South Australian Research and Development Institute

This project builds on the success of a previous project (AH/1998/054) in upland areas of Papua and West Papua Provinces by continuing to develop options to improve cash income from sweetpotatoes and pigs, improve human health and nutrition using higher yielding varieties of sweetpotato with improved storage traits and decreasing the risk of parasitic zoonoses. Improving productivity and efficiency of the sweetpotato-pig production system, with better utilisation of the resources associated with it, will enable diversification through integration of vegetables and small livestock. The value of the project was recognised by Provincial Government when pig-sweetpotato production was nominated as one of three industries for inclusion in the Livelihood Improvement in Papua and West Papua project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). As a result the project was expanded in April 2010 by adding objective 4 which will result in the dissemination of project outcomes to other areas of the Provinces.
The major partners continue to be SARDI, the International Potato Centre and Balai Besar Penggkajian dan Pengembangan Teknologi Pertanian, through BPTP Papua and West Papua. However University of Papua, CIP, University of Adelaide Food Plus Program and the Institute for Tubers and Legumes (Malang) are providing support in sweetpotato cultivation, nutritional analysis, and storage and processing technology. Further local agronomic support is being provided by BPTP and the Department Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Security, West Papua Province. SARDI is leading the pig production and health aspects of the project, but expertise and diagnostic technology is being provided by University of Queensland and Udayana University in zoonotic parasitology and University of Gaja Mada in microbiology. Regional Departments of Animal Husbandry in Mimika and Jayawijaya (Papua Province) and Department Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Security, West Papua Province, along with the Diagnostic Investigation Centre in Maros Sulawesi are providing diagnostic and monitoring support. The team being built covers a wide spectrum of scientific, technical and extension expertise across several disciplines in food production and animal production and health.
Although progress has been relatively slow, three successful workshops have been conducted which resulted in significant team building and clarity of purpose.
Emphasis during the first year has been on gaining a better understanding of Arfak methods of pig production. A social diagnostic survey was completed in December 2009 and a formal workshop is planned for October 2010 to draw conclusions and identify areas requiring a change in approach. A pig disease survey was also completed in May 2010 to identify key health and production issues in pigs.
The adaption of the Baliem Valley Pig Production System to the Arfak region will be a major activity in the coming year.
Significant capacity building in technology through training and transfer has occurred. UNIPA has enhanced its capacity for chemical analysis through purchase of equipment and staff training in analytical techniques. Relevant diagnostic technology transferred from University of Queensland to Udayana University will be transferred to Maros DIC and local Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories.
Forming linkages with the IFAD program referred to above was the most significant change during the first year and this will require the development of a training package for agricultural extension workers and farmers.
The plan to develop nutritionally enhanced flour from sweetpotato has been dropped as baking and using ovens are not part of the culture of people living in the Arfak or Baliem Valley. Instead efforts will be concentrated on SP storage technology and crop diversification to achieve improvements in human nutrition
Mr Sukendra Mahalaya, a John Allwright Fellow will complete a PhD at Adelaide University in July 2010 and return to the project as Indonesian project coordinator with supervision of the project coordinators in Manokwari (West Papua) and Wamena (Papua).
Several personal changes have occurred, the most significant of which were adding an Extension Officer from the Provincial Extension Service who is located in the Arfak villages, and employing an Arfak University student from UNIPA as a liaison officer between the project and local communities. Several other students whose families live in Arfak villages have also been recruited and trained for specific activities.
A workshop on pig production in Eastern Indonesia is planned for July 2010 and will draw participants from NTT, Papua and West Papua, as well as Australia and Laos PDR.
No impacts have yet been generated by the project but it is anticipated that a number of farmers in the Arfak Region will be actively involved in working with the project team to modify both pig production and sweetpotato cultivation in the region by the end of 2010.

This project continues to build on the success of a previous project (AH/1998/054) in upland areas of Papua Province and by transferring much of the technology developed for sweetpotato and pig production to the uplands of West Papua Province.
The project is also expanding the potential to improve cash income from sweetpotatoes and pigs, improve human health and nutrition using higher yielding varieties of sweetpotato with improved storage traits and decreasing the risk of parasitic zoonoses.
A major objective of the project is to enable farmers to diversify their production systems through integration of vegetables and compatible small livestock into the existing systems. This is being made possible through the improvements made in productivity and efficiency of the sweetpotato-pig production system in the current and previous projects.
The value of the project was recognised by Provincial Governments when pig-sweetpotato production was nominated as one of three industries for inclusion in the Livelihood Improvement Project in Papua and West Papua, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). As a result the project was expanded in April 2010 by adding objective 4 which will result in the dissemination of project outcomes to other areas of the Provinces.
The major partners continue to be SARDI, the International Potato Center (CIP) and Center for Agricultural Technology Assessment and Development (ICATAD) [Balai Besar Pengkajian dan Pengembangan Teknologi Pertanian (BBP2TP)] through the Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology (BPTP) in Papua and West Papua Provinces. The University of Papua, CIP, University of Adelaide Food Plus Program and the Research Institute for Legumes and Tubers Crops (RILET Malang) are providing support in sweetpotato (SP) cultivation, nutritional analysis, and storage and processing technology. Further local agronomic support is being provided by BPTP and the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Security Office, West Papua Province (Dinas Pertanian, Peternakan, dan Ketahanan Pangan Papua Barat). SARDI is leading the pig production and health aspects of the project, but expertise and diagnostic technology is being provided by University of Queensland (UQ) and Udayana University (UNUD) in zoonotic parasitology and University of Gajah Mada in microbiology. Timika and Jayawijaya Animal Husbandry Offices in Papua Province and the West Papua Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Security Office along with the Diagnostic Investigation Centre in Maros Sulawesi are providing diagnostic and disease monitoring support. The Manokwari Agricultural Extension Academy (STPP Manokwari), which is part of Kementrian Pertanian (KEMTAN), has been added in 2010 to increase our capacity for developing extension training programs. The project team covers a wide spectrum of scientific, technical and extension expertise across several disciplines in food production and animal production and health.
The main outcome relating to SP production has been the identification of the most productive varieties for the two areas. Pattipy, Salossa and Sawentor from the previous project all performed well and Salossa, Dosak-1 (high-anthocyanin purple flesh) and Worembai were popular for taste. Sukuh had high dry matter content, Ayamurasaki, Solossa, Cangkuang all had high beta carotene content and Cankuang (local) is the best early maturing variety. Warumbai (RILET) scored well and could be released locally. Current activities focus on developing improved cultivation and storage techniques for roots.
The major activities in pig production has been the completion of a pig disease survey, which concentrated on identifying the key pig health problems in the Arfak region, and zoonotic disease in both regions, and working with farmers in the village of Minyambouw to develop a model of the Baliem Valley Pig Confinement Systems (MBVPCS) suitable for this region. As in the Baliem Valley, internal parasites were identified as the major health problem and the presence of Cysticercosis is the major zoonotic risk factor for human health.
Significant capacity building in technology has also occurred. Relevant technology for the diagnosis of Trichinella sp infection in pigs has been transferred from UQ to UNUD and this will be transferred to Maros DIC. Improved techniques for the diagnosis of other parasites are also being transferred from UNUD to Maros DIC and local veterinary clinics.
To enable the project to provide outcomes under the IFAD we have recruited the support of the Manokwari Agricultural Extension Academy which provides technology and extension training in agronomy, livestock production, horticulture and fisheries. Modules of the MBVPCS will be established at the academy as well as at a similar training centre operated by Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) (World Vision Indonesia) near Wamena.
The farmer training material written for project (AH/1998/054) is being modified for use at both training centres as well as the extension service provided from UNIPA.
Dr Sukendra Mahalaya completed his PhD at Adelaide University in July 2010 and returned to the project as Indonesian project coordinator with responsibility for liaising with Indonesian agencies and supervising the project coordinators in Manokwari (West Papua) and Wamena (Papua).
Other changes include the recruitment of an Extension Officer from the Provincial Extension Service who is located in the Arfak villages, and employing an Arfak University student from UNIPA to liaise between the project team and local communities. Several other students whose families live in Arfak villages have also been recruited and trained for specific activities.
A workshop on pig production in Eastern Indonesia was conducted at UNUD in July 2010 and was attended by participants from NTT, Papua and West Papua Provinces, as well as Australia and Laos PDR. The workshop's agreed priorities for extension were nutrition, including diet formulation and feeding techniques for different classes of pigs, reducing pre- and post-weaning mortalities, parasite prevention and control, improving reproduction efficiency, providing adequate cost effective housing using proven design concepts, health control policies (biosecurity and vaccination programs), and marketing concepts.
No real impacts have yet been generated by the project but we now have several farmers with MBVPCS facilities in Arfak and other farmers participating in SP trials. Working with WVI and the Extension Academy is increasing the opportunities for uptake of project outcomes across other Regencies.

The project began with preliminary mapping of the Eastern Indonesian citrus marketing system. The result of this mapping was to select 3 localities with citrus of superior or 'desirable' characteristics: Selayar Island in South Sulawesi (Sulsel), Buton Island in South east Sulawesi (Sultra); and the SoE region in West Timor (NTT). All regions grow different and superior quality mandarins (keprok) predominately or exclusively consumed locally.

The general approach of this project was to begin with two distinct objectives at either end of the supply chain and to connect 'in the middle' during the course of the project. Initially, the project activities were predominately in the SoE region, but all regional team members were involved in the NTT activities. This maximised our capacity in one region and provided continuity of experience. This lead to confidence and mutual support for researchers from different regions and provided added benefits. For instance, Balai Pengkajian Teknologi Pertanian (BTPT) researchers involved in the 'hands on' activities in NTT have initiated similar activities in their provinces.

The first year involved the following objectives:
Objective 1: To introduce and foster market driven business practices in the keprok supply chain.
Assessment of the citrus marketplace involved visits, product testing and discussion with supermarkets, distributors, wet markets, traders and collectors. We now have a good understanding of the market requirements for Indonesian citrus, and keprok Soe has significant impediments compared to imported citrus. The major areas needing attention are product consistency, quality control issues, post harvest handling, logistics (especially, refrigeration), and volumes of supply. The supermarkets in Java have very specific market specifications and imported citrus supply chains serve as a model for local product to emulate.

Keprok Soe has significant ground to cover to achieve high volumes of consistent quality into supermarkets. However, several niche opportunities are worth pursuing, and should provide impetuous to improve quality, logistics and supply issues. In particular, the gift or 'ole ole' markets, and smaller (higher value) retail outlets.

The assessment of keprok SoE has been a useful experience and an approach concentrating on similar smaller scale, niche opportunities is also likely to be more effective in Sulawesi.

Objective 2: To develop on-farm crop management practices for improved marketing of keprok

Following discussions with local extension workers and community leaders, growers of the field trials were identified. The initial on-farm trials involved two treatments; 'Best practice' and conventional management (Base practice). The 'Best practice' practices were based on results from previous 'Prima Tani' results, and involved a combination of cultural practices and intermittent irrigation during the dry season. At the beginning of the trial, fruit were sampled from each tree and assessed for sugar:acid and other quality assessments. This provided quality benchmarks to compare treatments in subsequent years. This also provided an opportunity to train researchers from each region in quality assessment techniques and experimental protocols. Training in fruit quality techniques was re-enforced during a later visit to Australia.

