ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK TAR: RES 37743

PROPOSED

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

FOR THE

NINTH AGRICULTURE

AND NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH

AT INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTERS

November 2004 ABBREVIATIONS

ACIAR – Australian Center for International Agricultural Research ADB – AMBIONET – Asian Biotechnology Network ANRR – agriculture and natural resources research ANRRD – Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development ARC – Asian Regional Center of The World Vegetable Center ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center (formerly the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre) C – carbon CAR – Central Asian republic CGIAR – Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CIMMYT – International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center CLV – Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam CLVNET – Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam Network CO2 – carbon dioxide CURE – Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments DMC – developing member country EA – Executing Agency FSU – former Soviet Union GMS – Greater Mekong Subregion GDP – gross domestic product GR – IA – Implementing Agency IARC – international agricultural research center ICARDA – International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas ICBA – International Center for Biosaline Agriculture ICM – integrated crop management IFAD – International Fund for Agricultural Development IGP – Indo-Gangetic Plains IRRI – International Rice Research Institute IT – Information technology IWMI – International Water Management Institute LCC – leaf color chart MTA – material transfer agreement MOU – memorandum of understanding M&E – monitoring and evaluation NARS – national agricultural research system NARES – national agricultural research and extension system NGO – nongovernment organization PAC – project approval committee QPM – quality protein maize RCT – rice-wheat production technologies RD – regional department R&D – research and development RETA – regional technical assistance

RSAN – Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Division, Regional and Sustainable Development Department RSC – Regional Steering Committee RSDD – Regional and Sustainable Development Department RTCC – Regional Technical Coordination Committee RWC – rice-wheat consortium SANIIRI – Central Asia Research Institute of Irrigation SWAP – Soil-Water-Atmosphere-Plant TA – technical assistance WUA – water users association

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CLASSIFICATION

Targeting – General Classification

Sector – Agriculture and Natural Resources

Subsector – Agriculture production, agroprocessing and agribusiness Water resource management Environment and biodiversity

Themes – Regional Cooperation Sustainable Economic Growth Environmental Sustainability

Subthemes – Developing Rural Areas Conservation

NOTE

In this report, “$” refers to US dollars.

This report was prepared by T. Bayarsaihan and J. Nave of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Division, Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Asian Development Bank I. INTRODUCTION

1. Assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to international agricultural research spans almost 30 years. From 1975 to 1995, ADB’s support for agricultural research was channeled largely through individual grants to specific centers for specific purposes, ranging from improving training facilities to establishing regional collaborative networks. In 1995 the Board approved the Agriculture and Natural Resources Research (ANRR) Policy Paper. Since 1996 ADB has supported ANRR through an annual regional technical assistance (RETA), and has provided $38.8 million of assistance to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and non-CGIAR Centers. ADB's policy on ANRR addresses three strategic objectives: sustainable management of natural resources, increases in agricultural productivity, and poverty reduction.

2. In the past three decades, the international agricultural research centers (IARCs) have delivered higher-yielding food crops; more productive livestock, fish, and trees; environmentally friendly farming systems; better policies; enhanced scientific capacities in developing countries; and many dividends to poor farmers through better resource use, increased output, and greater income. The CGIAR, established in 1971, is an association of 15 IARCs working in more than 100 developing countries to mobilize cutting-edge science to achieve sustainable , to protect the environment, and to reduce poverty. The CGIAR research agenda is focused on both strategic and applied research, and includes the entire range of problems that affect agricultural productivity such as sustainable management of natural resources and protection of biodiversity. Appendix 1 summarizes ADB-assisted agricultural research projects funded through the CGIAR and non-CGIAR centers.

3. In December 2000, ADB reviewed the 1995 ANRR policy and evaluated the experience and impact of its IARC funding.1 Based on the evaluation, ADB recommended continued support to the IARCs based on high return on investments, relevance of the policy and research outputs of supported projects, and overall effectiveness of the annual RETA modality. In April 2003, the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Division, Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSAN) prepared a comprehensive Guidelines on Submission of Project Proposals (2003) for the annual RETA on ANRR. It specifies ADB’s required format for project preparation, participation and ownership of the countries concerned, and alignment of proposals within country priorities.

4. Following the Guidelines, the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (ANRRD) Committee met on 12 March 2004 to review in detail the concept notes received for consideration under the Ninth RETA on ANRR. The committee selected a prioritized list of proposals for consideration during the Project Approval Committee (PAC) meeting on 16 March 2004. PAC comprises the regional directors of the agriculture, environment, and natural resources divisions2 and is chaired by the RSAN director. PAC discussed the merits of each proposal and selected seven for expansion to full technical proposals. ANRRD Committee members received and conducted a technical evaluation of the revised proposals during a second meeting on 15 June 2004. The Committee assessed the quality and content of the proposals and short-listed proposals that best demonstrated innovation, relevance, and synergy with ADB operations, as well as potential impact on poverty. The shortlist of proposals was finalized and endorsed to PAC for its consideration and final selection. The PAC discussed each

1 ADB. 2000. Special Evaluation Study on the Policy and Implementation and Impact on Agriculture and Natural Resources Research. Manila. 2 South Asia Department, Mekong Department, Southeast Asia Department, East and Central Asia Department, and Pacific Department. 2 of the prioritized proposals and selected five projects to support under the Ninth RETA. These projects are expected to substantially contribute to ADB’s programs in the respective regions.

II. ISSUES

5. Results of agricultural research benefit the livelihoods of millions throughout the Asia and Pacific region, particularly the poor, mainly through: (i) raising farm income and employment; (ii) lowering food prices in the market; (iii) providing more means for better education, health, and household services; and (iv) promoting broad-based economic growth. But agricultural research faces several major challenges.

6. Increasing pressure to meet food demand and quality In Asia and the Pacific. Yearly, 76 million people are added to the world’s population, which is now 6.2 billion. By 2050, population is expected to increase by almost 50%, reaching 9 billion (estimates of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization). The Asia and Pacific region is experiencing an even higher population growth rate, plus greater urbanization and faster per capita consumption. Those factors significantly increase food demand in the region. But productivity of much of the region’s arable land is declining because of shrinking water supplies and deteriorating land quality. It is increasingly recognized that only a continuous stream of yield-enhancing technologies can boost food production and avert possible food shortages. Improved food quality has also become an essential requirement of modern society. Through partnerships among IARCs, the private sector, and the national agricultural research systems (NARS), small farmers will have access to a range of promising technologies to stabilize and increase yields, and improve food quality.

7. Need for new breakthroughs in cutting-edge science. There is a constant need to develop new technologies for higher yields, and more drought-resistant varieties, to significantly boost food production in the region. But breakthroughs in agricultural research have been fewer in recent years, mainly because of the lack of effective national research policies, inadequate focus on key and strategic research areas, and increasing funding constraints. Funding for agricultural research by national governments and international donors has continuously declined in the past several years. A need is emerging to increase focus on high-priority and strategic research to accelerate breakthroughs in agricultural and food technologies. The international community should increase its efforts to mobilize the resources necessary to achieve these goals.

8. Inadequate capacity for networking and dissemination of research results to NARS. Many valuable research results are not made readily available to NARS for further adaptive research because of inadequate networking, funds, and facilities. Networking is an important aspect of ANRR; it allows research staff easier access to germplasm, research techniques, and literature under the guidance of IARC scientists. In recent years, IARCs have focused on networking among the developing member countries (DMCs) and on strengthening their efforts to disseminate research results to NARSs for eventual adoption by farmers.

9. Lessons Learned. The design of the proposed RETA incorporated several key lessons from past research projects funded by ADB. These include the need for greater emphasis on (i) strengthening NARS capacities; (ii) improving linkages among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to better disseminate research results; and (iii) increasing the focus of research themes on issues related to resource-poor farmers.

III. PROPOSED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

A. Purpose and Output

10. The proposed RETA is consistent with ADB’s policy on ANRR and fully meets its three strategic objectives of sustainable management of natural resources, increased agricultural 3 productivity, and poverty reduction. The proposed RETA also reinforces the priorities and approaches outlined in ADB’s long-term strategic framework3 and the poverty reduction strategy.4 The proposed RETA will be the ninth umbrella RETA for ANRR at IARCs, and will contribute to the efforts of 14 ADB member countries.

