Expansion of the Cereal Systems Initiative
for South Asia in Bangladesh (‘CSISA – BD‘)
Bas Bouman
Senior Scientist
IRRI (b.bouman@cgiar.org)
William Collis
Director for South Asia
WorldFish (w.collis@cgiar.org)
Andrew McDonald
GCAP meeting
March 28, 2011
Regional Cropping Systems Agronomist
CIMMYT (a.mcdonald@cgiar.org)
What is CSISA?
The original CSISA launched in 2009
Project Goal: To increase food, nutrition, and
income security in S. Asia through sustainable
intensification of cereal-based systems
• Four countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan
• Supported by: USAID, Gates Foundation, & World Bank
• Collaboratively implemented with many public and
private partners
Key CSISA activities
• Development, dissemination of sustainable, productive,
and economical agricultural management practices &
technologies
• Strategic partnerships (public + private sectors) to increase
the scale and longevity of interventions
• Strengthen market linkages and business development –
improved technologies alone are not sufficient
• Development of high-yielding and stress-tolerant varieties
• Capacity building
• Policy analysis (IFRPI)
CSISA expansion in Bangladesh
• 5-year investment from USAID – Bangladesh (FtF- $24.4 m)
• Enterprise-based diversified strategy : includes WorldFish
as a core partner
• Emphasis on technology delivery, capacity building, and
adaptive research (no upstream research, breeding, or
policy)
• Formation of four new hubs in the South
• Strengthening of existing hubs in Central and Northwest (3X
more resources at hubs)
CSISA hub domains in Bangladesh
Existing hubs :
• Dinajpur (Rajshahi satellite)
• Central BD
(Gazipur → Mymensingh)
New hubs for 2011 :
• Jessore
• Khulna
• Barisal
New hubs for 2012 :
• Noakhali
Vision of success for CSISA - BD
By the end of Year 5 (across six hubs):
• 60,000 HH (directly benefited) with net
annual income increase of $350 per HH
• 300,000 HH (indirectly) through
dissemination-related activities
• >1 M HH (indirectly) through linkages,
synergies and innovative partnerships
The context for CSISA-BD
Importance of smallholder agriculture
•
Food Security: >40% Bangladesh malnourished.
Social safety nets through redistribution etc. are
impossible to afford at this scale (>60 M people)
•
Poverty: Small-scale commercial agriculture
remains the main employer and high value
agriculture the best opportunity for reducing rural
poverty. (Mellor, 2010)
•
Nutrition: Strong opportunities for health and
agriculture professionals to work together to
identify and use food, with supplementation as a
complement, to solve nutrition issues.
Challenges to agricultural development
•
Land, Water, labor and energy shortages –
competition with other sectors
•
Increasing costs of production
•
Stagnating or low rates of productivity growth
•
Resource loss / degradation (land, water, soil)
•
Coping with risks and uncertainty: salinity,
high temperatures, drought, climate
variability
Many are geographically distinct
Drought + overuse of groundwater
Seasonal inundation, flash flooding
Temperature and drought stress
Limited-source surface irrigation in the poulders
Floods, cyclones, and tidal surges,
salinity across the coastal belt
Agriculture can be transformed….
The rice revolution in South America
Agronomic Revolution
(management gain 2 t / ha, )
Yield ton/ha
Variety revolution
(semi-dwarfs – 2 t / ha)
350 new varieties released
Peter Jennings, FLAR, 2005
Creation of FLAR
.......................1968
1995
2002......................
Why aren’t improved technologies adopted?
KNOWLEDGE
CAPITAL
INPUTS
LABOR
RISK
Are key messages reaching farmers?
Are technologies matched to needs of smallholders?
Why invest in CSISA?
CSISA axioms for success
•
Farmers manage systems, not
single commodities
•
There is no universal template for
agricultural development
(Bangladesh is a long way from Punjab)
•
Blending scientific rigor with
participatory, demand-lead approaches is a must
(neither approach is transformative in isolation)
)
Accelerating progress through partnerships
CSISA will use strategic partnerships based on complementary
strengths to achieve durable impacts over a large area.
• NARs and University partners to develop science-based solutions
• GOs Line Agencies: to build capacity and mainstream programs through
DAE / DoF / DLS and their extensive networks of trainers
• National and International NGOs: BRAC, RDRS and others who offer
credit and business services at scale.
• USAID programs (e.g. MYAPs): to leverage existing socials networks and
close interactions with communities and individual households.
• Private sector: to collaboratively develop and refine machinery, cultivar
evaluations, best practices for agro-chemicals, and as a disseminate
channel for management information (e.g. through agro-dealers)
CSISA approach is based on the ‘Innovation Hub’
• Areas united by similar agricultural systems, production
opportunities and challenges.