Visits were conducted in Sulsel and Sultra in Sulawesi and discussions with local extension workers and community leaders identified some production issues effecting quality and supply of local markets. For instance, on Buton Island growers encourage upward growth by supporting limbs with bamboo poles. This encourages rank, vegetative growth and reduces fruiting. We organised a pruning expert to hold discussions with local growers to develop techniques that best fit the cultural practices of growers. Demonstration plots are planned for this season.

During April 2009, discussions were held with freight shippers, traders and a local supermarket in NTT regarding inter-island shipping keprok SoE. An interested trader has been identified and trials planned in June. The regional trader is a key link in the supply chain, and this activity links both ends of the supply chain activities.

The development of the citrus industry has been identified as a priority for several provinces in Eastern Indonesia. An analysis of the Indonesian citrus market and eastern Indonesian supply chain (SMAR/2007/209) identified a highly competitive market with opportunity to improve supply chain management and market penetration on products with identified comparative advantage, particularly keprok (mandarins) from regionally specific locations. The 3 regions identified were the Soe area in NTT, the coastal area near Jeneponto and Bantaeng in South Sulawesi (Sulsel), and Buton Island in South East Sulawesi (Sultra). Effective development within these regions requires a better understand the market potential and supply chain constraints within Indonesia. This is particularly the case, given there are multiple competing sources of citrus, both within and from imported fruit.

The general aim is to improve grower returns through the adoption of improved production and post handling techniques and by increasing the understanding of and cooperation among the different segments of the citrus supply chain. The project began with two objectives at either end of the supply chain, with the aim to connect in the 'middle'.

The major 'connecting' activity this year was the trial shipment of waxed fruit, which involved a regional trader; a key link in the supply chain. The relationship between different partners in the supply chain is important, and an understanding of the roles at each level of the chain is useful. For this reason, the trial deliberately involved a trader, shipping company and supermarkets as a means to demonstrate the whole chain to the team members. We also introduced gentle harvesting, waxing of fruit, market surveys, cool storage and product assessment at retail outlets to highlight ways to improve efficiencies throughout the supply chain.

The first objective was to introduce and foster market driven practices in the keprok supply chain. Initial assessment of the citrus marketplace involved visits, product testing and discussion with supermarkets, distributors, wet markets, traders and collectors. A report was written by Liz Gunner and Karen Shepherd based on market research and experiences with keprok Soe during this project. The report identifies major hurdles to achieve high volumes of consistent quality into supermarkets. However, several niche opportunities were suggested. In particular, the gift or 'ole ole' markets, and smaller (higher value) retail outlets.

The impetus to develop new markets is currently weak, but this could quickly change as significant new plantings bear fruit. The next steps require preparing the product, i.e., providing the quality, volumes and consistency for specific markets, and developing the supply chain. This is probably best implemented in small increments by meeting the specifications of low volume or niche markets. In other words, don't create market expectations that you can not fulfil.

The assessment of keprok Soe has been a useful experience and an approach concentrating on similar smaller scale, niche opportunities is also likely to be effective in Sulawesi.

The second set of objectives was to develop on-farm and post-harvest management practices for improved marketing of keprok. Initially, the project introduced quality awareness and identified potential supply chains for keprok from Soe in NTT. A trial shipment of keprok Soe was monitored by the Indonesian team members from the 3 regions from harvest to retail supermarkets in Surabaya, Java. This work has provided a model to develop similar activities in other provinces, such as Sulsel and Sultra. The project fosters collaboration between these different provinces, with the interaction between each of the AIATs within the provinces critical to success.

The project seeks to develop the personal capacity of AIAT and local agricultural agencies staff from NTT, and Sulsel. The majority of activity has been conducted in NTT, where demonstration plots have been established to compare traditional and 'good practice' keprok production. At the end of each season, fruit has been collected from trees within the demonstration plots and assessed for different quality parameters. AIAT members from other provinces have been involved in 'quality' activities in NTT to gain 'hands-on' training. Visits were conducted in Sulsel and Sultra and discussions with local extension workers and community leaders identified some production issues effecting quality and supply of local markets. For instance, on Buton Island growers encourage upward growth by supporting limbs with bamboo poles. This encourages rank, vegetative growth and reduces fruiting. We organised a pruning expert to hold discussions with local growers to develop techniques that best fit the cultural practices of growers.

Activities included;

Indonesian staff traveled to the Riverland and Sunraysia citrus regions to visit citrus research stations, citrus plant nurseries and commercial citrus packing sheds.
Visits to wholesale produce markets, orange processing plant and supermarket distribution centre and meeting with citrus marketing board executive to discussing marketing of citrus in Adelaide.
Citrus storage trials pre-established at South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI), Adelaide, and used as 'hand-on' training of postharvest methods for staff.
Fruit Doctors (Riverland) held a practical workshop on mandarin pruning for the Indonesian staff
Indonesian staff instructed in methods to evaluate decay control chemicals and general hygiene.
Trials conducted on citrus using a range of inexpensive and common food grade preservatives under different conditions.

Propagation of tuna is an emerging aquaculture activity that is being pursued in Australia, USA, Japan and Europe. Controlled spawning of captive tuna broodstock requires considerable infrastructure and the availability of the land based tank facility at GRIM provides potential for ongoing R&D collaboration to address issues confronting hatchery production of tuna fingerlings as a precursor to commercial sea cage farming in Indonesia and Australia.
The project has been amended to include the involvement of Aquaculture Development Unit (ADU), Challenger TAFE, Fremantle, Western Australia. This amendment brings greater aquaculture expertise into the project and also provides linkages to additional potential Australian industry beneficiaries.
During November 2008 the use of larger fishing vessel to assist the capture of greater numbers of YFT broodstock has been investigated. The 40 GT tuna long lining vessel 'Kapal' was chartered for 25 days from a fishing company based in Benoa, Bali. This vessel was equipped with five onboard tanks (2m x 2m x 2 m) to hold captured fish. During the charter period, the vessel was operated as a 'mother' ship with fishing conducted from a smaller 'tender' vessel operated by GRIM staff. When 1 - 3 fish were captured these were transferred to the larger vessel allowing fishing to continue until 10 -12 fish had been captured before returning to GRIM. Although 84 fish were captured using this approach the survival of fish following transportation was low with only 13 fish transferred into land based holding tanks.
During February and March 2009, visits to GRIM by scientists from SARDI and Challenger TAFE and industry (Latitude Fisheries) have reviewed project progress and identified improved fishing and fish transportation methods that are currently being trialled. During May 2009, ADU officer, Rob Michael, visited GRIM for 5 days to identify and trial different fishing methods to improve broodstock capture. Broodstock capture has since increased with a total of 16 new fish currently being on-grown at GRIM.
From 8th until 20th June 2009, GRIM project scientist, Jhon Hutapea and Dr Gavin Partridge (ADU) attended the '7th Annual Workshop on Physiology and Aquaculture of pelagics with emphasis on reproduction and early developmental stages of yellowfin Tuna, Thunnus albacares', held at the Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission, Achotines Laboratory, Republic of Panama. During this workshop larval rearing trials were conducted and discussions were held to identify possible improvements to assist broodstock capture, transport and husbandry. A report on this workshop will be prepared including recommendations.
Opportunities are being developed for ongoing International collaborative research on yellowfin tuna larval rearing that will be possible as new broodstock become mature in 2010.

Improving the profitability of village broiler farming through the use of locally available feedstuffs is a high priority in the PNG livestock sector. Lowland provinces close to the feed mills account for 60% of broiler production with 40% in highland provinces. The village broiler Industry is valued at $67m. The viability of village broiler farms in both geographical regions is threatened by the rising costs of imported ingredients used in commercial feeds.
An earlier project developed a strategy whereby PNG protein meals (plus minerals and vitamins) were used to produce a concentrate that could be fed to broilers with 50-80% of local ingredients. The feeding method resulted in good bird growth. The new project is using two sources to manufacture the concentrate feeds. The concentrate will be made by a commercial feed mill and also by regional poultry and fish feed manufacturing and distribution centres. A strong focus in the project is placed on delivery of feeding strategies to village farmers through the participation of Non Government Organisations (NGO's). Christian Leader Training College (CLTC) in the highlands and Lutheran Development Service (LDS) in the lowlands were provided funding to renovate existing poultry facilities to make them suitable for conducting regional specific broiler feeding demonstrations for village farmers. The NGO's will disseminate the feeding strategies more widely later in the project by supervising village farm trials.
The project commenced by evaluating the Apparent Metabolisable Energy (AME) of low energy (AME 2300 Kcal/kg, Crude Protein (CP) 40% ), medium energy (AME 2500 Kcal/kg, CP 43.5% ) and high energy (AME 2800, Kcal/kg, CP 41%) broiler concentrate diets at the National Agriculture Research Institutes (NARI) broiler feed evaluation unit in Lae. The data indicated that the best options were to feed broilers a low energy concentrate with added sweet potato and to feed cassava with a high energy concentrate. Subsequently four diets were tested at NARI in a large broiler grow out trial; 1) 50% sweet potato + 50% low energy concentrate; 2) 70% sweet potato + 30% low energy concentrate; 3) 50% cassava + 50% high energy concentrate and 4) 70% cassava + 30% low energy concentrate. Final body weights of birds fed diets 1 to 4 were 2.47, 2.38, 2.23 and 1.81kg respectively at 7 weeks of age. The grow out trial showed that diets 1 to 3 would be suitable for feeding birds at demonstration broiler grow out facilities established in the project in the highlands at CLTC's Banz Campus and in the lowlands at LDS's Mahalang's campus.
The critical issue as to whether the feeding strategy will be adopted by village farmers is to determine the profitability of village farmers using the concentrate strategy compared to feeding commercial diets. The first objective of the economic assessment is to determine the cost of locally milled broiler concentrate compared to the price of the commercially available alternative at several key sites in PNG. Spreadsheets of the cost of producing concentrate feed from mini-mills and profit of village broiler grow-out operations have been developed to meet this objective. The price of mini-mill concentrate derived from the mini-mill evaluation will be used in the spreadsheet for the village grow-out operation in that region (plus a cost for transport). Staff from NARI and UNitech are currently collecting feed ingredient costs, equipment costs and other fixed cost to enable the assessment to be completed.

