India - Achievements

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Achievements

Key indicators and performance for 2008-09

Indicator: Activities addressing yellow rust strain Ug99 and water-related abiotic stresses (drought tolerance, waterlogging) implemented as part of the new collaborative program on marker-assisted breeding wheat

Performance: The Indo–Australian Program on Marker-Assisted Wheat Breeding was successfully implemented, addressing key biotic and abiotic stresses that are high priorities for India and Australia. The program is underpinned by a unifying system to maximise sharing of genetic information among participants.

Indicator: An integrated cluster of linked projects designed and implemented around sustainable watershed development and water resource management in Andhra Pradesh

Performance: As planned, two new cluster projects were implemented in 2008–09 and a further two are under design for a 2009–10 start.

Indicator: Next generation resource-conserving technologies based on zero-tillage and residue retention developed and tested on farmer fields in the rice–wheat areas of north-western India

Performance: Two projects developed and tested next generation resource-conserving technologies on a large number of farms in two states, with high-yielding wheat crops planted with zero-till equipment into heavy rice straw. Direct-seeding technologies for rice on station and on farmers’ fields have averaged yields of 8 t/ha.

Indicator: Principles of farmer participatory soil fertility management and water harvesting techniques refined and applied by key NGOs

Performance: Working through Pradan, an Indian NGO, in the village of Amagara, better soil and water management of vegetable production resulted in a sixfold increase in the 2008 monsoon season compared with 2 years earlier.

Indicator: Assessment of India’s domestic agricultural regulatory frameworks and scope for beneficial deregulation and associated reforms

Performance: Competition and regulatory reform requirements in India to facilitate efficient agricultural markets were assessed, with linkages to key government agencies being operational.

Indicator: At least 40% of new projects designed to have significant farmer or policymaker impacts within 5 years of completion

Performance: Four of the six projects which began operations during 2008–09 were designed to have significant impact on policymakers or farmers within 5 years of completion.

Achievements from the 2008-09 Annual Report

Subprogram 1: Application of marker-assisted selection as a tool in wheat breeding (Indo–Australian program on marker-assisted breeding for wheat)

India urgently needs efficient new wheat cultivars with increased yield and rust resistance to lift production. Current research is focusing on development of resistance through the application of molecular technology. India possesses many of the necessary research skills and infrastructure, and Australia is assisting to facilitate the cohesive linkage of the components to breeding, while targeting an array of stem, leaf and stripe rust gene combinations. Components of the research include the use of genetic markers to plot the presence of key genes in breeding populations. Australian germplasm sent to India in the first year of the project has been crossed with Indian parents and progeny are under development. Key parental materials have been profiled, with markers at laboratories in India and Australia. The first shipment of Indian materials arrived in Australia late in 2008, and crosses have been made between Indian and Australian lines under quarantine conditions. Progress is being made on the establishment of a database describing the genetic characteristics and performance of advanced lines. The research under the Indo–Australia program is also addressing the problems of waterlogging, salinity and element toxicities on stem rust (Ug99), along with drought tolerance.

Another project is focusing on improving farm profitability in north-western India (particularly in Haryana) by improving the grain quality of the wheat produced. Researchers are identifying practices that farmers can adopt as part of an integrated system for enhancing both quality and wheat yield. Development of a production and marketing culture that recognises and rewards quality attributes is also being investigated. The field demonstration and research components of the project reach into crop rotational sequences involving cotton–wheat, sugarcane–wheat, pearl millet–wheat and cluster bean–wheat; this is a significant expansion, given the past focus of on-farm research in Haryana on the rice–wheat cropping system.

ACIAR-funded research has contributed to the development of the 'Happy Seeder', an implement capable of direct drilling wheat into heavy rice residue loads without prior burning. Another new project focuses on environmental policy issues associated with rice residue burning and the role of the Happy Seeder in addressing these issues. As part of the project, researchers are assessing the broader significance of agriculturally based pollution in Punjab. Progress has been made to identify technically feasible on- and off-farm alternatives to crop residue burning. The Happy Seeder continues to be refined, with development of a sixth prototype that is suitable for sowing crops other than wheat into rice straw residue. This machine can manage sowing for rice straw loads of up to 10 t/ha, and has also proven effective in sowing mungbean into wheat straw residue. Three methods of planting rice have been proven: broadcasting of direct-seeded rice on unpuddled soils, direct seeding using zero-till planters, and mechanical transplanting on unpuddled soils, the last of which is undergoing rapid adoption by rice farmers in Haryana and Punjab.

