The project is progressing according to plan and on track to meeting all milestones.

Project start-up workshops in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, 14-15/2/06, 25 participants) and Indonesia (Makassar, 24-25/7/06, 25 participants) were highly successful and showed strong commitment from project partner organizations and staff in Vietnam (PPD, NIPP, WVV) and Indonesia (IAARD, AIAT, IIRR). Long term objectives and associated activities were reiterated, detailed annual project plans were developed and case study areas were identified.

Project sites in Vietnam (An Giang and Ha Nam) and Indonesia (South Sulawesi and West Java) have been identified on the basis of discussions with experts, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and other programs in the area, and have been established in the third quarter of 2006 in Vietnam (7 treatment and 7 references hamlets in An Giang; 13 treatment and 6 reference hamlets in Ha Nam) and will be established in the first quarter of 2007 in Indonesia. At this first stage of the project treatment sites receive Trap Barrier System (TBS) and/or Community Action (CA) demonstration, extension and information. Note that CA includes ecological rodent management practices like synchronized cropping, timed community campaigns and field hygiene.

In alignment with the establishment of project sites, detailed baseline information for these sites is collected using Knowledge, Attitude and Practice & Socio-Economic (KAP&SE) household surveys, KIIs and FGDs, which were conducted and entered in the second half of 2006 in Vietnam and will be conducted and entered in the first half of 2007 in Indonesia.

Training for project staff included a 2-day KAP&SE survey development and training workshop in Vietnam and Indonesia, and a 4-day ACCESS data entry training workshop in Vietnam. In addition, the 3rd International Conference on Rodent Biology and Management (ICRBM) in Vietnam (Hanoi, 28/8/06 till 1/9/06) provided an excellent opportunity for in-country project leaders to exchange ideas and experiences as well as to present these to the wider scientific community.

Training courses for farmers in Vietnam included eight 1-day workshops on ecological rodent management technologies, to familiarize farmers with the available technologies, their functioning and associated costs. Farmers showed a strong interest in these workshops as evidenced by the number of participants (in total over 600 farmers participated).

Formal linkages to local extension organizations and programs have been strengthened, including linkages with PPD, sub-PPDs and World Vision in Vietnam and linkages with AIAT, sub-AIATs and IIRR in Indonesia. An important additional linkage in Indonesia has been the alignment of the project with the Primatani program, which is a new national program for accelerating dissemination of agricultural production technologies.

The project is progressing according to plan and is on track to meet all milestones.

The main emphasis of the project over the last 12 months has been training of farmers and regional extension staff to consolidate activities on project sites, and also to encourage adoption of sustainable integrated ecological rodent management in neighbouring villages and districts. There were approximately 40 training activities conducted in Vietnam and Indonesia and an estimated 4000 farmers trained. The capacity of core project staff (10 staff) and technical extension staff (approximately 140) has been increased through on-the-job training and formal training courses and workshops.

Project activities in Vietnam (Ha Nam province in the Red River Delta and An Giang province in the Mekong Delta) and Indonesia (Karawang district West Java and Pinrang district in South Sulawesi) have concentrated on establishing community actions (CA includes synchronised cropping, field sanitation, community campaigns at key times), and setting up community trap barrier systems (CTBS), training of farmers, cross visits, and demonstration sites. Farmer activities are monitored through farmer diaries (collected every 2 weeks), damage is assessed at 3 key stages of crop growth, and rice yields are collected at the end of each season. Results so far indicate that yields on treatment sites are 1-2% higher than on reference sites and the cost of rodent management actions conducted are less expensive on treatment sites than on reference sites at a village scale.

The key impacts resulting from project activities over the last 12 months include:
Community impacts: increase participation of farmers and desire to involve community members to manage rats at a community/village level. Carry-over benefit of mutual management for rodents and brown plant hoppers in the Mekong Delta because of synchronised cropping.
Economic impacts: less damage observed on treatment sites and slightly higher rice crop yields, leading to benefits for households.
Social impacts: increased involvement within the farming community to bring a common benefit to the whole community through the rodent management, and involvement in communal rodent management with neighbouring villages.
Environmental impacts: reduction in the use of rodenticides and plastic sheeting used for constructing barriers around individual rice fields.

Another key focus of the project is to implement and promote sustainable integrated rodent management at a large scale, achieved through communication and training activities:
Training activities: Core project staff have undertaken important on-the-job training and structured and formal training courses/workshops, and postgraduate training for 2 ACIAR John Allwright Fellowships for Masters and PhD students to study in Australia.
Communication and dissemination activities: Review workshops involving farmers, extension staff and project staff were conducted to evaluate results from each season and plan activities for the forthcoming season. There have been many training courses with farmers at different times of crop growth to encourage appropriate use and timing of rodent management to achieve desired outcomes. Thousands of rodent management booklets, leaflets and brochures have been distributed to farmers and extension staff in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Project planning: Involving all project partners to generate strong commitment and engagement from key staff and key institutions participating in the project. Planning workshops incorporated discussions and actions for communication planning and scaling out strategies.