The second year of the project focused on evaluating the best bet feeding options using the concentrate system developed by NARI for feeding broilers in highland and lowland regions of PNG at NGO demonstration sites. The diets that NARI found to be the most suitable for growing meat birds were; 1) 50% sweet potato + 50% low energy concentrate; 2) 70% sweet potato + 30% low energy concentrate; and 3) 50% cassava + 50% high energy concentrate. These diets were tested in broiler grow-out trials in the highlands at CLTC's Banz Campus, in the lowlands at LDS's Mahalang Campus and at OTDF Agricultural Resource Centre at Tabubil in the remote Western Province.
The demonstration feeding trials conducted at CLTC indicated that the diet with the greatest potential in the Western Highlands Province is a feed mix comprising 50% of a low energy concentrate supplemented with 50% of sweet potato. CLTC wish to develop the capacity to mix the concentrate at the Banz campus and supply the local farmers with this feed in addition to day old meat chickens they have supplied to farmers in the region over many years. The demonstration activities conducted at LDS showed that the diet best suited for lowland chicken meat production is a feed mix comprising 50% high energy concentrate supplemented with 50% cassava. At OTDF it was found that poultry grew well when fed poultry concentrate supplemented with 50% cassava. These findings will give greater encouragement for farmers in Western Province to grow cassava to support their village poultry enterprise. The poultry concentrate will be based on use of herring fish meal (from the Fly River) and rice bran.
As a result of the promising results obtained by the NGO partners each have selected 20 village farmers where the concentrate feeding system will be compared with the current broiler feeding system using commercial feed. The village trials will be conducted in the highland and lowland provinces over the period June-Sep, 2009 under the close supervision of NARI.
Economic analyses were undertaken on costs associated with running a mini-mill operation to produce poultry concentrate and to assess the profitability of a village broiler enterprise. At approximately K800/t, mini-mill concentrate is more than competitive with commercial full rations (K2000/t) and a commercial concentrate (K2400/t). The mini-mill concentrate price is based on provisional costing of local ingredients and mini-mill equipment, as well as setup and running costs. Fishmeal, copra meal, mill run and premix are the ingredients intended to be used to produce the concentrate. The technology will achieve village enterprise broiler production market penetration if the local based feed ingredient price including labour is less than 70 percent of the import based feed ingredient price including labour. The initial calculations indicate that the mini-mill concentrate plus local carbohydrate including labour represents 56% of the full commercial feed plus labour costs, and the commercial concentrate concept plus local carbohydrate and labour is 69% of the full costs. Hence both "local" feed systems could achieve market penetration, but especially the mini-mill concentrate system. The local carbohydrate source was either sweet potato or cassava at K0.7-1.0/kg in the lowlands and highlands.
Based on a the essential assumptions necessary for a benefit-cost analysis and critically based on the results of the mini-mill and village broiler enterprise costing analyses the program provisional benefit-cost analysis produced a net present value of k180M, a benefit-cost ratio of 38:1 and an internal rate of return of 35%. Based on these economic assessments mini mill products based on local feedstuffs are highly competitive, particularly for copra/ palm kernel meals. This translates, along with low carbohydrate source prices, to an attractive proposition for village broiler operations in mainland PNG and assuming reasonable technology penetration, the provisional program benefit-cost analysis appears satisfactory.

Previous work in this project found that commercial meat birds fed sweet potato plus a low energy concentrate was suited for broilers raised in the highlands while cassava fed with a high energy concentrate was best suited for the lowland broiler production in PNG. Year 3 of the project focused on demonstrating the feeding system to village poultry farmers. Four broiler village feeding trials were run which involved feeding sweet potato with a low energy poultry concentrate to broilers in the highlands and cassava with a high energy concentrate in the lowlands including demonstration activities in the Western Province. The trials were conducted at Malahang, Finschafen and Madang in the lowlands; in the Banz and Kainantu districts in the highlands and at Kiunga, Star Mountains and Tabubil in the Western Province. The trials were supervised by NARI and SARDI in collaboration with CLTC, LDS, SA and OTDF. The performance of broilers was excellent in all the village farm trials with birds reaching market weight (>2 kg) soon after 5 weeks of age. The sweet potato based diet (in particular) compared very favourably with the commercial control diets.
Most of the village farmers involved with the trials want to continue using the concentrate mixed with sweet potato or cassava. There was also strong interest expressed by other broiler farmers not involved in the trials. Some farmers wanted more information about other alternative feed resources to feed with the concentrate especially in the coastal regions. The feeding system is appropriate and boosts village broiler income by reducing the cost of feeding broilers. Farmers prefer the flavour of meat from birds fed with the concentrate + sweet potato/cassava mix. Good Fielder International are currently conducting similar trials in Fiji using the concentrate feeding concept and further trials are being run in PNG in conjunction with Lae feed Mills and New Guinea Table Birds to demonstrate the feeding system.
Currently strategies are being implemented for a campaign to publicise the benefits of the broiler feeding system in PNG. These include field days, training and demonstration sessions run by NARI and other NGO partners and distribution of publications. NARI and partners are also planning radio programs and a TV promotion of the feeding system while a number of newspaper articles and reports on the NARI website have already been published. Fact sheets of feed resources available in PNG for broiler feeding have been developed for College, University and NGO curriculums. A video script detailing how to use the feeding systems has been written and is currently being filmed.
A benefit-cost analysis of the economic impact of the R, D & E program to improve the profitability of village broiler production in PNG was carried out. The research and development aspects of the program have developed a mini-mill approach for the provision to villagers of a high protein concentrate based on local feed sources. Other options include a commercial high protein concentrate feed plus local carbohydrate source and a dilution strategy of half normal commercial feed plus local carbohydrate source. The estimate of the research costs was 3.3 M kina. On the core assumption of 35 percent market penetration of these new technologies, the analysis showed an internal rate of return to the program of 25 % p.a. and a net present value of 45.6 M kina. The benefits were attributed to a producer surplus of 16.3 M kina and a consumer surplus of 32.7 M kina.

The highlight of the project in Year 3 was the final on-farm performance evaluation of feeding a broiler concentrate (containing protein meals plus minerals and vitamins) mixed with local ingredients on growth of meat chickens and profit for village farmers. The key stakeholders are individual smallholder broiler farmers in Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Enga and Western Provinces and further feeding trials are in progress with smallholder farmers in the East New Britain as well as the Central Provinces. The completed pilot trials at Komperi site in Kainantu District of the Eastern Highlands Province, Boana site in Nawae District of Morobe Province, at Jiwaka site in the North Waghi and Tambul site in the Tambul-Nebliyer District of Western Highlands Province show that the broiler feed concentrate when mixed with sweet potato or cassava does reduce the total cost of finishing broilers to market weight. Farmers have reduced their production costs by at least 30% and improved their profit. When farmers use the low energy concentrate mixed with sweet potato (purchased from the village market) they were able to save K138, or about 13.8%, from the total cost of production compared to using the commercial broiler finisher. When farmers use sweet potato from their own garden, the savings can be improved further to K300 or 30%. Farmers in the Western Highlands Province were able to purchase their broiler day old chicks direct from Christian Leaders Training College in Banz (rather than fly chicks in from Lae) and therefore the reduction in input costs of farming broilers were higher. Farmers who purchased their broiler day old chicks from retailers in Mt. Hagen had a reduction in input costs of 19 and 30% for cassava and sweet potato based diets respectively when using the concentrate feed as a finishing ration for broilers. Both Niugini Tablebirds and Goodman Fielders (PNG) Ltd have interest in the development and production of the alternate concentrate using their feed mills as it will help them to increase their sales of feeds into wider areas of PNG. Three farmers' cooperatives are examining the use of mini-mills to produce the concentrate for village farmers.
To grow out a batch of 50 day old chicks, farmers require 80kg of commercial starter feed and 200 kg of commercial broiler grower feed. The same batch of day old chicks would need to be fed the starter feed to 3 weeks of age before they switch to the finisher diets. Using the new feeding system farmers only need 60kg of the concentrate to be blended with about 180 kg of boiled sweet potato tubers either from the farmers' own garden or purchased from the village market. Farmers were happy with the growth rate of the broilers when fed on the concentrate. They started selling the birds at 5 weeks instead of 7 weeks. In two villages, farmers reported that the meat flavour was better for birds fed sweet potato mixed with the concentrate. Some farmers reported lower mortality when they used the concentrate feeding system compared to birds fed the commercial stock feed. In two villages farmers reported that there was extra effort required to boil sweet potato or cassava on daily basis. They would prefer to purchase the alternative feed already mixed. Some farmer in remote areas have requested that the concentrate be made available for purchase in their communities. Currently, they have to pay for transport of the stock feed from major urban centres like Lae, Kainantu, Goroka and Mt. Hagen. A retail shop in Finshaffen, Morobe province, started retailing the concentrate in small packs to farmers in this remote area, and progress so far has been good. The main constraint has been availability of day old chicks. The directions on how to use the concentrate were provided at point of sale. Avi Farmers' Cooperative has over 3000 members and has been supplying Australorps to their members under their family health and nutrition program. They have a feed mill, an incubator and land available for production of sorghum, cassava and rice. They are planning to supply the concentrate to the cooperative for retailing and may even process sweet potato and cassava to sell. Farmers in the New Guinea Islands region have huge problems obtaining a consistent supply of broiler day olds. One bag of the commercial stock feed is priced at PGK 100-120, over 20% more than the market prices in Lae for instance. The NARI-Kerevat station has an arrangement with the NGTB for direct shipment of broiler day olds upon request and also has the concentrate available on site for retailing. There are many farmers around the New Guinea Islands Province expressing their interest in piloting the concentrate feeding systems and it is likely there will be an increase in the number of people raising broilers as an alternative to cocoa production.
Extension material produced to support the training of village farmers included; 1) NARI Toktoks on how to manage broilers when fed the concentrates as a finishing ration (Pidgin and English); 2) fact sheets on how to mix the concentrates (four versions; sweet potato-Pidgin and English and cassava-Pidgin and English; 3) Economic models of village broiler farming in different locations; 4) Video production on the concentrate feeding system in English and Pidgin and 5) Draft of a village broiler production manual

Livestock production is an important economic activity in Tonga with 80% of households keeping livestock. The pig and poultry industries are an important part of social life with nearly 80% pigs and just over 50% of poultry produced being used to meet community social obligations. Retail prices are comparable with Australia and the sale of live sucker and weaner pigs for feasts accounts for 90% of the pig market. The major issues restraining the development of a commercial pig and poultry sector are the lack of a local feed manufacturing industry, the high cost of imported feed and the importation of relatively cheap pig and poultry meat, mainly coming from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of pig and poultry producers over recent years.
This project aims to establish a local feed manufacturing industry to revitalise the Tongan pig and poultry industries. The strategy being used is to train Tongan government staff and key producers about profitable pig and poultry feeding systems using approaches developed in other South Pacific countries and in Indonesia to implement in Tonga.
Three livestock farmers and a government scientist undertook a study tour to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea from 10-20 August, 2007. They spent two days in the Solomon Island and five days in PNG and met with local R&D staff and NGO's and learnt about the operation of mini-mills and received instruction on how to feed pig and poultry using concentrates, ration dilution and whole ration formulation using local feed resources.
Following the study tour all the project partners met in Tonga from 17-20 October 2007 and agreed to demonstrate suitable feeding systems for pigs and poultry in Tonga based on examples observed in PNG and Solomon Islands. A mini mill was purchased from PNG and shipped to Tonga in April 2008 for establishment at Tonga's Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests & Fisheries (MAFFF) research centre. Feeding trials with pigs and poultry to demonstrate the most profitable feeding systems that incorporate local feeds will be run at MAFFF's research centre prior to wide-spread dissemination across the Tongan pig and poultry industry. The other Tongan agencies supporting the initiative are the Ministry of Training, Employment, Youth and Sport (MOTEYS) which run an Agriculture Diploma Program and Tupou College which trains high school students in pig and poultry production.
The use of cheaper local feed in the alternative feeding systems could lead to an expansion of the smallholder egg and chicken meat and pork sectors, with these farmers making a significant contribution to the meat requirements of the country. If 10% of local feed could be used in pig and poultry rations to replace the imported feed, this would save Tonga an estimated TOP$5.75m/annum in imports.