11. The overall RETA objectives are to reduce rural poverty, improve farmers’ livelihoods, and promote resource conservation through enhanced agricultural research and dissemination in the Asia and Pacific region. The specific RETA objectives are to (i) reduce post-harvest losses of vegetable production by developing more efficient and lower-cost technologies for the Mekong region; (ii) improve and stabilize maize yields and production by developing and disseminating new technologies for stress-tolerant, high-yielding maize varieties for the East and Southeast Asia regions; (iii) improve productivity and yields of staple crops by developing and disseminating resource-efficient technologies for rice-wheat systems and enhancing crop quality and diversification in South Asia; and (iv) address water shortages, land degradation, and decreasing crop yields by promoting community-based innovations termed bright spots, and developing new farming practices more tolerant to soil salinity, sodicity, and waterlogging for Central Asia.

12. The key RETA outputs are: (i) new postharvest technologies for vegetables, stress-tolerant and high-yielding maize varieties, enhanced rice-wheat systems, and new farming practices for improved management of salinized land and water; (ii) dissemination of the new technologies; (iii) enhanced capacities of international and national agricultural research systems; and (iii) improved coordination among NARS and IARCs in the Asia and the Pacific region. Appendix 2 gives the RETA framework.

B. Methodology and Key Activities

13. The proposed RETA will support the development, application, and dissemination of scientific research on problems that farmers in the region face through five stand-alone projects. All five projects address the strategic agenda of the ANRR policy, have been identified in close consultation with participating DMCs, and will be implemented independently by four IARCs: AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center (formerly the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and ADB. The synopses of the projects are in paras. 14–18. Appendixes 3–7 give detailed project descriptions, including project frameworks.

14. Improving Rural Livelihoods Through Development of Vegetable-Based Postharvest Technologies. The Project will assess the current status of postharvest technologies, including priority needs and key strategies for their improvement, and identify high-yielding vegetable varieties for processing and shipping. The Project will also develop, test, and disseminate innovative low-cost postharvest technologies, using traditional methods and locally available materials. The Project will collect and disseminate information on markets, and postharvest problems and opportunities.

3 ADB. 2001. Strategy Paper on the Long-term Strategic Framework of ADB (200–-2015). Manila. 4 ADB. 2004. The Poverty Reduction Strategy. Manila. 4

15. Improving Farmers’ Incomes Through Enhanced Maize Production Technologies in Drought-Prone Environments in East and Southeast Asia. The Project will (i) develop and test resource-efficient technologies to increase maize productivity in drought-prone environments, and to minimize adverse environmental effects; (ii) strengthen the capacity of national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and other key stakeholders to participate in the development and dissemination of integrated technologies for crop and resource management; (iii) assess farmers’ acceptance of new technologies, and their sustainability; and (iv) sensitize decision makers to develop policies that enable wider technology dissemination. The Project will aim to strengthen the links between molecular and field-based breeding approaches, and among activities for breeding, technology verification, and dissemination.

16. Enhancing Farmers’ Incomes and Livelihoods through Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System in South Asia. The Project will develop, test, and disseminate resource-efficient technologies for rice-wheat systems, enhance capacities of national and international agricultural research organizations, improve crop quality and diversification, and promote private sector participation in production and post-production management. The Project will build on lessons learned under RETA 5945, and will develop a strategy to replicate successful technologies for scaling up and multiplication of benefits at new target sites.

17. Enabling Communities in the Aral Sea Basin to Combat Land and Water Resource Degradation through Creation of Bright Spots. The Project will promote increased land productivity and water use efficiency, and reverse soil degradation in Central Asia by identifying and replicating community-based innovations termed bright spots. The research activity will also involve field-testing and verification of the efficacy and management options for the cultivation of crop and forage species that can tolerate ambient levels of soil salinity, sodicity, and waterlogging. Irrigation management strategies and socioeconomic environments will be assessed comprehensively. Project outcomes will be disseminated partly through on-farm testing of promising technologies and annual field days.

18. Workshops for Strengthening Partnerships for More Effective Planning, Research, and Development in Agriculture in the Mekong Region and Southeast Asia. The Project will facilitate two interactive regional forums on strengthening partnerships in the Mekong Region and Southeast Asia to enhance linkages among IARCs, national planning agencies, farmer representatives, and other stakeholders. The purpose is to optimize resource use, make research more demand-driven, and make results more accessible. ADB will take the lead in planning and organizing the workshops, in consultation with concerned regional departments.5

C. Cost and Financing

19. The estimated cost of the RETA is $6.96 million equivalent (Appendix 8). ADB will finance $3.0 million (43%of the total cost) on a grant basis from its TA funding program. The sponsoring IARCs will finance $2.71 million equivalent (39%) from their core budgets. The participating NARS will contribute $1.25 million equivalent (18%).

D. Implementation Arrangements

20. The TA will follow the implementation arrangements used in previous ADB research TAs, whose modalites have been proven. ADB will enter into separate TA agreements with each IARC.

5 This initiative is a part of ADB’s effort to strengthen partnerships among research organizations, practitioners, and policymakers in Asia. In 2004, under ADB’s Eighth RETA on ANRR, two similar regional workshops were held in Central and South Asia. After completion of this TA, the experiences of all four Asian subregions are expected to be synthesized. 5

Each EA will be responsible for implementing and completing its own project.6 The 21 participating NARS will be designated as the Implementing Agencies (IAs), and will collaborate closely with the concerned IARCs. Participating NARS have sent letters of commitment to this effect. Each EA will appoint a project coordinator and team leader who will coordinate, plan, and supervise all local project activities; monitor project progress; and submit required reports to ADB and other collaborating partners. Similarly, each IA will appoint a national team leader who will be responsible for coordination, implementation, and reporting on the Project. RSAN will implement the coordination workshops for Mekong and Southeast Asia, assisted by two international and one domestic consultants.

21. Each project is expected to begin in January 2005 and be implemented over 3 years, i.e., up to December 2007. Each project will hold inception workshops within 3 months after it starts to firm up project plans and implementation arrangements with partners. Each EA will also organize annual planning and review meetings and a project completion workshop which all project partners, including ADB, will attend. Each IARC must submit the following reports to ADB: (i) inception reports, (ii) semiannual progress reports, (iii) semiannual financial statements accounting for the use of project funds, (iv) audited annual financial statements, and (v) a comprehensive completion report. The inception reports will be submitted within 3 months of the start of each project; the semiannual progress reports and financial statements every 6 months; and the comprehensive completion report, within 3 months of project closure. Funds will be drawn down in semiannual installments based on each IARC’s estimate of forthcoming expenditures, and subject to satisfactory liquidation of expenditures for previously disbursed funds. Project officers with suitable technical expertise will be assigned to administer the projects at ADB, and will undertake at least one supervisory mission yearly to each project. The office of the director of RSAN, in close consultation with the offices of the five regional directors for agriculture, environment, and natural resources,7 will be responsible for overall administration of the proposed umbrella RETA, maintenance of accounts, and preparation of status reports.

22. All participating IARCs will procure goods and services according to ADB’s Guidelines for Procurement. At the end of the TA, equipment purchased will be assigned to the EA/IAs concerned. The IARCs and ADB will engage specialists on an individual basis, in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants and other arrangements satisfactory to ADB, based on biodata proposals. Before engaging consultants, IARCs will submit their curricula vitae to ADB for approval.

IV. THE PRESIDENT'S RECOMMENDATION

23. The President recommends that the Board approve the provision of technical assistance not exceeding the equivalent of $3,000,000 on a grant basis for the Ninth Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at International Agricultural Research Centers.