Traditionally, smallholder farmers in Madhya Pradesh use manure to fertilise their crops, but this is insufficient to provide enough nutrients for maximum soybean and wheat productivity. Research has been underway to overcome this nutritional deficit with a series of experimental approaches. Omission trials (where one plant nutrient at a time is omitted from the fertiliser mix) were used to identify nutrients limiting the productivity of crops, thus informing the development and evaluation of fertilisation regimes to address the nutrient deficiencies identified. A high level of engagement with local smallholders has helped to develop agronomic practices acceptable to farmers. All experiments have been conducted on farmers’ fields, and farmers’ field days have regularly been conducted in order to understand their perceptions of the work. The researchers demonstrated that, with the addition of an inorganic fertiliser containing identified missing nutrients, substantial benefits could be gained from a smaller manure application (5 t/ha instead of the 20 t/ha used previously), permitting farmers to treat a larger area with manure each year. For the soybean crop the treatment consists of 50% inorganic fertiliser plus 5 t of farmyard manure plus rhizobium (a nitrogen-fixing bacterium), while the wheat crop receives 75% of the recommended rate of inorganic fertiliser. Even at this reduced rate of application (5 t/ha), there is insufficient farmyard manure for application to all of the cropped area, and in this instance the researchers have developed an inorganic fertiliser regime termed Balance Fertilisation.

Subprogram 2: Water management for enhanced livelihoods in rainfed areas of the Central Plateau, with emphasis on Andhra Pradesh

Small farmers in watersheds of the East India Plateau stand to benefit from studies of water harvesting and better cropping systems. A project, working in conjunction with the NGO Pradan, is using participatory action research in developing principles and testing improved practices for watershed development (WSD) for this high-rainfall plateau. The villagers have participated in an action learning cycle (plan, do, observe, reflect) that has guided the overall project as well as most activities. The project has evolved to introduce a village core committee (VCC) comprising self-help group representatives to improve project implementation and build social capacity. Ownership, responsibility and control have shifted from the team to the villagers. In Pogro village the VCC oversaw (with project support) the initial implementation of the WSD plan during the dry season. Initial implementation focused on part of the watershed, including a 'learning cluster' of six families as a focal point for the whole village and surrounding communities. In Amagara village a linear study of land use over time has revealed significantly increased cropping intensity and crop diversity.

WSD programs have been significant in raising productivity and incomes in rainfed areas of India. In WSD programs technical water-harvesting solutions range from simple check-dams to large percolation and irrigation tanks, and from vegetative barriers to contour banks. Field experience, however, has shown that in a significant proportion of cases the farmers/villagers show low enthusiasm for adopting WSD technologies, and failures are common. Two projects are underway to enhance the livelihoods of farmers on the Central Plateau (particularly Andhra Pradesh) by improving the institutional and biophysical performance of WSD programs. These projects have, with the assistance of the Andhra Pradesh Department of Rural Development, established a sampling frame for assembling case data.

Pearl millet stover (green matter) is a major component of ruminant diets in the crop–livestock systems of the driest rainfed parts of India. Here, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is the only reliably productive cereal, and a project aims to use both marker-assisted and conventional plant breeding to genetically increase the nutritive value of pearl millet stover. So far, the research has successfully linked laboratory quality traits for pearl millet stover with livestock productivity measurements. Having established the link, the team is making steady progress in establishing how individual and combined genomic regions (so-called ‘quantitative trait loci’) determine in-vitro stover quality and in-vivo animal production, and in producing hybrid parent lines with enhanced stover quality suitable for use in commercial hybrid seed production.

Subprogram 3: Policy options for trade and market reform to underpin agribusiness development

Recent ACIAR research on trade reform and Indian agriculture found that trade policy reform must be complemented by ‘behind-the-border’ domestic reforms in order to meet government objectives of improved productivity, higher rural employment and incomes, and enhanced food security. A follow-on project now focuses on facilitating the development of agricultural policy settings that will enable Indian farmers to efficiently adjust to a less-regulated marketing environment. Project researchers have compared agriculture policy settings in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Using these comparisons and a public policy framework, they are preparing to undertake industry case studies that examine the application of current policy settings at the industry level, and how an alternative competition policy regime would apply.