In Solomon Islands:
Objective 1: To develop rations for village-based layer and meat birds based on locally available feedstuffs.
To enable assessment of village poultry rations it was necessary to develop a poultry production research unit in the Solomon Islands (SI). In May, 2005 SI collaborators Tony Jansen (Kastom Gaden Association-KGA) and Nick Nonga (Department of Agriculture and Lands-DAL) visited Lae to view the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) research facilities. They followed this with a visit to Roseworthy with Russell Parker (SI consultant) to examine the poultry facilities at the Pig and Poultry Production Institute (PPPI) and plan the research facility required in the SI with poultry scientists from the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). In June 2005, Phil Glatz and Bob Hughes from SARDI and Pikah Kohun from NARI visited the SI. After discussion amongst all collaborators it was decided to establish the production unit at the SI College of Higher Education (SICHE). The rationale for this (apart from developing research capability) was to encourage training of students in poultry production and to further strengthen the links between key staff from DAL, SICHE and KGA. Land was also available on the SICHE site to plant crops to test different feed resources in village poultry rations. Crops planted for nutritional evaluation were sorghum, pigeon peas and cowpeas. Construction of SICHE/DAL 16 pen poultry research facility (made from local materials) is almost complete with only perches, nest boxes, drinkers and feeders to be installed. KGA's poultry training facilities and DAL's Abulo Farm have been upgraded to enable village birds to be reared on site to supply stock to the SICHE research facility. These facilities at KGA and Abulo farm will be used as demonstration and training sites in Honiara for village farmers. A demonstration trial with village poultry is being conducted at the KGA facility comparing a free choice diet with a mixed diet. The diet comprises sorghum (30%); pigeon pea (30%), fresh coconut (20%), pigeon pea leaves (10%), and paw paw leaves (10%). SARDI has prepared dietary fact sheets on a range of SI feed ingredients and distributed to all collaborators. This information will assist with the formulation of diets to test in the SI research and demonstration facilities.

Objective 2: Interacting with farmers and farmer groups to evaluate, disseminate and communicate the value of rations based on local feedstuffs.
A survey form, that was used by NARI to obtain information from PNG smallholder farmers on chicken feeding practices in project LPS/2001/077 was used as the basis for developing the survey questions in the SI. Modifications of the questions were made by the project team to cover village poultry practices in the SI. During Oct and Nov 2005 DAL and KGA staff interviewed up to 80 village poultry farmers in the Malaita, Guadalcanal and Western Provinces. Information was obtained on farmer's attitudes, constraints and needs in keeping village poultry. The data from the survey will be collated and analyzed by SARDI early in 2006. KGA hosted 3 farmer attachments at Burns creek while the facilities were being upgraded. On their return to their villages, one farmer has introduced a moveable shelter and the other has set up a feed garden for his poultry.

In Australia:
Objective 3: Evaluate the nutritional value and palatability of innovative feedstuffs in organic poultry production and communicate information to industry.
In the Australian component of the study at Roseworthy Campus, the organic free-range poultry sector has shown interest in using traditional herbs to overcome some of the poultry health issues that arise in these systems of farming. The objective was to examine if herbs could be intercropped in a pasture and crop rotation system. However information on palatability and nutritional value of these plants is scant. One trial has been completed showing that meat birds will consume the leaves of the herbs Rosemary and Thyme when provided as a supplementary forage resource with compound feeds.

In Solomon Islands:
Objective 1: To develop rations for village-based layer and meat birds based on locally available feedstuffs.

There were 3 main activities in year 2 on developing rations for village layers. The first activity was to harvest and store grain and legume crops grown on the SICHE campus for the nutrition trials. The second was to complete the construction of the poultry research facility and the third activity was to develop and test poultry diets using harvested crops and other local feed resources.

Maize, sorghum, mung beans and pigeon peas were planted on campus by SICHE staff and students with support from DAL and KGA staff. The activity was undertaken to demonstrate that crops could be grown in association with a village poultry enterprise in the Solomon's. A covered concrete pad was used to dry the grain crops. Similar crops were planted by Tetere prison farm workers on the outskirts of Honiara.

Construction of SICHE/DAL 16 pen poultry research facility (made from local materials) was completed with the fitting of perches, nest boxes, drinkers and feeders. The Solomon Islands Minister of Agriculture officially opened the facility on Wednesday August 30, 2006. A staff sharing agreement was developed between DAL, KGA and SICHE to support the research activities.

A simple XL feed formulation spreadsheet was developed by SARDI to formulate 4 layer diets for evaluation in village poultry. Diet 1 ingredients comprised sorghum (30%), pigeon pea (30%), fresh coconut (20%), pigeon pea leaves (10%), and paw paw leaves (10%). Diet 2 was made up of corn (45%); paw paw fruit (5%), mung beans (30%), fish meal (5%), lime (8%), fresh cassava (7%). Diet 3 comprised corn (25%), pigeon pea (15%), paw paw fruit (5%), mung bean (30%), fresh coconut (7%), fresh cassava (10%) and lime (8%). Diet 4 was pigeon pea (25%); paw paw fruit (8%), sorghum (45%), fresh cassava (9%), lime (8%) and fish meal (5%). A village layer trial with diet 1 has been completed and evaluation of diet 2 is in progress.

Objective 2: Interacting with farmers and farmer groups to evaluate, disseminate and communicate the value of rations based on local feedstuffs.

The main extension activities completed in Year 2 were; 1) completion of survey report, 2) demonstration activities at farmer schools and at KGA and 3) formation of farmers advisory committee

The survey report covered information obtained from 90 village poultry farmers in 31 villages from Guadalcanal, Western Province, Malaita and Central Province. It was intended to provide baseline information to monitor changes and impacts of the project extension activities.

Most surveyed farmer's thought chickens were easy to care for and a good enterprise for providing cash income and extra food for the family. Other farmers were interested in farming but there was a shortage of village chickens. Some potential farmers thought that chickens would damage their gardens. Some respondents ceased keeping chickens due to predators and stealing or they sold or consumed all of their stock. The main feed sources available for chickens are fresh coconut, food scraps, white ants, copra meal, fishmeal, millrun and forage. The problems respondents faced were a lack of available information and training on local chicken management. Many villagers had tried keeping poultry, but lacked knowledge on how to manage them. Some villagers learnt how to care for chickens from parents. Some farmers had built a chicken house using bush materials or had purchased the materials. Others need information on how to build a house. Farmers would like government officers to provide fencing materials such as wire netting to protect chickens from predators. Family members including children were involved in the care of chickens.

KGA hosted 8 farmer attachments at Burns creek. Farmers were given instruction in husbandry and feeding of village chickens. Demonstration feeding trials for village chickens were also established by KGA at Turusuala Training Centre near Avuavu on the weather coast of Guadalcanal, at Gwaunafiu Farmer School in an inland area of Kwarai, Malaita Province and Sausama Farmer School on Kolombangara Island in the Western Province. The diet used was sorghum (30%); pigeon pea (30%), fresh coconut (20%), pigeon pea leaves (10%), and paw paw leaves (10%)

A workshop was held by SI partners (DAL, KGA, farmer schools and local farmers) at the Tanagai Community Based Training Centre. Recommendations included the formation of a farmers advisory committee to suggest feeds to test. The advisory committee had its first meeting early in 2007 and agreed with the ingredients being used in the rations being currently tested.
In Australia:
Objective 3: Evaluate the nutritional value and palatability of innovative feedstuffs in organic poultry production and communicate information to industry.

There is growing interest in using herbs as a substitute for synthetic antibiotics in poultry diets as a result of the ban in European Union on the inclusion of antibiotics in poultry diets. Meat birds were given access to the herbs Rosemary, Thyme, Fennel and Sage in feeding trials at Roseworthy Campus. Broilers housed in eco-shelters were fed broiler grower diets (control) and their performance compared to birds grazing on fresh herbs. There was no significant difference in daily weight gain between the treatments. Herb intake was 15.9g/day/bird for Rosemary, 16.0g/day/bird for Thyme, 8.6g/day/bird for Fennel and 5.0g/day/bird for Sage. Grazing on fresh herbs did not significantly influence bird growth, feed conversion or the flavour of the meat but improved the weight of some sections of the digestive tract. There was a variation in the mineral content between herb species and for different parts of each herb.

In the Solomon Islands approximately 21,000 families (about 40% of the rural population) produce eggs and live village hens selling them in local markets. The sale of chickens is one of the major sources of income from the livestock sector of traditional smallholder farming systems. Birds are fed household food scraps and other locally available feedstuffs. There is a wide variety of local feed resources available that could be utilized more effectively such as root crops, fruit, forages, bush plants and vines. Farmers in the rural areas are introducing new crops with higher nutritional value for poultry such as sorghum, mung bean and pigeon pea. This project has established the infrastructure and capability in the Solomon Island to test and identify effective rations for village birds based on the wide variety of potential feeds and has developed the skills of staff to educate farmers on poultry feeding management.
Earlier in the project a poultry research facility was established at the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) in collaboration with Department of Agriculture and Lands (DAL) and Kastom Gaden Association (KGA). During the reporting period three experiments with village hens were conducted at the facility, feeding diets using local feed resources. The diets included various combinations of sorghum, pigeon pea grain and leaves, fresh coconut and cassava, paw paw fruit and leaves, corn, mung beans and fish meal. The trials compared the performance of birds fed the local home mix layer ration (formulated to NRC requirements) with an imported commercial layer feed. Corn and mung beans were included as whole grain in the rations. Cassava and pawpaw were chopped, weighed, mixed and fed fresh twice daily. Egg production, body weight and egg weight were lower in birds fed the local mix ration compared to the commercial ration. However the cost of imported feed was 5 times greater than the cost of growing local feed resources at SICHE.
KGA conducted farmer workshops on improved poultry feeding and management with over 100 village participants in Malaita and Western Province during the reporting period. KGA also hosted 30 farmer attachment programs (1-6 months duration) at the Burns Creek poultry extension facility during the project. The farmers learn how to feed, house and care for village poultry. The KGA attachment program is generating good results with the majority of students putting into practice the feeding and management skills learnt. Farmers from Turusuala have set up the improved feeding and management model on the remote weather (?) coast of Guadalcanal. A number of villagers have returned to the village, built a raised floor poultry house and fed the bird's pawpaw, coconut, sweet potato and cassava. Some farms have planted crops of cow peas, beans and sorghum to feed to the chickens. This activity has generated interest from other farmers.
Work is underway on preparing laminated one-page information leaflets on best practice feeding methods for village poultry. The leaflets show pictures of the feed ingredients, how they are prepared and fed to birds. The KGA poultry trainer's handbook and farmers booklet is being updated to include information generated from the project for distribution through the KGA village farmer network.
Prior to this project, the Solomon's village hen sector of the chicken industry had been largely overlooked for R&D&E support. This project has already improved the productivity on farms where villagers have been trained. Further encouragement of these activities would have a significant impact on national production and well-being of the rural communities. There is a high demand for village chickens in urban, peri urban and village communities in the Solomon Islands. This could be met by establishing commercial, semi-commercial and village scale poultry breeding units. In addition, use of local feeds in village hen poultry rations could be stimulated by establishing semi-commercial and village-scale mini feed mills to supply local feeds to village chicken farmers.