6 AVRDC, through its office in Tainan, Taipei,China, will be the Executing Agency (EA) for the Project on Improving Farmers’ Income Through Enhanced Maize Productivities In Drought-Prone Environments In East And Southeast Asia. CIMMYT, through its regional office in Los Baños, , will be the EA for Improving Farmers’ Income Through Enhanced Maize Productivities In Drought-Prone Environments In East And Southeast Asia. IRRI, through its Los Baños, Philippines, office, will be the EA for Enhancing Farmers’ Income and Livelihoods through Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System in South Asia. IWMI, through its Colombo, office, will be the EA for Enabling Communities in the Aral Sea Basin to Combat Land and Water Resource Degradation Through the Creation of “Bright Spots.” ADB will be the EA for Workshops for Strengthening Partnerships for More Effective Planning, Research, and Development in Agriculture in Mekong and Southeast Asia. 7 South Asia Department, Mekong Department, Southeast Asia Department, East and Central Asia Department, and Pacific Department. 6

APPENDIXES

Number Title Page

1 Relevant Information on the Consultative Group on 7 International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centers

2 RETA Framework 16

3 Improving Rural Livelihoods Through Development of 19 Vegetable-Based Post-Harvest Technologies in Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam (AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center)

4 Improving Farmers’ Income Through Enhanced Maize 32 Productivities In Drought-Prone Environments In East And Southeast Asia (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center)

5 Enhancing Farmers’ Income and Livelihoods through 44 Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System in South Asia (International Rice Research Institute)

6 Enabling Communities in the Aral Sea Basin to 60 Combat Land and Water Resource Degradation Through the Creation of “Bright Spots" (International Water Management Institute)

7 Workshops for Strengthening Partnerships for More 72 Effective Planning, Research and Development in Agriculture in Mekong and Southeast Asia Regions

8 Cost Estimates and Financing Plan 81

Appendix 1 7

RELEVANT INFORMATION ON THE CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH (CGIAR) CENTERS

Table A1.1: Asian Development Bank Support for International Agricultural Research Centers and Organizations, 1975-2003a ($’000)

Total Center 1975–1980 1981–1985 1986–1990 1991–1995 1996–2000b 2001–2003c Total No. of Projects A. CGIAR 1. IRRI 1,500 (3) 1,210 (4) 5,830 (7) 2,000 (2) 4,850 (4) 1,900 (2) 17,290 (22) 2. ICRISAT 325 (1) 750 (2) 3,370 (6) 950 (2) 3,050 (3) 1,300 (1) 9,745 (15) 3. IWMI (IIMI) 1,200 (4) 1,830 (6) 1,610 (2) 2,250 (2) 6,890 (14) 4. ICLARM 70 (1) 825 (2) 700 (2) 3,800 (3) 950 (1) 6,345 (9) 5. CIMMYT 2,600 (2) 1,000 (1) 3,600 (3) 6. CIP 433 (1) 600 (1) 1,033 (2) 7. IFPRI 748 (2) 598 (1) 2,500d (2) 568 (1) 4,414 (6) 8. ISNAR 555 (2) 800 (1) 1,355 (3) 9. IPGRI 800 (1) 2,400 (2) 1,000 (1) 4,200 (4) 10. ICRAF 1,200 (1) 1,200 (1) 11. ILRI 1,000 (1) 1,000 (1) 2,000 (2) 12. CIFOR 1,100 (1) 1,100 (1) 13. CIAT 1,200 (1) 950 (1) 2,150 (2) 14. ICARDA 1,200 (1) 1,000 (1) 2,200 (2) Subtotal (A) 1,825 (4) 3,978 (13) 12,410 (23) 7,091 (11) 28,550 (25) 9,668 (10) 63,522 (86) B. Non-CGIAR 1. AVRDC 390 (1) 650 (2) 1,425 (4) 1,294 (3) 1,750 (3) 1650 (2) 7,159 (15) 2. CABI 180 (1) 1,030 (2) 1,210 (3) 3. IBSRAM 652 (3) 1,300 (1) 1,952 (4) 4. ICIMOD 540 (1) 1,200 (2) 600 (1) 2,340 (4) 5. IJO 950 (2) 950 (2) 6. CIRDAP 180 (1) 180 (1) 7. FAO/EPA 250 (1) 250 (1) 8. Fisheries 249 (2) 540 (4) 1,064 (2) 1,095 (2) 2,948 (10) Agencies 9. Livestock 130 (1) 150 (1) 220 (1) 500 (3) Agencies 10. Forestry 90 (1) 1,850 (2) 1,200 (2) 3,140 (5) Agencies 11. Asian (1) Maize 600 600 (1) Training Center Subtotal 729 (4) 1,320 (7) 7,241 (18) 6,639 (13) 3,650 (5) 1,650 (2) 21,229 (49) (B) Total 2,554 (8) 5,298 (20) 19,651 (41) 13,730 (24) 32,200 (30) 11,318 (12) 84,751 (135)

AVRDC = Asian Vegetable Research Development Center, CABI = Centre for Applied Bioscience International, CGIAR = Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CIAT = Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (International Center for ), CIFOR = Center for International Forestry Research, CIMMYT = Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), CIP = Centro International de la Papa (International Potato Center), CIRDAP = Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific, EPA = Environmental Protection Agency, FAO = Food and Agriculture Organization, IBSRAM = International Board for Soil Research and Management, ICARDA = International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, ICIMOD = International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, ICLARM = International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, ICRAF = International Centre for Research in , ICRISAT = International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, IFPRI = International Food Policy Research Institute, IIMI = International Irrigation Management Institute, IJO = International Jute Organization, ILRI = International Livestock Research Institute, IPGRI = International Institute, ISNAR = International Service for National Agricultural Research, IWMI = International Water Management Institute. a Numbers in parentheses refer to the number of regional technical assistance (RETAs). b Five RETAs were approved between 1996 and 2000. c Four RETAs were approved between 2001 and 2003. d IFPRI and IRRI collaborated on one RETA for $1.3 million. Sources: ADB. 2000. Special Evaluation Study on the Policy Implementation and Impact on Agriculture and Natural Resources Research. Manila; and Loans, TA, and Equity Approvals Database for 2001 data on RETA approvals. 8 Appendix 1

Table A1.2: Mandate and Geographic Coverage of the Four IARCs to be Supported by the Proposed Technical Assistance

CGIAR Center Year of Foundation Research Mandate/ Geographic (Year of CGIAR Commodities/ Coverage Membership) Subjects Covered

1. Asian Vegetable Research 1971 To enhance the nutritional Worldwide, with and Development Center well-being and raise the emphasis on (AVRDC) incomes of poor people in developing rural and urban areas of countries developing countries through improved varieties and methods of vegetable production, marketing, and distribution

2. International Maize and 1966 To conduct maize and wheat Worldwide, with Wheat Improvement Center (1971) research to benefit special emphasis (CIMMYT) developing countries. To on developing increase food security, countries improve the productivity and profitability of farming systems, and sustain natural resources in developing countries

3. International Rice Research 1960 To generate and Worldwide, with Institute (IRRI) (1971) disseminate rice-related emphasis on knowledge and technology developing of short- and long-term countries environmental, social, and economic benefit, and help enhance national rice research and extension systems

4. International Water 1984 To improve water and land Worldwide, with Management Institute (1991) resources management for special emphasis (IWMI/IIMI) food livelihoods and nature on developing countries

Sources: AVRDC, CIMMYT, IRRI, and IWMI homepages.

