal from its seed production in Orissa with self help group farmers (Table 4). In addition, some promotion has taken place through 29 intermediary NGOs of the GVT in three eastern Indian states. No dissemination has taken place through the GOs particularly the BAU as the varieties are not yet released. Once some varieties are released BAU will be in a position to produce breeder seed for supply within and outside of Jharkhand. The adoption of unreleased varieties could be through the informal sector by truthful seed production. CAZS-NR with GVT is promoting the varieties at the level of seeking their official release. To do this they are collecting data and information to support official release proposals and having a dialogue with key people within BAU. Potential Barriers Preventing Adoption of Outputs: The promotion of medium and lowland varieties in the whole of eastern India (Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal) has been inefficient in that farmers continue to grow very old varieties such as IR36 and IR64. Unlike the case for upland varieties (PSP16) the reasons for this cannot be placed on limited purchasing capacity of the farmers and an erratic demand for seed due to variable rainfall from year to year at the critical sowing time. The lowland systems are more productive so farmers can better afford to purchase inputs against a higher anticipated harvest and water is less limiting in the lower parts of the rice continuum. This failure of the seed industry to deliver new varieties is not universal in India. In other states, such as Andhra Pradesh, there is a vibrant seed industry for non-hybrid rice varieties. Clearly there is a need to better understand the barriers but a reasonable hypothesis is that poor extension leads to low demand for new seeds. Since seed is only produced against demand this leads to a vicious circle where low demand gives low production and so low production fails to stimulate demand. There is a further constraint in that official seed channels comprising the State Agricultural University, the Department of Agriculture and the extension system do not promote non-released varieties. This also discourages the private seed sector. Changes in the seed regulatory framework to encourage participation of farmers are required. There is also a need for farmers' preferences to be translated into a demand for seed production. How to Overcome Barriers to Adoption of Outputs: The most important factor to remove the barriers is to raise awareness of them at all levels (State Agricultural Universities, NGOs, Departments of Agriculture and the private sector). There is not only a lack of awareness of the new varieties, mainly because the results are so new, but also a lack of awareness of the constraints to delivering seed of medium and lowland varieties. The following will be key to remove the barriers:
Lessons Learned: Using Rogers (2003) diffusion of information as a framework for the lessons learnt:
Hence provision of a sustainable seed supply is the most important factor in getting this research into use. In relation to this, in "How to Overcome Barriers to Adoption of Outputs" key factors were identified that included efforts on official release, information gathering, awareness raising amongst all of the stakeholders in the innovation system, and the role of the private sector in sustainable seed supply. Poverty Impact Studies: As the work was initiated during the last stages of the RNRRS and the period of introduction of varieties was too short no impact surveys could be conducted. However, impact and adoption surveys were conducted for the upland rice varieties produced through client-oriented breeding in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. The following is a partial list of such surveys and studies (for full information see PSP16 on upland rice).
These studies also computed high economic benefits from adoption of two upland rice varieties (Virk et al., 2003 above). The low average yields of upland rice (less than 1 t ha-1) and the highly erratic yields because of the frequent occurrence of drought reduce the economic benefits. In the case of rice for medium and semi-deep lowlands:
All these factors greatly increase the impact of the outputs, in economic terms, compared with those of upland rice. There is about 9 M ha of medium and semi-deep lowlands in the three states where GVT operates in eastern India. Assuming the adoption of new varieties on 10% of area they would be grown on 0.9 m ha. At productivity level of 1.3 t per ha of transplanted rice in these states the total production from this area will be 1.17 M t. Although the yield increases from new varieties were much higher, if we assume only a 20% additional yield then there will be 0.24 M t extra grain per year which at £72 t-1 (£1 =Rs 83) gives an additional benefit of about £17 million per year to the poor farmers of rainfed areas. The actual benefit will be much higher when calculated over years. All categories of farmers will benefit. Even though these high returns are the result of more favourable rice growing environments indigenous smallholder farmers can still benefit as they often have some parcels of better rice growing land. How the Poor have Benefited (including gender and other poverty groups): PRAs and focus group discussions revealed that farmers of all categories replaced their old varieties (landraces) as well as the modern but obsolete varieties such as IR36 and IR64 in a short period of three years. The PVS varieties offered a multiple