The adoption of sustainable integrated ecological rodent management strategies has been promoted through a variety of communication and extension activities to farmers in the target provinces in both Vietnam and Indonesia, but also into neighbouring areas. An important strategy has been to utilise existing extension networks, such as the Primatani system in Indonesia and the "3-reductions and 3-gains" system in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

Other key activities include:
Training with knowledge attitudes and practices and socio-economic farmer survey (KAP&SE) and data entry and preliminary analysis.
Project site visits to monitor activities conducted by farmers, conduct focus group discussions and key informant interviews, attend project planning workshops and assist with training activities.
Preliminary analysis of KAP&SE data.
Key informant interviews in West Java and South Sulawesi with extension agencies, community leaders, credit managers and farmer group leaders to understand the governance arrangements for agricultural extension that condition adoption of the ecological rat control technologies, to understand the structural, financial and cultural barriers to effective extension, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the technologies and extension strategies to date.
Development of a rodent population dynamics model to link with a farm household model to explore farmer management decisions, which will be linked with a rice crop model to examine resulting changes in damage and yield loss to rice crops.
Development of household economic models to account for farmer decisions and examine cost-effectiveness of individual and community-based rodent management decisions and specific management scenarios.

Rodents remain a significant pest of lowland irrigated rice cropping systems throughout Southeast Asia causing around 15% yield loss to rice annually. Rodents are the number one pest of rice in Indonesia and one of the top three pests in Vietnam. Farmers describe rodents as the pest they have least control over. Traditionally, farmers have relied heavily on the use of rodenticides, electrocution and spreading sump oil mixed with insecticides onto flooded rice fields to manage the rodent problem, but these can be expensive, are often applied after significant damage has already occurred, and have environmental problems. Rodents affect households that are dependent on rice production for their livelihoods and impact on poor farming communities who have few resources.
This project was designed to implement ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) which can reduce rat damage, increase yields and reduce the reliance on rodenticides. EBRM relies on an understanding of the ecology of rats which then governs better integrated Community Actions (CA; synchronised cropping, field and village hygiene, rat hunts at key times) and the Community Trap Barrier System (CTBS; plastic fence set with rat traps enclosing a small area of early planted rice). These approaches need community cooperation. Key issues are how to deliver EBRM to the wider farming community, develop extension materials, increase cost-effectiveness, build the capacity of support staff, and develop pathways to enhance the adoption of EBRM.
The project is progressing according to plan and is on track to meet all milestones. The project is due to finish in September 2009. A key focus of the project team is now to quantify the significant adoption and dissemination of EBRM that has occurred, and to complete the post-implementation survey on farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices. Project activities are concentrated in Vietnam (Ha Nam, Red River Delta; An Giang, the Mekong Delta) and Indonesia (Karawang, West Java; Pinrang, South Sulawesi).
Key results include:
Farmers in Vietnam and Indonesia are effectively managing rodents through CA rather than through individual actions. These are applied early in the rice crop. CTBS have been used in specific locations and at specific times when rodent abundance and damage were high. Through farmer experimentation, linear TBS is used effectively in Indonesia.
The level of rodent damage to rice crops has reduced (now <4% loss). Higher rice yields are reported in areas where EBRM has been implemented.
There has been significant diffusion of EBRM into neighbouring villages, districts and provinces. In Vietnam, all 11 Districts of An Giang are implementing CA. In Ha Nam province CA is implemented in 152 cooperatives. In Karawang, CA is implemented in all villages in the sub-district. In Pinrang, the control site was converted to a treatment site in October 2008. Training and dissemination has occurred in other provinces in both Indonesia and Vietnam.
There have been significant community impacts. In-country staff demonstrated their improved capacity through expanding treatment areas (new villages implementing EBRM through CA), and through the implementation of farmer surveys. Key project staff have attended international training courses. Farmers' knowledge and understanding of rodent biology and management has improved leading to community level management.
Economic impacts have been demonstrated through farmers sharing the cost of CA and materials. Ha Nam farmers contribute rice towards a rat management fund to help pay for community rodent control efforts. Farmers in Indonesia share the cost of purchasing materials and are making cheaper rat traps.
Multiple social impacts have been achieved through involvement in implementation of CA by a range of community organisations (e.g. Cooperatives, Farmers' Union, Women's Union). Farmers report that they feel a greater sense of community. Farmers in Vietnam look forward to get together at community campaigns to catch rats.
Significant environmental impacts are felt in the reduction is use of rodenticides by 62-90% in Vietnam and reduction in use of sump oil and insecticide in Indonesia; increased awareness of the problems of using rodenticides; and elimination of using electricity to kill rats in Vietnam.
A range of training activities has been conducted. Training has occurred in core project areas and in nearby villages leading to the dissemination of EBRM into neighbouring areas. Two project staff attended a training course in the Philippines, and 3 project staff are continuing their training and capacity development through John Allwright Fellowships to undertake post-graduate research degrees in Australia (2 x PhD, 1 x MSc).
The communication and dissemination activities include a presentation to the new CEO of CSIRO, holding follow-up meetings with farmers to report back about the activities and to plan with active input by farmers for the forthcoming rice crop, and through various radio and TV programs that were aired in Indonesia and Vietnam, and though a high profile demonstration site and display during the National Rice Week in Indonesia (35,000 people attended the ICRR event, included the Indonesian President).
Ongoing activities include planning meetings and follow-up visits, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. These will clearly articulate the effective adoption pathways, cost-effectiveness, and capacity building impacts.