Appendix 1 9

Table A1.3: CGIAR Centers and ADB’s DMCs Supported Under Eight Technical Assistance Grants for ANRR Centers (1996–2003)

Technical Assistance CGIAR Centers ADB’s DMCs

(First) Agriculture and Natural 1. IRRI PRC, PHI, THA, VIE Resources Research (ANRR) at 2. CIP INO, PHI, SRI, VIE CGIAR Centers 3. ICRISAT BAN, IND, INO, NEP, PAK, SRI, VIE (TA 5711-REG) 4. WorldFish BAN, PRC, IND, INO, THA, VIE 5. ICRAF INO, PHI, THA

Second ANRR at CGIAR 1. CIMMYT PRC, IND, INO, PHI, THA Centers 2. WorldFish BAN, IND, INO, MAL, PHI, SRI, THA, VIE (TA 5766-REG) 3. IPGRI COO, FIJ, KIR, MAL, PAK, PHI, PNG, RMI, SAM, SOL, SRI, THA, VIE 4. IRRI BAN, IND, INO, PHI, SRI, VIE

Third ANRR at CGIAR Centers 1. CIFOR INO, NEP, PHI (TA 5812-REG) 2. ICRISAT IND, THA, VIE 3. IWMI (IIMI) PRC, INO, NEP, PHI, SRI 4. ILRI PRC, INO, PHI, THA, VIE 5. IRRI PRC, IND, INO, PHI, THA, VIE

Fourth ANRR at CGIAR 1. CIAT PRC, INO, LAO, PHI, THA, VIE Centers 2. ICARDA KAZ, KGZ, TAJ, TKM, UZB (TA 5866-REG) 3. IFPRI INO, VIE 4. IPGRI BAN, PRC, IND, INO, MAL, NEP, PHI, SRI, THA, VIE 5. ISNAR INO, PAK, SRI, VIE

Fifth ANRR at CGIAR Centers 1. CIMMYT BAN, IND, NEP, PAK (TA 5945-REG) 2. WorldFish BAN, PRC, IND, INO, MAL, PHI, SRI, THA, VIE 3. ICRISAT BAN, PRC, IND, PAK, VIE 4. IFPRI/IRRI BAN, INO, PHI, VIE 5. IWMI BAN, PRC, IND, INO, PAK, VIE

Sixth ANRR at CGIAR Centers 1. CIMMYT PRC, IND, INO, PHI, THA, VIE (TA 6005-REG) 2. ILRI PRC, INO, PHI, THA, VIE 3. IPGRI BAN, FIJ, IND, INO, PNG, PHI, SRI, VIE 4. IRRI BAN, IND, INO, PHI, SRI, VIE, KOR, MYA

Seventh ANRR at IARCs 1. AVRDC BAN, CAM, INO, LAO, MAL, PHI, THA, VIE (TA 6067-REG) 2. CIAT CAM, PRC, INO, LAO, PHI, THA, VIE 3. ICRISAT PRC, IND, THA, VIE 4. IFPRI BAN, BHU, IND, NEP, PAK, SRI

Eighth ANRR at IARCs 1. ICARDA KAZ, KGZ, TAJ, TKM, UZB (TA 6136-REG) 2. IRRI BAN, IND, INO, LAO, PHI, THA, VIE 3. WorldFish BAN, PRC, IND, INO, THA, VIE 4. RSAN Central and South Asia

ADB = Asian Development Bank, ANRR = agriculture and natural resources research, BAN = Bangladesh, BHU = Bhutan, CAM = Cambodia, CGIAR = Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CIAT = International Center for Tropical Agriculture, CIFOR = Center for International Forestry Research, CIMMYT = Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maize Y Trigo (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), CIP = Centro Internacional de la Papa (Internacional Potato Center), COO = Cook Islands, DMC = developing member country, FIJ = Fiji Islands, ICARDA = International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, ICLARM = International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, ICRAF = International Council for Research on Agroforestry, ICRISAT = International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, IFPRI = International Food Policy Institute, IIMI = International Irrigation Management Institute, ILRI = International Livestock Research Institute, INO = , IPGRI = International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, IND = , IRRI = International Rice Research Institute, ISNAR = International Service for Natural Agricultural Research, IWMI = International Water Management Institute, KAZ = Kazakhstan, KGZ = Kyrgyz Republic, KIR = Kiribati, KOR = Republic of Korea, MYA = Myanmar, Lao PDR = Lao People’s Democratic Republic, MAL = , NEP = Nepal, PAK = Pakistan, PNG = Papua New Guinea, PRC = People’s Republic of China, PHI = Philippines, REG = regional, RMI = Marshall Islands, RSAN = Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Division, Regional and Sustainable Development Department; SAM = Samoa, SOL = Solomon Islands, SRI = Sri Lanka, TA = technical assistance, TAJ = Tajikistan, THA = Thailand, TKM = Turkmenistan, UZB = Uzbekistan, VIE = Viet Nam Sources: ADB project documents. 10 Appendix 1

Table A1.4: Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Projects Supported by ADB, 1975-2003

Date TA Amount TA No. TA Name Approved ($'000) A. CGIAR Center 1. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) RETA 5812a Planning for Sustainability of Forest Through Adaptive Co- 22 Oct 1998 1,100 Management Subtotal (A1) 1,100 2. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) RETA 5866b On-Farm Soil and Water Management for Sustainable Agricultural 14 Oct 1999 1,200 Systems in Central Asia RETA 6136h Improving Rural Livelihoods Through Efficient On-Farm Water and 11 Nov 2003 1,000 Soil Fertility Management in Central Asia

Subtotal (A2) 2,200

3. International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) (WORLDFISH Center) RETA 5068 Workshop on Appropriate Technology for Alternative Energy 7 Jul 1980 70 Sources in Fisheries RETA 5245 International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management for 15 Apr 1987 350 a Research on Rice-Fish Farming Systems RETA 5279 ICLARM for Genetic Improvement of Tilapia Species in Asia 8 Mar 1988 475 RETA 5558 Dissemination and Evaluation of Genetically Improved Tilapia 14 Dec 1993 600 Species in Asia RETA 5651 Review of Sustainable Exploitation of Coastal Fish Stocks in Asia 4 Dec 1995 100 RETA 5711c Genetic Improvement of Carp Species in Asia 12 Dec 1996 1,300 RETA 5766d Sustainable Management of Coastal Fish Stocks in Asia 29 Dec 1997 1,400 RETA 5945e Strategies and Options for Increasing and Sustaining Fisheries and 17 Oct 2000 1,100 Aquaculture Production to Benefit Poor Households in Asia RETA 6136h Integrating and Mobilizing Rice Knowledge to Improve and 11 Nov 2003 950 Stabilize Crop Productivity to Achieve Household Food Security in Diverse and Less Favorable Rain-Fed Areas of Asia

Subtotal (A3) 6,345

4. International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) RETA 5711c Policy Research for Sustainable Upland Systems 12 Dec 1996 1,200

5. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) RETA 5866b Developing Sustainable Forage Technologies for Resource-Poor 14 Oct 1999 1,200 Upland Farmers in Asia RETA 6067 g Improving livelihoods of upland farmers using participatory 6 Dec 2002 950 approaches to develop more efficient livestock systems

Subtotal (A5) 2,150

6. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) RETA 5036 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics 17 Jun 1976 325 RETA 5087 Establishment of a Genetic Resources Laboratory at ICRISAT 22 Sep 1981 450 RETA 5118 Strengthening Chickpea Research in Collaboration with the 15 Feb 1983 300 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics AOTA 0882 Strengthening Chickpea Research in Collaboration with ICRISAT, 9 Jun 1987 350 Phase II RETA 5268 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics for 4 Dec 1987 350 the Strengthening Grain Legume in South Asia AOTA 1139 Pigeonpea Varietal Adaptation and Production Studies in 16 Mar 1989 230 Collaboration with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

Continued on next page Appendix 1 11

Date TA Amount TA No. TA Name Approved ($'000) RETA 5331 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics for 25 Apr 1989 1,250 Establishment of Plant Biotechnology Research and Training Unit RETA 5393 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics for 10 Jul 1990 590 Strengthening Grain Legume Research in Asia RETA 5405 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics for 7 Sep 1990 600 Strengthening the Genetic Resources Unit AOTA 1742 Pigeonpea Intercropping and Diversification Study 18 Aug 1992 350

RETA 5603 Strengthening Regional Collaboration on Cereals and Legumes 24 Nov 1994 600 Research in Asia RETA 5711c Legume-Based Technologies for Rice and Wheat Production 12 Dec 1996 600 RETA 5812a Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rain- 22 Oct 1998 1,250 Fed Agriculture RETA 5945 Rapid Crop Improvement for Poor Farmers in the Semiarid Tropics 17 Oct 2000 1,200 of Asia RETA 6067g Participatory watershed management for reducing poverty and land 6 Dec 2002 1,300 degradation in the semiarid tropics