Objective 1. Appropriate and effective screening/evaluation protocols identified for each key character listed.
During 2004 protocols to be used by all the collaborators for measuring agronomic and disease traits in the agronomy field trials were discussed and a protocol document was circulated for all collaborators to use.

The plant pathologist position at the University of Western Australia to develop screening/evaluation protocols for key disease characters was advertised in late 2004. The position has been filled and the research will be initiated in late February 2005. During 2004 isolates of Sclerotinia were collected in Western Australia.
A plant pathologist was also appointed on the project at the University of Melbourne during 2004 to investigate Australian white rust isolates. During 2004 Australian isolates of the white rust pathogen, Albugo candida, were collected and screening protocols for white rust resistance were initiated using the Australian isolates.
Disease resistance screening was also initiated in India.

Objective 3. Enhanced oilseed Brassica germplasm in all collaborating countries though germplasm exchange, crossing and selection.
The enhancement of Brassica germplasm in all countries for the key characters was initiated through the exchange of germplasm among the three countries. Twenty five Australian B. napus cultivars, 12 Australian B. juncea lines 20 Chinese B. napus cultivars were distributed to the collaborators in each country in late 2004. The seed arrived too late for sowing in the 2004/2005 season but the material was multiplied in India and China to provide a larger quantity of seed for the coming season's trials. In addition, some field observations were taken in India and analysis of fatty acid profile and oil content was undertaken.

Efforts were initiated to obtain government approvals for the distribution of the remaining lines (10 B. juncea lines from China and 22 B. juncea and 3 B. napus lines from India). A list of the characteristics of each of the lines was also distributed to all the collaborators. In total, the exchange of germplasm will result in field trials with 48 B. napus and 44 B. juncea lines. It is expected that all of the germplasm will be sown in each of the collaborating countries in the 2005/06 season.

Objective 4. Heterotic pools for production of elite germplasm or F1 hybrids identified from genetic distance studies on germplasm from all three collaborating countries.
The research associate position at UWA to study genetic variability/distance among the germplasm was advertised in late 2004 and the research will be initiated in 2005.

Objective 6. Scientific skills of Chinese and Indian scientists enhanced through scientific exchanges and training.
Indian scientists from each of the collaborating institutes visited Australia during the period 22nd Sep to 7th Oct. The visit included two meetings to discuss project plans, including exchange of seed. In addition, the visit included tours of canola field trials in Western Australia and NSW, visits to molecular and chemistry laboratories and meetings with key Brassica breeding and research personnel. This scientific exchange and training visit also involved the Indian collaborators participating in the 4th International Crop Science Congress in Brisbane and the Australian Oilseeds Federation Annual Conference in Melbourne.

Preparations for Dr Phil Salisbury and Assoc Prof Martin Barbetti's trip to India in January 2005 were undertaken during the visit of the Indian scientists.

Significant progress was made during 2005 to identify variability for key agronomic, quality and disease resistance characters through the use of screening protocols. The first exchange of germplasm of B. napus and B. juncea between Indian, China and Australia was completed by mid 2005 to allow sowing of field trials in the 2005/06 season. The material to be assessed in each country for the key characters consists of, B. napus: 25 Australian, 20 Chinese and 3 Indian lines and B. juncea: 22 Indian, 12 Australian and 10 Chinese lines. In Australia the field trials were sown in Vic, NSW, SA and WA and were harvested at the end of 2005. The data from these trials will be analysed in early 2006. In China the germplasm was sown at two sites in Wuhan in Sep/Oct 2005 and the key characters are currently being assessed. In India the germplasm was sown in Oct/Nov 2005 and to date emergence, early vigour and initiation of flowering data have been recorded. Results from a preliminary screening of Australian and Indian germplasm in India in the 2004/05 season indicated that there is substantial variability in key characters including date of emergence, seedling vigour, white rust incidence, oil and glucosinolate content and fatty acid composition. Screening and characterisation of B. juncea and B. napus for seedling stage thermotolerance and terminal stage heat tolerance is underway in the field and laboratory at HAU Hisar and PAU Ludhiana, India. Drought tolerance screening is also underway at HAU. Screening of germplasm for Sclerotinia was also initiated in 2005 at HAU, India and UWA, Australia. In Australia it was observed that most B. juncea germplasm was highly susceptible to Sclerotinia, based on the length of stem lesions, although there were some more resistant lines from Australia and China. Significant differences for white rust resistance between Australian B. juncea lines were also observed in WA.

During 2005 activities were initiated to enhance the germplasm in all countries for key characters through selection and breeding. At PAU, India interspecific hybridisation between B. napus and B. carinata / B. juncea was undertaken and desirable F2/BC1 plants from both the crosses will be backcrossed with selected Australian B. napus lines. At HAU, India 40 crosses have been made between Indian and Australian lines of B. juncea, and 60 crosses between Australian and Indian lines of B. napus are also being attempted this season. At TERI, India shattering tolerant B. napus lines (developed at TERI) have been sown and will be crossed with the Australian lines to transfer shatter tolerance. In NSW, Australia, 21 crosses were made between Sclerotinia tolerant Chinese lines and elite Australian lines and further crossing will be done in 2006.

Progress was made in 2005 towards the identification of genetic distance and heterotic pools. At UWA, useful SSR markers were identified on all chromosomes for estimation of genetic distance among B. napus lines from Australia, China and India, and selfing and purification of these lines began for future genetic studies. At HAU, China a preliminary experiment was conducted to assess marker techniques for genetic diversity analysis. Results indicated that SRAP (sequence-related amplified polymorphism) are distributed on all 19 chromosomes of B. napus more equally than AFLP and the technique is more efficient than SSR, so SRAP and SSR markers will be used to evaluate the genetic diversity of all B. napus and B. juncea lines. At PAU, India DNA isolation from all the B. juncea genotypes has also been completed.

During 2005 significant progress was made towards the objective of increasing the scientific skills of scientists collaborating in the project through scientific exchanges. Dr Abha Agnihotri, Dr Dhiraj Singh and Dr Surinder Banga visited Australia in 2005 for a scientific interaction/study program. The program included 3 days of NIR training at Wagga Wagga Research Institute, visits to Brassica trials in NSW, Victoria and SA, meetings with scientists at CSIRO, Canberra, a meeting with John Cullen and attendance at the Australian Research Assembly on Brassicas (Port Lincoln, SA). Dr Maharaj Singh (NRCRM, Bharatpur) also visited Australia from Sep to Dec 2005 for training. Dr Singh conducted a drought tolerance project supervised by Dr Rob Norton (University of Melbourne) at DPI Horsham. Dr Singh learned to use a range of equipment, visited scientists at CSIRO and ANU Canberra to discuss drought screening and also attended the Australian Research Assembly on Brassicas. Assoc Prof Phil Salisbury and Assoc Prof Martin Barbetti visited India in February 2005 for discussions with project collaborators. In addition, Dr Martin Barbetti and Dr Caixia Li attended the International Sclerotinia Workshop in California in June 2005. Following this workshop, Dr Li visited Huazhong Agricultural University and Wuhan Oil Crops Research Institute, China, where she met with oilseed Brassica scientists working on this ACIAR project, and, in particular, had the opportunity to assess and develop common approaches on study of Scelorotinia disease.

Advances were made in 2006 in the development of screening protocols for sclerotinia and white rust resistance. Severity of Sclerotinia infection was found to be related to stem diameter and stem lesion length 3 weeks after inoculation was significantly and positively correlated with the percentage of plant death at maturity, which indicated the value of the stem inoculation method for the effective identification of Sclerotinia resistance under field conditions (UWA-B). Assessment of white rust screening protocols demonstrated that controlled environmental conditions are suitable for rapid identification of resistant genotypes and that genotypes with high levels of resistance can be reliably identified at either the cotyledonary, seedling, or flowering stages (UWA-B). Pathotyping experiments of the white rust pathogen have identified only race 2 pathotype 2A isolates in Australia to date (UM). Further surveying is underway to determine if the virulent pathotype (2V) is present in Australia.
During 2006 considerable progress was made in the identification of variability for key agronomic, quality and disease resistance characters in the Indian, Chinese and Australian B. napus and B. juncea germplasm in each country. In addition, breeding programs to enhance the germplasm in all countries for shatter resistance, disease resistance, agronomy and quality and drought tolerance characters progressed. Crossing programs, which were initiated in 2005, have advanced significantly, and the first generation of populations developed from the crosses have been sown and are currently being screened.
Some key characters that were identified in the germplasm screening that will be beneficial to the breeding of improved lines for each country included: white rust resistance in Australian and Chinese B. juncea lines; low erucic acid and low glucosinolate levels in Chinese and Australian B. napus and B. juncea lines; drought tolerance in Australian B. juncea lines; variation for Sclerotinia tolerance among all B. napus lines (varied among locations); potential blackleg resistance in Chinese and Indian B. juncea germplasm in Australia
Cluster analysis of Australian and Indian B. napus and B. juncea varieties by HAU and PAU showed no association between geographical distance and divergence based on morpho-physiological traits as genotypes from different locations fall in the same group and vice versa, which may be due to continuous exchange of germplasm.
Extensive work was undertaken in China (HZAU, IOCR, XAAS), India (HAU, PAU) and Australia (UWA-C) during 2006 to identify genetic distance, heterotic pools and heritability of key traits in the germplasm. Dendrograms showing the relationships among the 48 B. napus lines have been prepared at UWA-C and HZAU. Clustering in the HZAU dendrogram indicated that the Chinese B. napus lines were relatively more genetically diverse. Clustering in the UWA-C diagram showed the clear distinction of Indian B. napus to accessions from other countries, and a higher proportion of "private alleles" in Indian and some Chinese accessions. Genetic distance analysis of B. juncea is also underway at UWA-C.
Crosses have been made for hybrid vigour studies and at most institutes the F1 generations have been sown or will be sown soon. At UWA-C, selections were made for F1 hybrid evaluation based on the most homozygous selfed plants from each accession. Results from India (PAU), indicate that hybrids involving Australian B. napus germplasm and Indian non canola types were most productive. In China, (HZAU), examination of B. napus hybrids at the vegetative stage found positive mid-parent heterosis. Analysis of hybrid vigour in B. juncea was undertaken in China (XAAS) with diallel crosses using five Australian and five Chinese lines. The productivity of most of the F1s was higher than their parents and although the maturity of the varieties from both Australia and China was similar, the maturity of F1 was later than their parents.
Preliminary data has been generated in China to study the relationship between hybrid performance of B. napus and genetic distance. Results from IOCR indicate the performance of hybrids for yield traits was not consistent with genetic distances, although the genetic distances did show correlation with hybrid performance to a certain degree. At HZAU, neither a positive nor negative relationship was observed between molecular genetic distance and mid-parent heterosis for seedling traits of the F1 hybrids. Further analysis is underway to determine whether or not correlations exist between F1 seedling characters and F1 yield and yield-related characters, and between F1 yield and yield-related characters and their parents' molecular genetic distance.
During 2006 significant progress was also made towards the objective of increasing the scientific skills of scientists collaborating in the project through scientific exchanges. Mr Wan Zhengjie (PhD student), Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, began 5 months of molecular biology training at UWA in Assoc Prof Wallace Cowling's laboratory on 30 October 2006. Mr Wan Zhengjie will work on two projects at UWA: (i) identification of a gene for male sterility in B. juncea, and (ii) genetic distance studies on B. juncea in the ACIAR project collection. Mr Mei Desheng, Oil Crops Research Institute, Wuhan, began 6 months of molecular biology training at CSIRO Plant Industry with Dr Allan Green in mid November 2006. Mr Mei Desheng's project will involve cloning of a range of fatty acid biosynthesis genes from the Crambe abyssinica oilseed species.

