12 June 2012
Workshop on improving food security through rice-based farming systems
Researchers from Lao PDR, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Australia are gathering in Vientiane this week for a three-day workshop on increasing the productivity and profitability of rice-based farming systems.
An initiative of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the workshop will track progress of a suite of research projects and highlight further opportunities for improving food security in the region.
Dr Bounthong Bouahom, Director-General, National Agricultural Forest Research Institute, Lao PDR, will make the opening remarks at the workshop for the “Rice-based Systems Research Program for food security in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Bangladesh” on Wednesday 13th June 2012 at the Lao Plaza Hotel. The attendees will include representatives of many key agricultural research agencies that are partners in the ACIAR projects.
“Many farmers who rely on rice-based systems cultivate small areas of land and don’t have access to new crop varieties and technologies to help boost production,” said ACIAR’s Principal Regional Coordinator for Mekong countries, Dr Gamini Keerthisinghe. “As a result, low productivity and shrinking farm size has seen some parts of Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh facing cycles of hunger and poverty.”
“In Cambodia rice yields lag up to 50 per cent behind comparable systems in other parts of South-East Asia, and there are similar yield gaps found in the uplands of Laos and the poorest parts of Bangladesh.
“The Australian Government through ACIAR is investing nearly AU$15 million over five years in an integrated portfolio of projects in Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh to address the range and scale of these issues,” Dr Keerthisinghe said
In the Savannakhet and Champassak provinces of Laos the research involves approximately 300 farms in ten villages, including the poor upland districts of Sepon and Phim. The researchers and farmers are working together to test and adapt new water management, crop and livestock technologies, along with new marketing approaches.
In Cambodia, demonstrations of commercially viable direct-seeded technologies and practices are underway, while in western Bangladesh the role of short-duration pulses, such as lentils and mungbean is being tested as a means of delivering improved soil nutrition and additional dietary protein.
“The aim of the biophysical, socioeconomic and policy research is to identify promising management practices that are best suited to the rice-based farming systems in these countries.
“This purpose of the mid-term technical workshop is to develop cross-project synergies to enhance the program’s overall success, and to identify future research priorities,” Dr Keerthisinghe said.
ACIAR is a statutory authority that operates as part of the Australian Government’s development cooperation program. The Centre encourages Australia’s agricultural researchers to use their skills for the benefit of developing countries and Australia.
For media enquiries please contact:
Australian Embassy
Vientiane
+ 856 21 353800