Subtotal (A6) 9,745

7. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) RETA 5116 Study of Food Demand and Supply and Related Strategies for 4 Feb 1983 248 Developing Member Countries RETA 5160 Study of Food Demand and Supply and Related Strategies for 23 Oct 1984 500 Developing Member Countries (Phase II) RETA 5420 Study of Food Situation and Outlook for Asia 2 Jan 1991 598 RETA 5866b Irrigation Investment, Fiscal Policy, and Water Resource Allocation 14 Oct 1999 1,200 RETA 5945 Breeding Iron-Rich Rice to Reduce Iron Deficiency Anemia in Asia 17 Oct 2000 1,300 RETA 6067 g Poverty reduction through advisory network, policy research, and 6 Dec 2002 568 capacity strengthening in South Asia

Subtotal (A7) 4,414

8. International Water Management Institute (IWMI) RETA 5136 International Irrigation Management Institute 29 Nov 1983 500 AOTA 0654 Study on Irrigation Management for Crop Diversification 20 Dec 1984 250 AOTA 0673 Study of Irrigation Management 27 Mar 1985 350 RETA 5172 Regional Study on Irrigation Service Fees 16 May 1985 100 RETA 5209 Regional Seminar on Irrigation Service Fees 7 May 1986 125 RETA 5234 A Course on Planning and Management of Irrigation Schemes 5 Jan 1987 55 AOTA 0846 Study of Irrigation Management and Crop Diversification 16 Jan 1987 350 AOTA 0859 Study on Irrigation Management for Diversified Crops (Phase II) 26 Feb 1987 350 AOTA 0937 Efficient Irrigation Management and Systems Transfer 17 Dec 1987 600 RETA 5273 Research Support to IIMI for Study on Irrigation Systems 8 Jan 1988 350 Rehabilitation and Improved Operations and Management AOTA 1481 Study on Crop-Based Irrigation Operations in Northwest Frontier 19 Feb 1991 860 Province AOTA 1480 Study of Irrigation Management and Crop Diversification (Phase II) 19 Feb 1991 750 RETA 5812a Development of Effective Water Management Institutions 22 Oct 1998 1,250 RETA 5945 Pro-Poor Intervention Strategies in Irrigated Agriculture in Asia 17 Oct 2000 1,000

Subtotal (A8) 6,890

9. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) RETA 5812a Increasing Productivity of Crop-Livestock Systems in Asia 22 Oct 1998 1,000 RETA 6005f Improving Crop-Livestock Production Systems in Rainfed Areas of 6 Nov 2001 1,000 Southeast Asia

Subtotal (A9) 2,000

Continued on next page

12 Appendix 1

Date TA Amount TA No. TA Name Approved ($'000) 10. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) RETA 5766d Application of Biotechnology to Maize Improvement in Asia 12 Dec 1997 1,400 RETA 5945 Sustaining the Rice-Wheat Production Systems in Asia 17 Oct 2000 1,200 RETA 6005f Developing New Maize Germplasm Through Biotechnology for 6 Nov 2001 1,000 Resource Poor Farmers in Asia

Subtotal (A10) 3,600

11. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) RETA 5590 Coconut Genetic Resources Network in Asia and the Pacific 29 Jul 1994 800 Region RETA 5766d Coconut Genetic Resources Network and Human Resources 29 Dec 1997 1,200 Strengthening in Asia and the Pacific (Phase II) RETA 5866b Conservation and Use of Native Tropical Fruit Species Biodiversity 14 Oct 1999 1,200 in Asia RETA 6005f Developing Coconut-based Income-Generating Technologies in 6 Nov 2001 1,000 Poor Rural Communities

Subtotal (A11) 4,200

12. International Potato Center (CIP) RETA 5533 Field Testing of True Potato Seed in the Lowland Tropics 24 May 1993 433 RETA 5711c Field Testing of True Potato Seed (Phase II) 12 Dec 1996 600

Subtotal (A12) 1,033

13. International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) RETA 5026 International Rice Research Institute 20 Feb 1975 300 RETA 5039 Establishment of a Rice Genetic Resources Laboratory 29 Mar 1977 500 RETA 5059 Intensification of Rice Research for Disadvantaged Areas 26 Jul 1979 700 RETA 5125 International Rice Research Institute Demonstration-Cum-Training 9 Jun 1983 400 Center on Rice Production, Postharvest Technology and Biomass Utilization RETA 5167 International Rice Research Institute for the Establishment of 14 Dec 1984 350 Research and Training Facilities to Enhance Regional Collaboration on Rice Virus Diseases RETA 5194 International Rice Research Institute for Strengthening Research 18 Dec 1985 350 on Integrated Pest Management for Deepwater Rice Farming Systems RETA 5200 International Rice Research Institute for Printing and Distribution of 31 Dec 1985 110 Rice Abstracts Journal RETA 5208 International Rice Research Institute for Research on Botanical 7 May 1986 250 Pest Control RETA 5227 International Rice Research Institute for Research Demonstration 30 Oct 1986 650 and Training on Rice Production, Postharvest Technology and Biomass Utilization (Phase II) RETA 5261 Technical Assistance to IRRI for the Development of Rice Varieties 20 Aug 1987 500 Tolerant to Problem Soil Conditions RETA 5299 International Rice Research Institute for Strengthening Research 12 Jul 1988 400 on Integrated Pest Management in Deepwater Rice Farming Systems (Phase II) RETA 5336 Strengthening Agricultural Science and Information Services in the 31 May 1989 180 Bank’s DMCs RETA 5349 Strengthening Rice Crop Protection Research and Minimizing 26 Sep 1989 850 Environmental Damage in DMCs RETA 5414 Decentralized Participatory Research for Less Favorable Rice 13 Nov 1990 3,000 Ecosystems and Rice Wheat Systems RETA 5510 Establishment of the Asian Rice Biotechnology Network 24 Nov 1992 900 RETA 5606 International Rice Research Institute for Rain-Fed Lowland Rice 6 Dec 1994 1,100 Ecosystem Research

Continued on next page Appendix 1 13

Date TA Amount TA No. TA Name Approved ($'000) RETA 5667 Asian Rice Biotechnology Network—From Products to Impact 9 Jan 1996 850 RETA 5711c Exploiting Biodiversity for Sustainable Rice Pest Management 12 Dec 1996 1,500 RETA 5766d Development and Use of Hybrid Rice in Asia 29 Dec 1997 1,500 RETA 5812a Asian Rice Biotechnology Network: Achieving Impact and 22 Oct 1998 1,000 Sustainability RETA 6005f Sustaining Food Security in Asia Through the Development of 6 Nov 2001 1,000 Hybrid Rice Technology RETA 6136h Integrating and Mobilizing Rice Knowledge to Improve and 11 Nov 2003 900 Stabilize Crop Productivity to Achieve Household Food Security in Diverse and Less Favorable Rain-Fed Areas of Asia

Subtotal (A13) 17,290

14. International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) RETA 5254 Regional Workshop on Planning and Management of Agriculture 23 Jun 1987 75 Research in the South Pacific RETA 5341 Strengthening Agricultural Resources Management in Asia with 4 Jul 1989 480 Special Emphasis on Management Information Systems RETA 5866b Building Performance-Based Management Systems in the National 14 Oct 1999 800 Agricultural Research Systems in Asia