During 2007 the second round of screening of the series I B. napus and B. juncea germplasm from India, China and Australia was completed. Useful variation for several key agronomic, quality and disease resistance characters in the germplasm from each country was confirmed. The best performing lines have been used in breeding programs to enhance the germplasm in all countries for shatter resistance, disease resistance, agronomic and quality traits and drought tolerance. The second series of germplasm exchange was also undertaken in 2007, with 58 B. napus lines (25 Chinese, 2 Indian and 31 Australian) and 60 B. juncea lines (20 Chinese, 23 Indian and 17 Australian) exchanged.
Some key traits were identified in the series II germplasm screening that will be beneficial to the breeding of improved lines for each country. These included white rust resistance in Australian B. juncea lines, low erucic acid and low glucosinolate levels in Chinese and Australian B. napus and B. juncea lines, Sclerotinia resistance in Chinese and Australian lines, terminal stage thermotolerance in Australian B. napus and Chinese B. juncea lines and seedling stage thermotolerance in Indian B. juncea lines, blackleg resistance in Australian B. juncea lines and shatter resistance in Indian and Australian B. napus lines.
In 2007, advances were made in verifying shatter resistance screening techniques. A very high correlation between the results of visual shatter observations and percentage of pod shattering on the main stem of Brassica lines that were left standing in the field 4 weeks post maturity was observed in India, indicating that either method is valuable for estimating shatter resistance.
The genetic distance analyses of the series I B. napus and B. juncea germplasm, using the SSR technique, was completed in 2007. Cluster analysis of the data showed abundant genetic diversity among the lines of both species, and will assist breeders in their selection of the most diverse lines to widen their genepools.
The first F1 hybrid field trials of 13 B. napus parents and 84 F1 hybrids were conducted in Australia (WA, NSW, Vic), China (2 sites in Wuhan) and India (Punjab) in 2007-08. The F1 hybrid seed produced by hand-crossing in 2006 was distributed in 2007 together with seed of pure breeding lines of the parents. The parallel trials were designed with a special spatial randomisation program with 1-3 replicates per entry. The first data were received from Australian sites at the end of 2007. Seven agronomic traits were measured (vegetative vigour, date of 50% flowering, height of first branch, height of first pod, mature height, seed yield and 1000-seed weight) and data analysis is underway using a multi-environment trials analysis. Heterosis measured in F1 hybrids and combining ability measured in diallel crosses of pure lines and the relationship between molecular genetic distance and heterosis will be reported.
F1 seed produced from the second series of exchanged germplasm has been or will be sent to collaborators in 2008 for F1 hybrid trials in Australia (WA, NSW, Vic), China (1 site in Wuhan) and India (Punjab, Harayana) in 2008-09.
Analysis of the relationship between molecular genetic distance and heterosis was also carried out in an additional experiment in China using 12 parents and 36 hybrids. The lines were planted in two Chinese locations and 11 traits were recorded. Positive mid-parent heterosis and positive high-parent heterosis for seed yield were observed. Most of the correlation coefficients between molecular genetic distance and mid-parent heterosis were positive, but few items were at a significant level. However, when dividing hybrids into intra- and inter-regional hybrids, correlations between genetic distance and mid-parent heterosis increased among intra-regional hybrids for most traits especially siliquas per plant and seed yield per plant. The results indicated that it may be possible to predict heterosis by molecular markers among intra-regional hybrids.
During 2007 significant progress was also made towards the objective of increasing the scientific skills of scientists collaborating in the project through scientific exchanges. Mr Wan Zhengjie (PhD student), Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, completed his 5 months of molecular biology training at UWA in Assoc Prof Wallace Cowling's laboratory. Likewise, Dr Mei Desheng, Oil Crops Research Institute, Wuhan, completed 6 months of molecular biology training at CSIRO Plant Industry with Dr Allan Green. In addition, Dr Chirantan Chattopadhyay (NRCRM, Bharatpur, India) undertook a 3 week training program in Australia in September 2007. Dr Chattopadhyay presented a paper at the Australian Research Assembly on Brassicas, participated in the pre-conference tour, met with project collaborators in WA, NSW and VIC, toured disease nurseries and attended a scientific writing workshop at the Australasian Plant Pathology conference.
In April 2007 a mid-term project progress meeting was held in Wuhan, China, and was attended by collaborators from each institute. The 3 day meeting consisted of presentations, trait group discussions and tours of laboratories and field trials.
In early 2008 (Jan 28 to Feb 3), a progress meeting was held in India. The meeting comprised a one day workshop, followed by visits to each of the collaborating institutes to inspect the exchanged lines in the field.

The first objective of the project was to work with PAGASA (Philippine Meteorological Bureau) to deliver and communicate the basis of seasonal climate forecasts. This is foundational to any future work on valuing seasonal climate forecasts. The communication between climate science and agricultural decision makers has been possible through the close interaction between PAGASA, PIDS and Leyte State University (LSU). Workshops have been held at PIDS office in Manila (April 21), Leyte State University, Baybay (June 30), and Malaybalay City, Bukidon (December).

One of the tools that PAGASA has used to explore the relationship between tropical sea surface temperatures and Philippine rainfall has been the International Version of RAINMAN, a product of a previous ACIAR project. This has been valuable to show where and when the forecasts have statistical skill. The interaction between PAGASA and PIDS has produced a number of publications suitable for non- technical audiences which explain the scientific basis behind climate outlooks- for example how the El Nino Southern Oscillation influences the Philippines and how this makes forecasting the season more reliable in certain parts of the country at certain times of the year.

How to match the information climate science can offer to decision making has been much discussed within regular project team meetings between the Philippine partners and during trips from Australian partners to the Philippines in March (project initiation), July (project launch) and October. Further opportunities were available when Philippine partners from PIDS and LSU visited Australia to take part in the economist planning meeting of NSW DPI economists held in Trangie, NSW in November 2005..

An encouraging aspect of the project has been the high level Philippine government support of the project through membership of the steering committee. This support was evident at the project launch by the Australian ambassador Anthony Hely on July 27th . Over 70 representatives attended the launch from government, farmer organisations, universities and industry. The main organisations represented (in addition to PAGASA, PIDS and LSU) were the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), The National Food Authority (NFA), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) the Southeast Asia Research Council for Agriculture (SEARCA), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of the Philippines Los Banos. The launch received a high level of media coverage and provided an opportunity to draw attention to a website for the project http://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/ACIAR

Fundamental to the project in both Australia and the Philippines is the notion that economic frameworks for valuing uncertain seasonal forecasts will assist the communication process.
To value SCF, a particular decision must be analysed and the benefits of a forecast calculated over time. Four case studies were started in the first year of the project as a means of ensuring that the theory and modelling is grounded in real decisions. From these case studies we hope to determine a potential value of SCF (desktop analysis) and the actual value when all the complications and restrictions are taken into account.

In the Philippines, the first case study was set up to examine the importation of rice by the National Food Authority. In discussion with decision makers this was expanded to include the purchase, storage and distribution of rice. The second case study is at a farm level and examines decisions dryland corn farmers may make about cropping intensity, variety, fertiliser and sowing density.

The documentation from PAGASA of the status of climate data in the Philippines is a valuable resource for both this project and other work on managing climate risk. The information on the skill of the forecasts using RAINMAN provides a sound basis for valuing SCF in the project. The workshops in the provinces (Leyte and Bukidon) and the accompanying material explaining ENSO are important background for later work on valuing and using SCF within the project.

In Australia one case study has examined crop choice on the Liverpool Plains in northern NSW where farmers are presented with a climatically risky decision whether to sow a wheat crop in winter or continue the fallow to store more moisture for a subsequent sorghum crop. The second case study examines decisions about stocking rate on large wool growing properties in the rangelands of western NSW.

Although we are using case studies, we also aim to provide generic guidelines on valuing seasonal climate forecasts. To that end we have produced a number of Excel based spreadsheets with accompanying documentation. Two versions have been produced in Australia and one in the Philippines. These are not aimed at decision support systems for growers but rather frameworks for thinking through the value of SCF. An example of such a simple decision tree for nitrogen decisions on wheat was presented to the WMO Expert team on Weather Climate and Farming at Geneva, November 2004

The ongoing drought in Australia and typhoons in the Philippines combined with a high level of media coverage regarding climate change has ensured interest in the results of this project on bridging the gap between climate science and decision makers.

The project has provided resources to improve the capacity of PAGASA to deliver Seasonal Climate Forecasts for the regions in the case studies (objective 1). More importantly it has enabled PIDS and LSU to work with PAGASA to better link the climate science with the user community.

Some of the climatically risky decisions we are examining (objective 3) are policy decisions of how much rice to import into the Philippines; what variety of corn and how much fertiliser to use in the central Philippines and the Isabella north of Manila; variety choice and sowing time to maximise yield but avoid frost in southern Australia; the optimum amount of cropping and pasture on a farm in central west NSW. By engaging with decision makers in these diverse contexts we not only are having an immediate impact on the way that SCF are used, but we are also learning about the challenges of using climate information and ways of better placing a value on seasonal climate forecasts.

Surveys of farmers in the Philippines (objective 4) show a high degree of concern about climate risk and a high level of awareness of El Nino but only moderate use of the information in decision making. A paper that reviewed much of the survey work in Australia also highlighted difficulties in applying probabilistic SCFs to decisions. As part of the project (objective 2) we have further refined an Excel based game that allows participants to consider how they would use forecasts that are much better than guessing, but a long way short of perfect information in decision making.

