Regional: Development and Dissemination of Climate-Resilient Rice Varieties for Water-Short Areas of South Asia and Southeast Asia

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural production

In collaboration with national rice research and extension systems, the regional research and development technical assistance (TA) provides support for large-scale disseminations of promising breeding lines seed multiplication; evaluation and dissemination of second-generation, climate-adapted water-saving rice varieties; and development and initial dissemination of new, third-generation aerobic and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) varieties; as well as impact assessments. The TA will cover water shortage countries in South Asia (Bangladesh, India, and Nepal) and Southeast Asia (Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic) through further adaptation research, trialing, and knowledge transfer of the technologies developed under RETA 6276 Development and Dissemination of Water-Saving Rice Technologies in South Asia.

The TA will also ensure availability of climate-adapted rice varieties through collaboration with national and provincial seed multiplication agencies, public and private sector institutes, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) for large-scale seed production and distribution. Varieties developed under the TA shall be available for cultivation to all farmers in beneficiary countries and can be shared with different research institutions in different countries upon signing the IRRI standard material transfer agreement.

In the Asia and Pacific region, 90% of the total diverted fresh water is used to irrigate agriculture, and more than 50% of this is used to irrigate rice. The growing scarcity of water worldwide has started to influence conventional irrigated rice production. By 2025, physical water scarcity will affect an estimated 15 million hectares. Recent climate change estimates predict the irrigation water deficit and the intensity and frequency of water shortage to deteriorate further. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that about 1.2 billion people could face freshwater shortages by 2020 and crop yields in some parts of the region could drop by as much as 30% by 2050. This will impact both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture. The inter-annual rainfall variability, including the concentration of rain in fewer days in a year and in different locations, will further impair surface irrigation systems. Droughts will occur with new and varied intensities.

The increasing water scarcity highlights the need to improve the water productivity of rice and to reduce its susceptibility to water stress to ensure adequate food for future generations. The International Rice Research Institute's (IRRI) research on water-saving technologies developed the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology for high-yielding transplanted rice. Testing at IRRI and field experience in Bangladesh and India have shown that the AWD system leads to savings of at least 15-20% water compared to transplanted flooded rice, without any yield decline. Technologies that require further development include aerobic rice as a prominent water-saving technology for moderate yielding, direct-seeded situations, and new varieties that are more tolerant of water-stress events. Aerobic rice trials using direct seeding have demonstrated 30-35% water saving. In addition, aerobic rice is a labor-saving technology, and can also be carried more efficiently with tractor-driven seeding implements. The frequency of water-stress events during the rice-growing period are becoming more common, and varieties that suffer less yield loss from these events need to be further developed.

The TA is consistent with the priority areas of the country partnership strategy of each participating country, which highlights climate change impacts on water and food security, knowledge solutions, and inclusive and environmentally sustainable development. It is also consistent with the GMS strategic Framework 2012-2022 (endorsed during the 5th meeting of the GMS Working Group on Agriculture), which has identified climate change as a key priority for action. With climate change adaptation being a core area of operation, the TA is consistent ADBs Strategy 2020. The TA is also consistent with ADBs Operational Plan for Sustainable Food Security in Asia and the Pacific and the Water Operational Plan 2011-2020.

The outcome of the TA can be leveraged for inclusion in food security related investment projects. Adoption of water-saving rice varieties can serve as a project component of a large investment project on food security, which often requires comprehensive measures in dealing with the issue of food supply amid climate change. It can also be a stand-alone investment catalyzing on the outcome of promising climate-adapted rice varieties through investing on its sustainable distribution, including facilitating market system distribution without compromising affordability among poor farmers. Investment projects that will establish distributional pathways and access to climate-adapted rice varieties especially targeting small farmers can guarantee greater impact as climate-adapted rice varieties meet both the pressing needs of ensuring food security and reducing the environmental footprint of rice. Financing for capacity development and provision of management packages for effective adoption of rice varieties with private sector involvement, and establishing institutional infrastructure to facilitate take up are also potential follow-up investment opportunities to sustain the development and dissemination of climate-adapted rice varieties.