Other projects

A project to increase the productivity of cattle with rumen fungal treatments aims to improve the nutritional status among the rural poor by increasing the availability of milk in the diet. Such treatments encourage greater use of crop residues for milk production by large ruminants in smallholder units in India. Two treatments have been developed for improving the intake of poor-quality herbage by cattle. One involves the use of a nutritional supplement (organic sulfur compounds) to selectively enhance the fibre-degrading activity of anaerobic fungi in the rumen, and the other is a living fungal inoculant. Positive responses in milk production were achieved when cows received the organic sulfur compound known as MPS. During the project Indian scientists were trained in rumen microbiology, and a laboratory that is equal to the world standard for the field was equipped.

Research is progressing in a project to improve post-rainy sorghum varieties to meet the growing grain and fodder demand in India. Sorghum grown in India in the post-rainy (Rabi) season relies on residual soil moisture, and the crop is commonly exposed to terminal drought stress. But there is a ready market for its high-quality grain and stover (used as fodder on dairy farms). Steps to improve productivity while maintaining quality offer an attractive opportunity for sorghum farmers to improve their incomes. Genetically improving the efficiency of sorghum is a prime target to maximise grain/stover production and quality of Rabi sorghum. This project is working to improve the genetic efficiency of sorghum through the application of DNA sequences known as quantitative trait loci (QTLs) to use stored soil moisture. Genetic marker-assisted introgression of stay-green QTLs into sorghum lines is being introduced, enhancing both the quality and quantity of grain/stover of post-rainy sorghum.

Another project has increased awareness of the need for better management practices (BMPs) in shrimp farming and contributed to its promotion in the Asia–Pacific region (in countries such as Australia, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Thailand). The project has created a robust regional mechanism for networking and exchange of information. It is specifically focused to benefit small-scale shrimp farmers in Asia by helping them to reduce disease risks, improve yields, produce quality shrimp, access better markets, address socioeconomic sustainability and comply with international principles. A dedicated BMP website in the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) webpage has provided a platform for project partners and other BMP projects in the region to communicate and share information. The visibility of BMP programs has increased significantly in the region and, as a result, more and more NACA member governments are requesting NACA and other donors to establish BMP projects in their countries (e.g. Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh).

High-value harvest from saline groundwater

Salinity is a growing threat to crop productivity across many millions of hectares in India and Australia. Farmers strive to maintain production through management options such as pumping up the saline groundwater. But often they are fighting a losing battle, and large tracts of land formerly used to grow wheat and rice have become barren.

But from crisis often comes opportunity, and in this instance it comes in the improbable form of inland aquaculture. An ACIAR project has helped find a use for the saline wastewater, turning it into a resource to grow high-value foods such as prawns and fish.

In India a successful industry cultivating giant freshwater prawns was already operating at coastal sites (the prawns need saline water to breed). The project team of Indian and Australian scientists could see the potential for a parallel industry using the saline water thousands of kilometres inland in Haryana state. However, although the groundwater is saline, it has a different chemical profile to seawater. The two major significant differences in the groundwater are lower levels of potassium, which affect prawn growth, and higher levels of calcium, which can be fatal to larvae.

Thus, the major hurdle identified was to establish the optimum chemical balance of the groundwater for hatching and growth. Tests at the research centre in Haryana determined that adult prawns can grow quite satisfactorily at lower potassium levels provided the sodium levels were not too high. But that still didn’t help with the breeding—virtually all the larvae still died soon after hatching.

Further water analysis identified an imbalance in the ratio of calcium to magnesium in the groundwater. The solution lay in filtering out the excess calcium. Although a little of the magnesium was also lost, the team could add more of this trace element to restore it to a level that mimics seawater. For the first time ever the scientists achieved successful breeding of freshwater prawns to post-larval stage in inland saline water.

This is a great encouragement for an infant industry. Inland growers now have a local enterprise that promises to supply post-larvae for stocking their ponds. Another innovation, the introduction of polyhouses over breeding ponds, is protecting the broodstock from temperature extremes in both summer and winter and helping to ensure their year-round survival. The research teams are now turning their attention to promoting other species such as carp or catfish to complement the prawn season.