The project team were successful in having a symposium accepted for the 26th Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) which was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in August 2006. The title of the symposium was 'Valuing Seasonal Climate Forecasts'. This conference along with a workshop on the Science of SCF organised by the Australian Academy of Science on 2nd and 3rd of August and an International Conference on climate impacts and adaptation in Cairns in July provided excellent opportunities for the Philippine and Australian team to learn and discuss the theory and practice of valuing SCFs.

This project was developed on the broad premises that a) Philippines and Australia were both significantly affected by El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), b) there is a lot known in the climate science community about the onset and impacts of ENSO events and c) there was a gap between the knowledge in the scientific community and the application of this knowledge in decision making.
The El Nino event of 2006/07 had an impact in both countries. Although this event developed quickly it was generally well communicated, nevertheless the challenge of how to use this information in decision making still remains. It is nave to assume that a modest project such as this can solve the challenge of developing actionable knowledge from climate science, however through a range of case studies and thoughtful analysis, we can contribute to the understanding of barriers and suggestions for success.
We have looked at the use and potential value of seasonal climate forecasts in the following case studies: Corn farm level study in Leyte; Corn farm level study in Isabela; Corn farm level study in Panglao, Bohol; Rice farm and household level study in Nueva Ecija; Rice policy case study in Philippines; Use of seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) in mixed farm context in Central West NSW; SCFs and opportunity cropping in the Liverpool Plains, NSW; Economic analysis of farming systems in Western NSW; Nitrogen on wheat; Low rainfall farming in South Australia; and Use of SCFs to manage frost risk in southern Australia. In August 2008 a number of these case studies will be formerly presented as part of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE) conference in Manila, Philippines.
The rice policy study, when completed, can provide a very useful input to policymakers since it takes into account not just domestic rice production but also world prices. The rice simulation model highlights the importance of SCFs, domestic production, and external factors as bases for decision to import or not, and the corresponding policy costs of such decisions.
From these case studies we have started to draw together information on the potential value of seasonal climate forecasts. In some cases there is an opportunity to develop operational applications of forecasts, however the case studies were always intended as a means to the end of generalising on the application of seasonal climate forecasts in a range of decision contexts.
Part of this generalising came from the paper comparing seasonal climate forecasts to other innovations that Australian farmers were encouraged to adopt. The use of adoption theory helped us identify characteristics of seasonal climate forecasts as an innovation. We identified that it is difficult to communicate the comparative advantage of probabilistic SCFs and there is a significant cost in terms of time rather than money in developing a working knowledge of SCFs. However, compared to say an innovation such as a new wheat variety, SCFs have economies of scale (can be used across one paddock or a number of farms) and economies of scope (can be used for different enterprises such as cropping or livestock and for different levels of decisions such as fertiliser rates or buying extra land).
In the final period of the project we are looking at ways of summarising and producing guidance material to bridge the gap between the current use and potential value of SCFs in farming systems. It is encouraging that a number of communication tools and frameworks developed in this project have already been used by other groups in the Philippines and Australia.

This project is focussed on the interface between seasonal climate forecasts and agricultural decision makers in Australia and the Philippines. Both countries are affected by the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and in both countries seasonal climate forecasts are routinely released. The challenge is to find actionable knowledge from climate science - that is information that is communicated in a timely manner in a form that can be understood and acted on.
The project has provided extra resources to the Philippine meteorological service PAGASA to engage with local decision makers and intermediaries in local municipal government. This interaction has paid dividends which are likely to ensure ongoing activity after the completion of the project in June 30 2009. One example indicative of sustained activities are a memorandum of understanding between PAGASA and the province of Isabela, through the Office of Provincial Agriculturalists.
Close interaction with end users has highlighted the need to enhance the observation network. Due to this project, extra funding was provided by the Philippine government for equipment to the three study sites. In Malaybalay, northern Mindanao the Local Government used scarce resources to install rain-gauges for each municipality.
A challenge for ACIAR projects is to use resources to build capacity of the project team. In the case of this project the Philippine partners were starting from a high level of expertise. During August 28-30 2008, the project team participated in the 6th Asian Society of Agricultural Economists International Conference in Manila. This project contributed 8 papers, filling two concurrent sessions on Friday that were chaired by project team members Dr Celia Reyes (PIDS) and Professor Kevin Parton (Charles Sturt University).
The final project team meeting was held at the Gold Coast from Friday 15th May 2009 to Sunday 17th of May 2009 with 12 Filipinos (four from each of the partner organisations) and four Australians. This meeting was followed by the World Meteorological Organisation International Workshop on the Content, Communication and Use of Weather and Climate Products and Services for Sustainable Agriculture. There were three presentations from the project at the workshop and three posters. Furthermore, a simple game based on the use of probabilistic seasonal climate forecasts that had been used and refined as part of the ACIAR project was successfully used on the first evening of the conference as an ice-breaker. There were requests for this game which has been used with farmers and advisers in Australia and the Philippines from the head office of WMO in Geneva, and from meteorological services in Pacific Island countries, India, Africa and Brazil.
Throughout the project there have been many opportunities to communicate with end users, the lessons from these exercises have been summarised in a 15 page handbook for extension workers. One of the final activities will be the production of a special issue of the refereed journal of Philippine Development Studies with seven papers authored by members of the project team.

1. Executive summary

In West Papua, Indonesia, which makes up the western part of the island of New Guinea, food shortages and malnutrition continue to be major problems, especially in the mountain areas where sweetpotato (SP) is the principal staple food. Sweetpotato is also the main feed source for pigs, which are raised throughout the island. Pigs are an integral part of the culture and political organization among many Papua tribes and pork is a significant protein source for local people and is in high demand as a traded commodity. As cash income becomes increasingly important in the two areas with the penetration of regional and national markets, pigs offer a good opportunity for income generation. However, the existing SP-pig systems exhibit several problems, notably low fertility rates and slow animal growth rates which may be caused by unbalanced and erratic feeding regimes and health problems. By adopting an integrated, interdisciplinary approach which is sensitive to the cultural role of these systems, it is proposed that technical interventions can be made both with novel SP germplasm and with pig-raising management which can improve food and feed productivity and thus impact positively on family nutrition and income.

As important and widespread as SP is in West Papua, it has been reported that the Dani people in the Baliem Valley of West Papua have not undertaken purposeful SP breeding and selection, even though other researchers have warned not to under-estimate the value of indigenous selection endeavors. Systematic on-site and on-farm SP breeding and selection are expected to increase food production for humans and pigs. Experimentation on improving the diet, feeding practices, disease management, and housing conditions are expected to increase pig health and growth rate without requiring extra inputs. These appropriate and relevant interventions are expected to lead to improvements in system performance, with benefits flowing to the SP-cultivating and pig-raising households. In addition, review of previous practices, assessment and documentation of the current practices, and improvement of this unique integrated system of human-SP-pig will be a significant contribution to the cultural heritage of the world.

Meanwhile, some of the action-based research has been and will continue to be tested in Vietnam where the systems show a similar interdependence between SP feed and pigs, but where more commercial orientation of production is found. Research trials in sweetpotato variety selection, root and vine fermentation to increase nutritional value, and pig-raising management have been on going in Vietnam with the same purpose of resulting in earlier maturity and higher income. The past and on-going lessons learned from Vietnam will be modified and adapted to West Papua to avoid re-inventing the wheel.

Collaborating researchers in Java, Indonesia include Dr. Jusuf, sweetpotato breeder of The Research Institute of Legume and Tuber Crops (Balitkabi) in Malang, Dr. Pius Ketaren, animal scientist of the Research Institute for Animal Production (Balitnak) in Ciawi. In West Papua the collaborating institutions include the Jayawijaya Livestock Office, Jayawijaya Department of Agriculture, and local missionary and church organizations.

The growth of pigs in the Baliem Valley faces constraints in lack of nutrition, unhygienic environmental conditions, and disease and parasite infestation. The current project is designed to address the first two constraints while the last constraint is too large to be included in this project. A separate, stand-alone, disease diagnosis and intervention project presents one likely direction for future research. This research should begin with histological and parasite examinations in order to determine the disease and parasite load of pigs of various ages. This diagnosis could provide sound scientific basis for designing further interventions to improve pig health.

Objective 1 - Socioeconomic Diagnostic Studies

- Data entry and processing of the data collected have been completed during this period.
- The processed data have been analysed to guide the technical activities.
- The second season of the time allocation, food and feed consumption study, and the pest and disease field survey has been conducted. The third season is currently underway.
- A pig fertility observation underway to verify/refute the data collected from the diagnostic studies.
- Qualitative interviews of and observations on the human-pig-SP systems by the project leader.

Objective 2 - Pig Trials

Feeding/water trial, a combined water/feeding trial was conducted June 23- Oct 23, 2002 at the Jayawijaya Livestock Station in Wamena. The purpose of the trial was to test the effects of fermented SP vines, the effects of water, and the combination effects on pig growth. However, these results were not conclusive due to the following reasons, thus no statistics was performed:
- large variation in initial weight
- water was mixed in with feed
- many of the pigs developed severe mange due to infestation with Sarcoptes scabiei

Follow-up separate water trial and feeding trials have been planned to test the effects of water and feed separately, with piglets of uniform weight.

Disease survey and trial and parasite powder trial

A trial was conducted to investigate the effects of administering parasite powder treatment on pig growth. The average initial weight of the untreated pigs weight (11.8 kg) was significantly higher than that of the treated pigs (9.8 kg), yet discounting the two dead pigs, the average monthly weight gain of the two treatments are the same (2.6 kg). A preliminary disease survey was designed based on three main activities. These included a series of post-mortems and collection of blood serum samples from a range of pigs. A total of 3 7 pigs (12 F, 25 M) were slaughtered. In general the majority of animals examined were relatively emaciated with few fat reserves in the subcutaneous tissues or in the omentum.

Outcomes to December 2003
Socio-political turmoil in West Papua hampered project activities in the first year. Work was undertaken on sweet potato selection in Java, Indonesia and in Vietnam. When work finally commenced in West Papua it involved an extensive exercise of data gathering, surveys and field observations, yielding much information about the animal and crop production systems and the socio-cultural and belief systems of Bailem Valley communities in West Papua.

Pig diseases and management emerged as a more significant factor than expected, and ACIAR provided extra funds to extend the surveys. The surveys showed that internal parasites were the most important problem for pigs. The project scientists therefore devised a management plan for pig production, incorporating some elements of the traditional 'laleken' system that had previously been used to manage rotational grazing and isolation of dung, but had been abandoned when wood for construction became scarce. A modified design is being considered for trialling in an extension operation.

In north and central Vietnam, where the sweet potato-pig raising system is an important component of the domestic economy, the project should increase household incomes through increased starch and protein yields in sweet potato and improved pig growth. Farmer-to-farmer extension has already started in Vietnam, involving farmer-trainers who have attended workshops and distribution of a manual that arose from the project.

The project is being extended in Indonesia (mainly West Papua) for a further two years. Vietnam has already fulfilled its project objectives.