choice which led to the adoption of more than one variety by farmers. This increased the varietal diversity in the participating villages. The yield gains from the new varieties showed that the participating farmers benefited from the new varieties. The most important aspect is the better performance of new varieties in rainfed conditions of farmer fields where these varieties were more drought tolerant and earlier maturing so they escape end-of-season drought. Substantial increases in grain yield and even higher gains in fodder yield for the rainfed and small holders of medium and lowlands has great impact on the livelihoods of poor people. Sugandha-1 that has aromatic grains with a high cooking quality and a higher market price was much preferred as it was highly profitable. Impact on livelihoods and food security: The effect of yield increases on the livelihoods of people was not studied for these varieties. However, in another study with 150 farmers in Jharkhand, Orissa West Bengal on the impact of upland rice varieties we observed that:
The patterns of impact of the upland rice varieties can be safely extrapolated to the impact of transplanted varieties of rice since they yield more (and hence new varieties give greater absolute benefits) and the target farmers, and areas in which they live, were the same as that for the upland rice varieties. Direct and Indirect Environmental Benefits: Direct and indirect benefits:
Earlier maturing varieties will promote cultivation of rainfed rabi crops such as chickpea to improve soil fertility. Effect on policy: The adoption of several varieties by farmers in the medium and semi-deep lowland conditions indicates a demand to change policy of releasing several varieties at the same time instead choosing the best one at the time of release. The popularisation of the new variety will also influence the policy makers to institutionalise the PVS process. Because of multiple varieties there would be more options for farmers, policy makers and NGOs who wish to promote diversification. Adverse Environmental Impacts: Although new cultivars are well adapted to prevailing on-farm conditions there is potential for farmers to increase their application of inputs if higher rates of fertilisers are profitable. If this is the case then environmental problems may arise that area associated with high fertiliser use. Coping with the Effects of Climate Change, or Risk from Natural Disasters: The resource-poor farmers are the major target group who have adopted many more new varieties than the most popular one or two modern varieties or the obsolete landraces they used to cultivate.] - sentence needs re-writing as meaning unclear The PRAs during trial evaluations have indicated increased benefits from new varieties from enhanced grain and fodder yields. Earlier maturing varieties have increased the resilience of farmers by making available extra time for other operations, lowering the cost of production, reducing use of water and nutrients besides, in some cases, increasing cropping intensity (two crops a year in the place of one). The new varieties do much better than existing varieties under conditions of limited irrigation that cause drought stress whilst also responding better to higher inputs. Thus, the greater versatility of the new varieties increases the ability of farmers to cope with climatic variation. Varietal diversification is a means of coping with climate change. For example, the staggered deployment of varieties that take different times to mature reduces the risks from drought, diseases and pests, and adverse weather (high winds, hail, and floods). References Evenson, R.E and D. Gollin. 2003: Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2000. Science 300: 758 - 762. Joshi, K.D., Sthapit, B.R., Subedi, M. and Witcombe, J.R. Participatory plant breeding in rice in Nepal. In: Farmers, Scientists and Plant Breeding: Integrating Knowledge and Practice, David A Cleveland & Daniela Soleri (Eds), CABI, Wallingford, UK 10:239-267. IPCC (2001). Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [eds: Houghton, J.T.,Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Muralidharan, K, Shinde, J.E., Pasalu, I.C., Venkataraman, S., Prasad, A.S.R., Kalode, M.B., Rao, A.V. and Reddy, A.P.K..1988. Rice in eastern India - a reality. Oryza 25: 213-245 Rogers, E.M. (2003). Diffussion of innovations. 5th Edition. New York: Free Press. Virk, D.S., Singh, D.N., Kumar, R., Prasad, S.C., Gangwar, J.S. & Witcombe, J.R. 2003. Collaborative and consultative participatory plant breeding or rice for the rainfed uplands of eastern India. Euphytica 132:95-108. Witcombe, J.R., Packwood, A.J., Raj, A.G.B. & Virk, D.S. 1998. The extent and rate of adoption of modern cultivars in India. pp. 53-68 in Seeds of Choice. Making the most of new varieties for small farmers. J.R. Witcombe, D.S. Virk and J. Farrington (Eds). Published by Oxford IBH, New Delhi and Intermediate Technology Publications, London. Witcombe, J.R., Joshi, K.D., Gyawali, S., Musa, A. M., Johansen, C., Virk, D.S. & Sthapit B.R. (2005). Participatory Plant Breeding is Better Described as Highly Client-Oriented Plant Breeding. I. Four Indicators of Client-Orientation in Plant Breeding. Experimental Agriculture 41: 299-319. Annex 1. NGOs and GOs who validated the new varieties in India
Relevant Research Projects,
with links to the
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For relevant research projects, with links to further information
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