Subtotal (A14) 1,355

Subtotal (A) 63,522

B. Other Centers and Organizations

1. Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) RETA 5027 Outreach Programs in Vegetable Research in Korea, Philippines, 15 Apr 1975 390 and Thailand RETA 5119 Strengthening Vegetable Research in Collaboration with the Asian 15 Feb 1983 475 Vegetable Research and Development Center RETA 5143e Regional Training Program in Vegetable Production and Research 20 Dec 1983 175 RETA 5253e Regional Training Program in Vegetable Production and Research 18 Jun 1987 350 (Phase II) RETA 5282 Planning and Organization Workshop to Establish Collaborative 28 Mar 1988 75 Vegetable Research Program in Southeast Asia RETA 5322 Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center to Establish a 17 Mar 1989 600 Collaborative Vegetable Research Program in Southeast Asia RETA 5402e Regional Training Program in Vegetable Production and Research 28 Aug 1990 400 (Phase III) RETA 5461 South Asia Vegetable Research Network 25 Sep 1991 600 RETA 5517 Collaborative Vegetable Research Program for Southeast Asia 21 Dec 1992 600 (Phase II) RETA 5582 Workshop on Vegetable Research and Development in Cambodia, 6 Jun 1994 94 Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam RETA 5680 Establishment of a Vegetable Research Network for Cambodia, 8 Apr 1996 600 Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam RETA 5719 RETA to AVRDC for South Asia Vegetable Research Network 10 Jan 1997 600 (Phase II) RETA 5839 Collection, Conservation, and Utilization of Indigenous Vegetables 29 Mar 1999 550 RETA 6011 Strengthening the Collaborative Vegetable Research Network in 17 Dec 2001 650 Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam (Phase II) RETA 6067g Promoting utilization of indigenous vegetables for improved 6 Dec 2002 1,000 nutrition of resource- poor households in Asia

Subtotal (B1) 7,159

Continued on next page

14 Appendix 1

Date TA Amount TA No. TA Name Approved ($'000) 2. Center for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) RETA 5248 Study of the Role of Women in Rural Industries 26 May 1987 180 Subtotal (B2) 180

3. Fisheries Research Studies, Seminars, and Training RETA 5032 Fish Market Study 30 Oct 1975 49 RETA 5077 Regional Training Program in Fisheries Stock Assessment and 25 Dec 1980 200 Statistical Data Collection RETA 5082 Second Fish Market Study 3 Jun 1981 220 RETA 5109 Research and Training in Aquaculture 30 Aug 1982 220 RETA 5142 South Pacific Training in Fisheries Statistics, Interpretation and 4 Nov 1983 50 Stock Assessment RETA 5150 Regional Training Program in Fish Handling and Quality Control 13 Mar 1984 50 RETA 5252 Fisheries Sector Development Strategies Study for South Pacific 9 Jun 1987 350 DMCs RETA 5316 Third Fish Market Study 18 Jan 1989 334 RETA 5358 Study on Fish Disease and Fish Health Management 22 Dec 1989 380 RETA 5534 Regional Study and Workshop on Aquaculture Sustainability and 1 Jun 1993 600 the Environment RETA 5566 Tuna Industry Development in Pacific Island Countries 29 Dec 1993 495

Subtotal (B3) 2,948

4. Forestry Research Studies, Seminars, and Training RETA 5049 Regional Seminar on Application of Appropriate Technology in 15 Jun 1978 90 Forestry and Forest Industries RETA 5224 Regional Training Center in Community Forestry (Supplementary) 17 Jul 1987 350 RETA 5409e Forestry Research Support Program for the Asia and Pacific 17 Oct 1990 1,500 Region RETA 5595e Regional Community Forestry Training Center in Kasetsart 5 Sep 1994 600 University, Thailand RETA 5612 Forestry Research Support Program for Asia and the Pacific 22 Dec 1994 600 (Phase II)

Subtotal (B4) 3,140

5. International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM) RETA 5218 Regional Workshop on Soil Management 10 Sep 1986 40 RETA 5284e International Board for Soil Research and Management for 14 Apr 1988 350 Research on Management of Sloping Lands for Sustainable Agriculture RETA 5400 Research on the Management of Sloping Lands for Sustainable 24 Aug 1990 262 Smallholder Agriculture in the South Pacific RETA 5803 TA to the International Board for Soil Research and Management 13 Aug 1998 1,300 for the Catchment Approach to Managing Soil Erosion in Asia

Subtotal (B5) 1,952

6. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) RETA 5293 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development for a 10 Jun 1988 540 Study of Strategies for the Sustainable Development of Mountain Agriculture RETA 5443 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development 18 Apr 1991 600 RETA 5565 Appropriate Technology for Soil Conserving Farming Systems 29 Dec 1993 600 RETA 5784 Appropriate Technology for Soil Conserving Farming Systems 23 Mar 1998 600 (Phase II)

Subtotal (B6) 2,340

Continued on next page

Appendix 1 15

Date TA Amount TA No. TA Name Approved ($'000)

7. International Jute Organization (IJO) RETA 5235 International Jute Org for Collection Conservation, Characterization 5 Jan 1987 350 and Exchange of Germplasm of Jute, Kenaf, and Mesta RETA 5375 International Jute Organization for the Development of Improved 28 Mar 1990 600 Varieties of Jute and Allied Fiber Crops (Phase II)

Subtotal (B7) 950

8. Livestock Research Studies, Seminars, and Training RETA 5135 Regional Workshop on Livestock Production Management 21 Nov 1983 130 RETA 5272 Regional Workshop on Animal Disease Reporting System 8 Jan 1988 150 RETA 5505 Regional Seminar on Policies and Strategies for Livestock 20 Aug 1992 220 Development

Subtotal (B8) 500

9. Other Research Studies and Training RETA 5319 Workshop and Symposium on Strengthening Pesticides 16 Jan 1989 250 Regulations RETA 5336 Strengthening Agricultural Science and Information Services in the 31 May 1989 180 Bank’s DMCs RETA 5434 Regional Conference on Integrated Pest Management 13 Mar 1991 270 RETA 5514 TA to Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International for 8 Dec 1992 760 Integrated Pest Management in Cotton RETA 5618 Establishment of the Asian Maize Training Center 29 Dec 1994 600

Subtotal (B9) 2,060

Subtotal (B) 21,229

Total 84,751 ADB = Asian Development Bank, AOTA = advisory and operational technical assistance, CGIAR = Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, DMC = developing member country, ICLARM = International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, ICRISAT = International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, IWMI = International Water Management Institute, Lao PDR = Lao People’s Democratic Republic, RETA = regional technical assistance, TA = technical assistance. a A component of TA 5812-REG (ADB. 1998. Technical Assistance for theThird Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers. Manila), for $5.6 million. b A component of TA 5866-REG (ADB. 1999. Technical Assistance for the Fourth Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers. Manila), for $5.6 million. c A component of TA 5711-REG (ADB. 1996. Technical Assistance for the Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers,. Manila), for $5.2 million. d A component of TA 5766-REG (ADB. 1997. Technical Assistance for the Second Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers. Manila), for $5.5 million. e A component of TA 5945-REG (ADB. 2000. Technical Assistance for the Fifth Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers. Manila), for $5.8 million. f A component of TA 6005-REG (ADB. 2001. Technical Assistance for the Sixth Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers. Manila), for $4.0 million. g A component of TA 6067-REG (ADB. 2002. Technical Assistance for the Seventh Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at International Agricultural Research Centers. Manila), for $3.8 million. h A component of TA 6136-REG (ADB. 2003. Technical Assistance for the Eighth Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at International Agricultural Research Centers. Manila), for $3.0 million. Source: ADB project files.

16 Appendix 2

RETA FRAMEWORKa

Design Performance Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Summary Indicators/Targets Goals • Improve rural income and Increased income of rural Project final report Governments’ environment practices in the households conducive agricultural Mekong, South Asia, Impact assessment policies Southeast Asia, and East Reduced rural poverty reports and Central Asia regions Commitment of participating countries Enhanced environment National and provincial

statistics in participating DMCs

IARC annual research program reporting and review

Purpose • Reduce post-harvest losses Post-harvest losses are reduced Project final report Commitment of of vegetable production in by 20–40% in target areas participating countries the Mekong Region National and provincial statistics of participating Availability of sufficient • Improve and stabilize maize Maize yields are increased by DMCs counterpart funds by yields and production in the 15%, and production stabilized, NARES and IARCs Southeast Asia Region in target areas Impact assessment reports Strong support of NARES in the selection Rice and wheat yields are • Improve productivity and IARC annual research and adaptation of increased by 0.5–1.0 t/ha in production efficiency, and program reporting and suitable technologies eastern IGP enhance the environment, in review rice-wheat systems in the Country service of South Asia Region trained research and extension personnel to • Enhance crop yields, and Agricultural production is allow building of critical reduce land degradation and increased by up to 30% in target mass water shortages in the areas Central Asia Region Availability of suitable Lands with saline and sodic soils and sufficient are reduced by 12% in target germplasm areas