Objective 1: A series of multi-location trials to collect data required for registration of seven new and superior clones of sweetpotato have commenced. Trials are also under way to test the production and nutrient value of Musan, the best local variety used for pigs in Papua. CIP is funding trials in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Jambi Provence to supplement the registration trials funded by the project in Papua. The project will also fund trials in Bali and East Nusa Tengarra to test the new clones plus Musan for drought resistance and performance at other high altitude regions.

Objective 2: A number of modified diets have been developed and are being validated in a series of feeding trials. The diets are based on sweet potato tubers and vines supplemented with salt and chopped banana trunks, which is a valuable source of calcium and phosphorus and fibre. The first diet developed (Wamena #1 diet) was based on cooked sweetpotato tubers and vines and this is now being compared with two diets containing 33% of a mixture of ensilaged material made up of 85% fresh tubers, 15% fresh vines, 0.5% salt, fermented for 14 days. The ensilaged material (33%) has been added to diets, which contain either uncooked or cooked sweetpotato tubers (22%) and vines (33%), plus uncooked banana trunks (11%), salt (0.2%. Growth rates of parasite pigs fed these diets ranged from 160 to 250g/day compared with 15 to 60 g/day for parasite free pigs fed traditional diets. As analysis of all the diets has shown them to be deficient in protein, other protein sources are being investigated. These include local fish species, pasture grasses and fodder trees. The first species of fish investigated was Stelophorus sp., a small species of fish found naturally in waterways in the region. However, insufficient quantities of the fish could be produced to make its use viable. At the suggestion of local farmers, supported by scientists in SARDI's Aquatic Science Division, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is being investigated as a possible food source for pigs.

Objective 3: Sow productivity was improved by modifying the management of sows following weaning. In a trial involving 20 sows, 80% sows managed under the modified husbandry system mated within 8 days of weaning, compared with only 40% for sows housed traditionally. The former also produced 83% more weaned pigs. Based on these data, the economic advantage of the modified system will enable groups of farmers or clans to maintain their own boar, rather than borrow a boar from other farmers or clans.
Trials designed to make further improvements in sow management were commenced towards the end of 2004. These include a comparison of feeding sows the diets based on ensilaged sweet potato tubers and vines and high protein pasture.

Objective 4: A modified husbandry system for growing pigs is also being designed and validated. Under this system, pigs are housed over night and allowed to forage pastures during the day. They also spend the first 30 minutes after release each morning in a special dunging area, designed to control parasites. The high protein pasture supplements the diets based on sweet potato tubers and vines. Confining pigs also prevents access to toxic plants, present in scrubland, and human and dog faeces, found in the traditional family compound. The number of pens required in the rotation, and the size of the pens (32m2 to 60m2 for 6 pigs) are still being evaluated. The three species of pasture grass being assessed are Sundaleka (Puerasia cephaloides) -17.4% crude protein; Wurikaka (Centrosema sp) - 15.53% crude protein; and Jirikpuruk (Calopogonium sp) -10.68%crude protein.

Objective 5: The amount of training undertaken has also increased during 2004. As well as formal training, a significant amount of "unofficial training" takes place during each visit to the project sites, as well as during more official meetings. With 15 villages now involved in the project, this will provide a strong network of knowledgeable farmers for the "farmer-to-farmer" training programmes that will operate during the final 6 months of the project.
More formal opportunities for training have also been provided to several farmers collaborating in the project, which has strengthened the project significantly. All the collaborating farmers have been trained in harvesting and planting sweet potato, preparing diets, feeding pigs, planting grasses and trees and designing and building lalekens. Several of the Indonesian scientists have also been given training in a number of areas. These include train-the-trainer and farmer-to-farmer training schemes operated in Vietnam and elsewhere in Indonesia, fish production in Java, and in the diagnosis of internal parasites.

A series of multi-location trials have been conducted across Indonesia to collect data required for registration of seven new clones of sweetpotato (SP) bred during the life of the project. The multiplication of planting material will be completed early in 2006, along with registration of the new clones and dissemination of the planting material.

Feeding trials are continuing to evaluate modified diets based on SP tubers and vines. The basic diet contains ensilaged SP vines and tubers supplemented with a range of locally grown crops and herbage to increase the protein content of the base diet. These include corn, three species of pasture grasses [Sundaleka (Puerasia cephaloides) Wurikaka (Centrosema sp) and Jirikpuruk (Calopogonium sp)] and two species of fodder trees [Dadap (Erythrina variegata), Gamal (Gliricidia sepium)], plus vegetables in season. All diets are supplemented with salt and chopped banana trunks. Parasite-free pigs fed these diets are growing 3 to 6 times faster than parasite-free pigs fed only on the traditional diet of raw SP tubers and vines.

The possibility of supplementing diets with fish, using Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), is being investigated, but these trials will not be completed until 2006.

A rotational foraging system, designed to control internal parasites and restrict the pig's access to toxic plants and human and dog faeces in the traditional family compound has been developed, but is relatively dependent on good seasonal rains. The pigs are housed overnight and allowed to forage during the day in small paddocks (lalekens) and it is planned to use the fodder trees for live fences.

A series of experiments aimed at improving reproductive performance in sows by improving nutrition, housing and management is continuing.

Training of collaborating farmers and Scientific and Technical staff from local institutions has also continued. All farmers have been trained in preparing diets, feeding pigs, ensilaging sweetpotato tubers and vines, planting and growing pastures and fodder tress, and examining dead pigs.

1 Results of the sweet potato experiments and future plans for improving
production
Three new clones of SP developed for human consumption have been registered and named by the Indonesian President and will be released nationally before the end of 2007.
Two improved clones developed for pigs have also been registered and will be released nationally.
2 Results of the nutrition experiments and diet development
In an initial village survey, recorded growth rates for parasite free pigs were from 15 to 66 g/day (48.2 13.1 g/day). During the same period, 40% of untreated pigs died, and growth rates for surviving pigs ranged from zero to 30g/day (18.7 12.3 g/day).
Nine diets based on SP roots and vines were developed and parasite-free pigs fed these diets recorded growth rates between 110 to 350 gm/day.
The best performing and most sustainable diets include:
o Wamena #1 diet: 56% cooked SP vines + 33% cooked SP storage roots + 11% cooked banana trunk + 0.5% salt
o Wamena #2 diet: 33% cooked SP-vines + 22% cooked SP storage roots + 34% ensilaged SP storage roots and vinesE + 11% cooked banana trunk.
o Wamena #3 diet: 33% raw SP-vines + 22% raw SP storage roots + 34% ensilaged SP storage roots and vinesE + 11% raw banana trunk.
o Wamena #6 diet: 50% cooked SP storage roots + 30% cooked SP-vines + 20% cooked fish internal organs (gill etc)
o Wamena #9 diet: Wamena #2 + 1kg boiled snails (ad lib)
Various combinations of ensilaged material can be produced:
o ESilage: contains 85 kg SP storage roots + 15 kg SP-vines + 0.5 kg salt fermented for 14 days with either sundeleka grass or dadap leaves replacing SP vines if desired.

Modified methods for pond fertilisation, which increase village fish production by more than 50%, have been developed to enable farmers to use the excess fish production in pig diets.

3 Development of modified husbandry, housing and management systems
A modified pig management and husbandry system, based on rotational foraging using small paddocks (lalekens) sown with high protein forage pasture (Sundaleka - Puerasia cephaloides), was designed to reduce the human and pig health risks identified in the disease survey (phase 1), and increase protein intake of pigs. Pigs are housed overnight, and given access to forage pasture in lalekens during the day. Pigs are rotated to new pasture when 50% of the foliage has been eaten. Prior to moving to the laleken, pigs are held in special "dunging areas" for 30 minutes each morning. This is to reduce contamination of pastures with parasite eggs. While the system is relatively dependent on good seasonal rains, using a "cut and carry" system for pasture, or fodder trees such as Dadap (Erythrina variegata), renders it more sustainable. Pigs managed under the system grew significantly faster (80% - P<0.05) than untreated pigs and remained relatively free of parasites for 3 months.

Sow productivity has also been improved by modifying the management of sows following weaning, as well as improving housing and nutrition. Conception rates were increased by 40% and pigs weaned/sow by 83%. Based on these increases, groups of farmers or clans can afford to maintain their own boar, rather than borrow a boar from other farmers or clans.

Two building designs, one for growing pigs and one for breeding sows and their progeny have been developed, validated and accepted by local farmers. Both designs appear to be economically viable.

4 Training projects completed to date
A number of training initiatives have been completed at village level, including a series of workshops for training farmers in sweet potato production, pig feeding and management, breeding and reproduction, examining dead pigs, housing and husbandry and fish production. The aim of the training workshops was to ensure that all the participating farmers benefited from all the project's outcomes and understood the reasons and rationale for change as well as the potential benefits.

Baseline data of the sweet potato seed system and sweet potato cultivation practices in the Baliem valley have been collected and analysed, as well as the way farmers manage sweetpotato planting material.

A trial has been established to demonstrate to farmers the advantages of using positive selection for selecting planting material, rather than the current practices used.

Six sustainable pig diets that were formulated during the life of the project have been costed and ranked in terms of growth rate potential and the economic impact evaluated. Using the improved pig husbandry and management system developed during the first 5 years of the project, and feeding cost-effective diets, will reduce the time taken for pigs to reach sale weight by 30 to 50%. Based on the cost of diet alone, the increased profit from feeding these diets from weaning to 60 kg for 324 days is approximately 0.7 to 1.0 million rupiah/pig. The figure for a 40kg is 0.4 to 0.6 million rupiah.

Training materials have been written, reviewed and translated into Bahasa Indonesia and 100 copies printed along with 10 copies in English. The materials will form the basis of a training document that can be adapted and used in other parts of eastern Indonesia. The manual contains sections on SP cultivation and seed production, identification of pests and diseases of SP, developing SP products post harvest for human nutrition, building and managing lalekens (small paddocks) and dunging areas, developing and managing pastures for rotational foraging for pigs, building and managing pig houses, prevention and control of parasites, examining pigs post-mortem, feed and feeding management, growing Dadap (Erythrina sp) cuttings, and sow and boar management. Manuals have also been developed for the positive selection process of sweetpotato planting material, a rapid multiplication technique of sweetpotato planting material, how to make sweet potato silage for pig feed, a post mortem manual and a manual on the kinds of crops and foods that can be used to feed for pigs

The next step was to conduct a series of farmer training programs, to which all of the project farmer collaborators were invited, and a group selected as Farmer Trainers to train other farmers.

Assistance was sort from the Director of the Baliem Valley Co-operative Farmer Groups (KTNA), the Head of the Regency Livestock Office, and the Leader of World Vision Indonesia Papua, to select farmers in 7 key villages for training in the project outcomes and methodology.

To date only one training program has been completed, but a further 6 are planned before the end of October 2008. The initial training session was attended by 20 males and 9 females, who were wives of participating males. The program runs over 3 days with a one day field trip and practical sessions on making silage, processing SP, and cultivating tree cuttings. Training programs will be run in a further 6 villages prior to October 2008.