1. High yielding varieties suitable for water shortage climate developed and disseminated

2. Site specific crop management packages for aerobic cultivation in water-short areas developed and disseminated

a. Seed multiplications in Bangladesh and Nepal have over-achieved the target volume of seed production (1,000 tons) and the target beneficiaries (5,000 farmers), while Cambodia, India, and Lao PDR could not meet the target scale. This reflects the fact that Bangladesh and Nepal have well developed institutional linkages between public research institutions and private seed companies, NGOs and farmers seed production groups for seed multiplication and wider dissemination of new variety seeds.: Bangladesh: 1,326 tons of seeds were produced by private seed companies, benefiting more than 110,000 farmers; Cambodia: 623 kg. of one variety were produced; India: a total of 5,621 kg. of 6 rice varieties were produced and distributed to 1,156 farmers in Odisha and 400 kg. of 3 rice varieties were distributed to 100 farmers in Haryana; Lao PDR: 4,974 kg. of 7 rice varieties were produced and distributed to 60 farmers; and Nepal: 800 tons of 7 rice varieties were produced and distributed to 6,150 farmers.

b. The breeding programs for third generation nematode-resistant and water efficient varieties at IRRI has shown good progress but has not reached to the stage of replicated trials and disseminations to participating DMCs. Under the RDTA, various generations of complex crosses evaluation, selection of promising plants, evaluation of one complex mapping population under observational yield trial, and identification of a grain yield advantage observed over the conventional biparental cross have been achieved.

c. Site-specific fertilizer, weed, water, and soil management and mechanization technique have been analyzed in all participating countries, based on which training tools in local languages have been produced and training of extension workers and farmers have been carried out.

d. A manual on sustainable aerobic rice farming practices have been prepared. Notable achievements for training material development and farmers' training are found in (i) Bangladesh, where 10,624 farmers and 375 extension workers benefited from training and field demonstration and 50,000 copies of technical advisory bulletin were disseminated; and (ii) Nepal, where 1,500 copies of fact sheets and technical information on improved rice cultivation and AWD were distributed and 203 farmers were trained on water-saving technologies.

e. Together with IRRI and national research institutions, ADB published the ADB Brief 60: Developing and Disseminating Water-Saving Rice Technologies in Asia (https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/185485/water-saving-rice-tech.pdf) and 17 associated technical papers online (https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/dev-dissemination-climate-resilient-rice-varieties-for-water-short-areas-of-sa-sea-17-papers-tacr). To date, the publication website records 592 pageviews and 296 downloads.

The TA will involve both basic research at IRRI and adaptive research in collaborating national agricultural research centers and in farmers' fields. Highly participatory approaches will be used in validating and disseminating suitable technologies. In each participating country, the targeted breeder seed production of the improved varieties will be carried out at the participating institutions. For the production of foundation and certified seed, and distribution of the certified seed to farmers, the TA, through the participating institution in each country, will link with seed-producing public and private sectors agencies and nongovernment organizations working in the region.

Knowledge sharing and capacity building are integral parts of the two outputs. IRRI and the participating countries will disseminate the knowledge and techniques via (i) climate adapted varieties and management practices packages to about 10,000 farmers in water short sites in each of the five participating countries; (ii) more extensively through publication of a book on recent advances in water-saving rice technologies; (iii) a manual of practices for water-saving technologies based on the selected AWD and aerobic varieties; and (iv) publication of at least two scientific papers in refereed journals.

Because of IRRI's long track record and internationally recognized research, training, and knowledge transfer work in developing new rice varieties and rice crop management techniques that help rice farmers improve the yield and quality of their rice in an environmentally sustainable way, ADB engaged IRRI, and its associated research institutions in each of the participating countries, to provide the consulting services using single-source selection.

IRRI proposed a team comprising (i) an international senior scientist staff member to act as team leader (1.2 person-months); (ii) an international rice breeder/agronomist (24 person-months) to help manage the breeding and screening program; (iii) two international plant breeders (total 48 person-months) to assist associated country research institutions with seed multiplication, dissemination, varietal evaluation and survey, and impact assessment; and (vi) two international research assistants who are Ph.D. students from the participating countries (total 48 person-months); and (v) five national research technicians (total 120 person-months), located at IRRI, to assist with research work.