• Improve the research The impacts of agricultural impacts on farm productivity research have significantly through better coordination improved among key stakeholders and more effective information exchange in the Asia and the Pacific Region

Continued on next page Appendix 2 17

Design Performance Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Summary Indicators/Targets Output • New post-harvest Three innovative and low-cost Annual strategic planning Commitment of technologies for vegetable post-harvest technologies exercise participating countries production are developed become available and disseminated in the Review missions NARES and IARCs Mekong Region Two or three vegetable varieties have sufficient with improved shipping and Project progress and final counterpart funds processing qualities are selected reports available

A model enterprise for post- National statistics of Strong support of harvest handling and processing participating DMCs NARES in the selection industries, jointly with local small- and adaptation of scale entrepreneurs, is initiated suitable technologies in one country Country service of • High-yielding and drought- At least two drought-tolerant trained research and resistant maize cultivars are maize cultivars with 15% higher extension personnel to developed and adopted in yield are available in target areas allow building of critical the Southeast Asia Region mass Farmer-preferred and drought- tolerant local varieties are Availability of suitable available and sufficient germplasm • Cost-effective and more Rice and wheat yields increase advanced technologies for by 0.5–1.0 t/ha. Areas where rice-wheat systems are farmers use environmentally developed and disseminated friendly technologies are tripled in the South Asia Region At least 25% of the target farmers have adopted refined RCTs

At least 20% of collaborative farmers have adopted land- leveling and zero-tillage technologies at key sites in rice- wheat systems

• Local knowledge-based A series of innovative local innovative technologies for technologies for utilizing saline use of saline soil and water soil and water are identified and are identified and replicated disseminated through a web in the Central Asia Region page (Appendixes 3–7 give details)

• New crops, and varieties Crops suitable for salinized soils adapted to salinized soil are are available for farmers developed and introduced in (Appendixes 3–7 give details) the Central Asian Region

• Research capacities of four The capacities of research IARCs and 16 NARS are scientists at 4 IARCs and 16 enhanced and strengthened NARS are strengthened in the Asia and the Pacific (Appendixes 3–7 give details) Region

Continued on next page 18 Appendix 2

Design Performance Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Summary Indicators/Targets • Effective collaboration and The existing collaborative system knowledge management for exchange of information, and systems for agricultural knowledge management, are research are developed in improved the Asia and Pacific Region

Inputs ($’000): $6,963.7

Personnel $3,497.2 Equipment $ 506.6 Research Expenses $1,223.0 Training, Seminars, and Conferences $ 943.9 Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs $ 736.0 Contingencies $ 57.0

DMC = developing member country, IARC = international agricultural research center, IGP = Indo-Gangetic Plains, NARS = national agricultural research system, NARES = national agriculture research and extension system, RCT = rice-wheat production technologies, RETA = regional technical assistance. a This project framework summarizes the key goals, purposes, outputs, and inputs of five stand-alone technical assistance (TA) projects presented here. The individual project frameworks for each TA are provided in Appendixes 3– 7.

Appendix 3 19

IMPROVING RURAL LIVELIHOODS THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF VEGETABLE-BASED POST-HARVEST TECHNOLOGIES IN CAMBODIA, LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, AND VIET NAM (AVRDC – THE WORLD VEGETABLE CENTER)

A. Introduction

1. The proposed technical assistance (TA) will support implementation of research and development activities that will increase productivity and profitability in the vegetable supply chain in three Southeast Asian countries. The Program will identify constraints in the postharvest sector, then address the constraints through development of improved technologies and training of the national agriculture research system (NARS) staff, processors, and farmers. The proposed program targets the hot-wet environments in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), and Viet Nam (collectively referred to as CLV), where vegetable farmers and other agents in the supply chain risk high postharvest losses.

2. Postharvest losses severely constrain vegetable production levels and revenues in the CLV region. Viet Nam suffered a $15 million decrease in export revenues from vegetables and fruits during the first quarter of 2004 compared with the first quarter of 2003. The decrease was attributed to inadequate post-harvest technologies.1 Improvement of postharvest handling and storage of horticultural crops has become a priority in all three countries. A stakeholder meeting at AVRDC—the World Vegetable Center—in 2001 with representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region identified postharvest technologies as one of the most needed areas for research and development, especially for the hot-wet ecologies.2

3. The proposed project reflects increasing awareness of vegetable production by many Asian NARS and governments. Within the CLV Network (CLVNET), a regional vegetable network funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), national programs have been active in country-specific and regional research to identify disease-resistant vegetable varieties. Some of the selected varieties have excellent postharvest quality traits. The proposed project will build upon strong regional interests and successes of ongoing research and training activities. Conducting postharvest related research will give farmers of the region an opportunity to benefit from increasing global consumer demand for vegetables, and to participate in international and interregional trade.

B. Issues and Constraints

4. Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam, within the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), continue to rely heavily on agriculture. In all three countries the agricultural sector is characterized by a rice-based cropping system, suffering from low agrodiversity and productivity. Poverty, unemployment, and malnourishment are widespread. AVRDC studies in the three countries show that vegetable production provides higher profits and more jobs per hectare than rice production.3 Vegetable production supports agribusiness and related service

1 Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Press News. 8 April 2004. Fruit and Vegetable Exports Continue to Decline. Last available: http://www.agroviet.gov.vn/en/default.asp in April 2004. 2 Kuo, G., ed. 2002. Perspectives of ASEAN Cooperation in Vegetable Research and Development. Shanhua, Taipei, China (Proceedings of the Forum on the ASEAN-AVRDC Regional Network on Vegetable Research and Development. AVRDC Publication No. 02-539). 3 Ali, M., ed. 2002. The Vegetable Sector in Indochina Countries: Farm and Household Perspectives on Poverty Alleviation. Technical Bulletin No. 27. AVRDC-Asian Regional Center: Bangkok, Thailand. 20 Appendix 3 industries, thus creating economic and employment opportunities.4 Vegetable production usually generates and diversifies farm income more than other agricultural products. Also, vegetable production develops management and leadership skills among farmers. A strong vegetable sector leads to economic growth and promotes rural sustainability.

5. Vegetable production in the CLV region can be highly profitable, but it is severely constrained by postharvest losses that reduce profits for farmers and marketers. Information is limited, but indicates that postharvest losses can be as high as 60% for cabbage and tomato, 50% for head lettuce and cauliflower, 30% for bell pepper, and 17% for Chinese cabbage.5 The value of vegetable production in Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam is about $1 billion annually (footnote 2). Given that most vegetables are perishable and assuming a conservative estimate of an average 30% postharvest loss, the losses are about $300 million annually. Thus, reducing postharvest losses will help raise farmers’ incomes and make diversification into vegetable production less risky and more attractive.

6. Postharvest losses reduce opportunities for exports and export revenues. International trade is growing fast because of trade liberalization and market reforms. Also, interregional trade within the GMS is expanding. Participation in international markets requires relatively sophisticated networks for marketing, information, and transportation. Successful competition requires quality control and product standardization.6

7. Specific information on vegetable postharvest losses, storage infrastructure, and trade is not currently available in individual GMS countries. To understand the dynamics of the harvest- to-consumption chain, it is essential that this information is collected and made available. The CLV countries have identified this as an issue of great importance.7 Farmers and processors need access to new information sources to produce for rapidly changing markets.

8. Even for relatively unprocessed forms of food such as fresh vegetables, value-added processing after harvest makes up around 80% of the products’ final value.8 Postharvest activities such as processing and marketing provide employment,9 which is crucially important in CLV. Postharvest activities tend to benefit women because they traditionally play an important role in the processing, handling, and preparation of foods. Often, their heavy involvement in the informal sector allows women to move into the formal sector.10 Facilitation of postharvest industries can, therefore, contribute to greater gender equality and empowerment of women.