Rodents remain a significant pest of lowland irrigated rice cropping systems throughout Southeast Asia causing around 15% yield loss to rice annually. Rodents are the number one pest of rice in Indonesia and one of the top three pests in Vietnam. Farmers describe rodents as the pest they have least control over. Traditionally, farmers have relied heavily on the use of rodenticides, electrocution and spreading sump oil mixed with insecticides onto flooded rice fields to manage the rodent problem, but these can be expensive, are often applied individually by farmers in an uncoordinated manner after significant damage has already occurred, and have environmental problems. Rodents affect households that are dependent on rice production for their livelihoods and impact on poor farming communities who have few resources.
This project was designed to implement ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) which can reduce rat damage, increase yields and reduce the reliance on rodenticides. This project builds on the findings from previous ACIAR projects (AS1/1998/036). EBRM relies on an understanding of the ecology of rats which then governs better integrated Community Actions (CA; synchronised cropping, field and village hygiene, rat hunts at key times) and the Community Trap Barrier System (CTBS; plastic fence set with rat traps enclosing a small area of early planted rice). These approaches need community cooperation. Key issues are how to deliver EBRM to the wider farming community, develop extension materials, increase cost-effectiveness, build the capacity of support staff, and develop pathways to enhance the adoption of EBRM. The project was successful in delivering these and implementing EBRM.
Project activities occurred in lowland irrigated rice systems in Vietnam (Ha Nam province in the Red River Delta and An Giang province in the Mekong River Delta) and Indonesia (Karawang district West Java and Pinrang district in South Sulawesi). It involved a multidisciplinary team of research and extension agencies in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia.
Farming communities in each area were trained and supported in implementing EBRM from 2006. The approach used was the "training-of- trainers" (TOT) of local extension staff which was built up and expanded over the course of the project. Modules were integrated in national training programs. Training and supporting activities expanded from core sites each year and expanded to neighbouring villages and districts over each subsequent year (2007-2009). For example, EBRM activities expanded from 15 communes in Ha Nam Province in 2006 to 152 in 2009. Adoption and diffusion of EBRM was evident outside project areas. There were 17,000 farmers trained in Vietnam and 20,000 farmers trained in Indonesia. Farmer surveys, field observations and interviews were used to assess changes in farmer behaviour and activities.
The majority of farmers adopted CA as a successful rodent control strategy. The adoption of CTBS occurred only on sites where government subsidies were available to farmers. After implementing EBRM, rodent damage was reduced by 33-50% (reduced by up to 88% in Ha Nam Province), rice yields were increased by 2-5%, rodenticide use was reduced by 62-90%, and the use of electrocution was reduced by 95%. There was a strong shift away from individual actions to group or community actions.
Key findings to ensure sustainable EBRM include the need to have good coordination between civic and government agencies to enable farmer participation, strong, effective leadership of farmer groups is required, management needs to be conducted early in the growth of the rice crop before rodent populations commence breeding.
Community impacts include the increase participation of farmers and desire to involve community members to manage rats at a community/village level. There was also benefit of mutual management for rodents and brown plant hoppers in the Mekong Delta because of synchronised cropping. Economic impacts include the reduction in rodent damage leading to increased yields and subsequent increases in benefits for farming households. Social impacts include increased involvement within the farming community to bring a common benefit to the whole community through the rodent management, and involvement in communal rodent management with neighbouring villages. Environmental impacts include the significant reduction in use of rodenticides, plastic sheeting for protecting crops, and use of insecticides mixed with sump oil that was spread over paddy fields. There were 65 scientific reports and publications produced by the project.
This project has successfully demonstrated that it is possible to implement EBRM with farmers in lowland irrigated rice farming systems in Indonesia and Vietnam. To achieve effective and sustainable EBRM it is recommended to use Community Actions which incorporate synchronised cropping, field and village hygiene, rat hunts at key times, but they need to be supported by local and provincial governments.