• Provide a geographic focus
for collaborative innovation,
learning, and dissemination.
• Brings together regional
partners – private sector,
GOs & NGOs, universities,
farmer groups
• Provide a basis for local identification and participatory testing
of improved seed and appropriate management technologies.
Representative CSISA-BD priorities
Technology targeting (e.g. elite seed)
Submergence tolerant rice
In collaboration with the GoB, the private
sector, and NGOs, CSISA BD will identify ways
to increase seed accessibility to farmers.
Better matching of new seeds with the right
production environments will accelerate this
progress by setting needs-based distribution
domains for elite seed.
GIFT Tilapia
Salt tolerant maize
Coping with water and labor scarcity
Reduced
costs
Minimum or zero tillage
Residue retention
Crop Rotation
Resilience to climate risks
Water use
efficient
Higher, more stable yields
Increased profitability
Improved
soil quality
Conservation Agriculture (CA)
as a catalyst for sustainable intensification
Profitable system transitions
In areas with winter fallows, enabling rabi
crops using CA, stress tolerant varieties etc.
In water rich areas, diversified cropping
systems that include aquaculture.
In the saline belt, promote shrimp culture.
• Reduce risk
• Increase production
intensity
• Increase income
and income
reliability
Increasing resource use efficiency
Declining water tables and higher pumping costs for irrigation
negatively affect yield and profitability of winter crops.
CSISA-BD will evaluate, refine, and disseminate management
approaches which can increase the efficiency of water utilization
such as AWD for rice and bed planting for wheat.
Precision ag and new modes of outreach
General recommendations
for fertilizers and other
inputs are often not optimal,
but improved ‘site-specific’
management approaches must
be modified for the conditions
of smallholders.
CSISA-BD is collaborating with
IPNI to develop a ‘Nutrient
Manager’ tool which can easily
and economically be used in BD.
Developing entrepreneurship
Small-scale commercialization of inputs
and service provision offer strong
possibilities for achieving impact at scale
by overcoming bottlenecks such as the
cost of machinery, training, etc.
CSISA-BD will offer:
• technical training,
• market linkages,
• examples of viable business models for
new entrepreneurs
• marketing advise
Gender mainstreaming
Women manage many facets of
agricultural production in Bangladesh that
are central to HH nutrition and income
generation.
CSISA is identifying ways through which
women farmers and entrepreneurs can
increase productivity and profitability.
Specific training opportunities and
outreach methods will be geared towards
women.
Training and continuing education
• Education is a cornerstone for
national Food Security
• Current linkages between formal
knowledge sources and technology
delivery system are weak.
• Continuing education is lacking for
GO and NGO staff as well as for
private sector agro- dealers and
service providers.
Many players, insufficient strategy
CISISA-BD will partner with research institutions, universities, and
professional societies to create broad-based education programs.
Strengthening regional linkages
Linking national
systems with the
private sector.
Bangladesh to India and back again…..
CSISA has a close working relationship with machinery manufacturers
in India. These ties are being leverage to identify new market
opportunities for scale- appropriate mechanization in Bangladesh,
including new seeders for the Chinese ‘two wheel’ tractor.
Impact pathways and enterprises
Farmers manage enterprises, not single commodities. CSISA-BD focuses
on integrated approaches to agricultural development.
AWD to reduce
rice water
requirements
Canal management
(increase water supply)
Intensified rabi cropping
Improved feeding and
income generation
Thank You
APPENDIX – CIMMYT PRIORITIES BASED ON FGD
Characteristics of the Southern Hubs
• Cropping systems that do not favor winter crops (late transplanting of
rice, and in cases longer duration rice varieties)
• Insufficient winter irrigation
silted canals with limited storage capacity (no groundwater)
advancing riverine salt front
high costs of pumping and declining water table
• Significant areas of fallow due to poorly drained fields, limited source
irrigation, and late on-set salinity
• labor $ issues, outmigration for work
• low rates of mechanization
• inadequate internal feed sources for livestock and fish; purchased
feeds of variable quality and expensive
• low or no use of fertilizer for most rabi crops
Dissemination / demonstration priorities
• Improved post-harvest storage technologies and increased capacity
(avoiding early sale when prices are low)
• Better-bet fertilizer recommendations, eventually domain or site specific
(linked with research progress)
• Legume seed inoculation
• Mini-kit distribution of newly released winter crops varieties from Bina and
BARI, including those with better salt tolerance and shorter growth duration
(Kulna, Barisal). Awareness raising of the importance of newer varieties and
seed replacement.
• Introduction of high-efficiency pumps (CSU)
• Highlight the issue of canal maintenance and implications for productivity /
livelihoods to the water board, LGED, and other relevant agencies
• Market linkages (regional) and development (local) for emerging rabi crops
through value chain approaches
• Mechanized seeding to reduce labor requirements
Applied research priorities
• Agronomic and economic performance of relay establishment of rabi crops
in rice for high and medium highlands.
• Agronomic and economic performance of dedicated forage crops (barley,
wheat, napier grass) in areas that remain fallow due to late drainage.
• Agronomic and economic performance of CA-based crop management
practices (single-pass strip tillage + seeding or surface seeding + anchored
residue retention).
• Evaluation of commercially-available maize hybrids
• Yield response trials to macro, secondary, and micronutrients (
• Mechanized bed planting options to increase irrigation efficiency and
arsenic mitigation (Jessore)
• Bed planting for Aman season vegetable production
• FEAST-type feeding evaluation tools for livestock and fish to assess the
value of increases in maize, oilseed, and fodder production
PhD Research Topics
• Landscape model of ISF as influenced by flooding, soil type, and
management practices.
• Site-specific fertilizer recommendations based on water-limited yield
targets and ISF.
• Strategies for enterprise-based irrigation water allocation (limited source in
winter) with and without agronomic interventions (i.e. CA, cropping system
modifications)
• Optimal establishment dates for rice seedbeds based on agro-climatological
analysis as well as adjustments based on medium to short-range monsoon
forecasts. Part of larger agronomic and modeling study (w/ IRRI and IFAD
funding) to increase total yields in rice-wheat (and other rabi) systems.
• Reducing tradeoffs between livestock feeding and crop residue retention.
• Irrigation timings for different crops in water-limited areas (e.g. if you have
two irrigations to give, when to give them?).
IFAD and Conservation Agriculture: research
complements to CSISA
“Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Livestock
Farming Systems in Hill Areas of South Asia”
Jharkhand and Hill Areas of Nepal – with ILRI
“Accelerating
resource-conserving technology
(RCT) adoption to improve food security and
rural livelihoods while reducing adverse
environmental impacts in the Indo-Gangetic Plains.”
India, Nepal, and Bangladesh – with IRRI
High risk, low investment agriculture
Hill areas of Nepal
‘Poverty Corridor’ of India
Rainfed and water-limited = low cropping intensity, low productivity
Comparison of Rainfed Wheat Yields for Contrasting Tillage and Residue
Management Practices over 11 Years in Central Mexico
8500
Immediate yield gains + lower production costs = low barrier to entry
Grain Yield (kg/ha)
7500
6500
5500
4500
3500
2500
1500
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Wheat-Maize; Zero Till - All Residues Retained (Best CA-based Practice)
Wheat-Maize; Conv. Till; - All Residues Removed (Farmer Practice)
Wheat-Maize; Zero Till - All Residues Removed
Optimal residue allocation strategies in mixed
crop-livestock systems
Bedding and fuel
Forage
Competing uses for crop residues
Soil quality
Fodder
Figure 2. A significant challenge for sustainably
intensifying farming system productivity is to optimally
allocate crop residues by identifying and minimizing
tradeoffs between competing uses.
CA can increase residue
supply, thereby reducing
potential conflicts (residue
allocation with CA is not a
zero sum game)
More effort is required to
identify minimum residue
requirements required to
achieved the benefits of CA
Example IFAD hill maize activities
• Single and layered interventions for increasing maize productivity
– CA (line sowing etc.) vs. FP
– hybrids vs. OPVs
– improved nutrient management vs. FP
– improved weed control vs. FP
• Enabling double cropping with CA in winter fallow regions (choice of maize
hybrid optimized wrt yield potential and growth duration; productivity and
feed value of second crop evaluated)
• Weed population dynamics with CA establishment, residue retention
levels, and soil fertility
• Mechanical options for weed control w/ CA
• Improving maize planting geometry and fertilizer management practices
for intercrop systems
• Identifying minimum residue retention requirements in CA-based systems
for yield and tradeoff minimization (with ILRI).
• Identification of improved crop production and livestock feeding strategies
to increase farm enterprise productivity and profitability (with ILRI).
Example IFAD DSR activities
• Time of planting influences on direct seeded rice establishment,
yields, and irrigation requirements (field and simulation – risk and
productivity focus).
• Cultural practices and weed population dynamics in DSR
• Agronomic nitrogen use efficiency as affected by crop establishment,
deep fertilizer placement, and water management
• Varietal screening in DSR and conventional transplanting
• Brown manuring: balancing weed suppression, N fixation, and rice
growth
• Characterizing cracking behaviour in puddled and non-puddled soils:
implications for irrigation efficiency and optimal water management
practices
• Evaluating the on-farm water management practices and economics
of TPR, DSR, and non-puddled transplanted rice