9. Transformation of the unproductive and subsistence agriculture prevalent in the three countries into more efficient and profitable commercialized agriculture is essential. Also, off-farm

4 Weinberger, K. and C. Genova. Forthcoming. Impact of Modern Vegetable Technologies on the Development of Agribusiness in Bangladesh. Technical Bulletin No. 33. AVRDC: Shanhua, Taipei, China. 5 Bhatti, M.H., Ch. A. Hafeez, A. Jabbar, and M. Farooq. 1993. Proceedings of the Regional Workshop on Post- Harvest Losses of Vegetables. Islamabad, Pakistan (the Workshop was held 17–22 October 1992 at the National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad). 6 Jaffee, S. and P. Gordon. 1993. Exporting High-Value Food Commodities. Discussion Papers. Washington D.C. 7 Royal Government of Cambodia. 2004. Country Report presented at the 2nd Greater Mekong Subregion Meeting Working Group on Agriculture. Chiang Mai, Thailand (22–23 March 2004). 8 Goletti, F. and C. Wolff. 1998. The Impact of Post-harvest Research. MSS Discussion Paper No. 28. International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington D. C. 9 Fellows, P., ed. 1997. Traditional Foods: Processing for Profit. Intermediate Technology Publications. London. 10 Jaffee, S. and J. Morton. 1995. Marketing Africa’s High Value Foods: Comparative Experiences of an Emergent Private Sector. World Bank, Washington D.C. Appendix 3 21 employment should be created to accommodate a young and growing workforce. The proposed TA will work toward these ends.

C. The Proposed Technical Assistance

1. Rationale 10. Vegetable production in Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam is characterized by high postharvest losses (20–60%) that reduce profits of farmers and marketers. Constraints to vegetable production include the lack of varieties suitable for processing and shipping, inadequate marketing information and skills, poor handling and storage technologies, and undeveloped processing industries. Cambodia has recently started to enhance the diversification and commercialization of its agricultural sector by improving its facilities for postharvest handling, storage, and processing, and by developing agricultural quality standards.11 Similarly, Viet Nam plans to expand production of high-quality vegetables and to transfer small-scale processing equipment to small-scale farmers.12

11. Improving pre-harvest processing technologies and promoting postharvest microenterprises will stimulate employment, enhance rural economic development, and stimulate economic growth and sustainability across the three countries. Improving the postharvest vegetable sector will result in sustained year-round availability of vegetables and vegetable-based products. Promoting the postharvest food chain will encourage private sector participation in GMS countries, which will further enhance the vegetable supply. This will also facilitate economic cooperation, improved marketing systems, and human capacity building.

12. Information exchange among GMS countries is extremely important, and was discussed at length during the second meeting of the Working Group on Agriculture of the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program. Initial collaborative training for food processing is already underway. Cross-border collaborative training in fruit and vegetable processing, however, is limited. Experience shows that after training, reliable supplies of high-quality food products become available and agroprocessors and exporters significantly expand their shares in regional and international markets for processed food products.13

13. Value to Related ADB Projects and Strategies. ADB’s country strategies14 for all three countries have identified the development of small and medium enterprises as crucial for reduction of rural poverty. ADB recognizes that the agricultural sector must move more strongly from subsistence to commercial production, focusing on value-added products. The proposed project is oriented to these considerations and focuses activities on the rural poor and on promoting postharvest technologies and enterprises to diversify the rural economy.

14. Former Activities Related to this Project. A vegetable research and development network (CLVNET) was established in 1994 by AVRDC, through ADB financial support. The

11 Royal Government of Cambodia. 2001. Second Socioeconomic Development Plan (2001–2005). Phnom Penh. 12 Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. 2004. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Agriculture and Rural Development Plan 2004 and Development Vision 2004–2005. Available: http://www.agroviet.gov.vn/en/newsletter/2003/DevelopmentVision2004-2005.asp. Last accessed May 2004. 13 ADB. 2004. Aspects of Cross-Border Collaborative Training. Paper presented by Anthony Zola at the 2nd Greater Mekong Subregion Meeting Working Group on Agriculture, 22–23 March 2004, Chiang Mai, Thailand. 14 ADB. 2003. Country Strategy and Program Update (2004–2006): Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Manila; ADB. 2003. Country Strategy and Program Update (2004–2006): Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Manila; and ADB. 2003. Country Strategy and Program Update (2004–2006): Cambodia. Manila. 22 Appendix 3 network has been highly successful in enhancing vegetable production in Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. By 2003, AVRDC had distributed 11,116 seed samples of major vegetable crops to research and development (R&D) specialists in the subregion. Through CLVNET, both Cambodia and the Lao PDR identified the AVRDC tomato variety CLN1462A as promising, and worthy of extensive on-farm testing. CLN1462A is an open-pollinated variety, resistant to many diseases of the region (bacterial wilt, tomato mosaic virus, gray leaf spot, and race 1 of Fusarium wilt), and produces a firm fruit. It is believed that CL1462A will have lower postharvest losses, and a longer shelf life, than local tomato varieties.

15. Additional Activities Related to This Project. AVRDC is currently initializing postharvest research in Cambodia through a collaborative research project with the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) to evaluate the effectiveness of low-cost postharvest technologies on quality of tomatoes and chilis. AVRDC’s tomato breeding program is now releasing high-quality tomato varieties that are suitable for processing and shipping. Other activities that complement the proposed project will be tapped for knowledge dissemination and skills enhancement, such as the Swiss Development Cooperation-funded Human Resource Development Project, which will be implemented for 4 years (until 31 March 2007), focusing on human capacity building in Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. More than 600 extension specialists and lead farmers are trained through this program annually. The AVRDC-Asian Regional Center in Bangkok, Thailand, will support training needs of farmers and NARS personnel.

16. AVRDC, with its long-term involvement in developing the vegetable production sectors and longstanding collaboration with Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam, is well-suited to implement the Project. AVRDC has successfully established CLVNET, which is geared for vegetable research. Postharvest research will add value to ongoing activities, and generate new economic opportunities in the region.

2. Purpose and Output

17. The Project’s long-term goal is to reduce poverty, enhance rural economic development, and improve food security in Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam by promoting the vegetable postharvest sector. Specific purposes of the Project are to: (i) reduce postharvest losses of high volume, high value vegetable commodities, and (ii) develop and promote low-cost, postharvest technologies in collaboration with both public and private sectors

18. The expected outputs are: (i) Output 1. An in-depth assessment of the vegetable supply chain in Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam; (ii) Output 2. High-yielding varieties of popular vegetables with improved shipping and processing qualities selected and made available; (iii) Output 3. Training, capacity building, and information dissemination in postharvest handling and processing; and (iv) Output 4. Strengthened partnerships among CLV countries.

19. The project framework (Table A3.1) summarizes performance indicators and monitoring mechanisms of the Project.

Appendix 3 23

Table A3.1: Technical Assistance Framework

Design Summary Performance Indicators/Targets Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions

Goal To reduce poverty, enhance rural Rural employment opportunities Ex-ante and post-ante economic development, and created by small-scale analyses improve food security in entrepreneurs in the postharvest Cambodia, the Lao People’s sector, wholesalers, and retailers Higher income for Democratic Republic (the Lao in the postharvest sector producers; national PDR), and Viet Nam (the CLV statistics; progress countries) by promoting the Increased per capita availability of reports; final report vegetable postharvest sector fresh and processed vegetables

Increased economic cooperation and trade of vegetables among CLV countries

Purpose 1. Reduce postharvest losses of Reduction in postharvest losses Interim reports; final Commitment of, and high-volume, high-value by 20–40% in targeted report; strategic planning continued participation vegetable crops communities by end of year 3 and review meeting; by, the CLV countries 2. Develop and promote low- annual review meeting cost postharvest technologies Three innovative low-cost and planning meetings Support of national in collaboration with both postharvest technologies research organizations public and private sectors available by end of year 3 Postharvest technologies for main vegetable crops adopted by targeted small-scale entrepreneurs by end of year 3

Outputs 1. Needs assessment Needs and priorities for Socioeconomic No major logistic postharvest technologies assessment study problems in conduct of assessed and documented by end the needs assessment of year 1 Outcome of needs Key strategies for improvement assessment made identified and documented by end available in time of year 1

Low-cost, postharvest technologies selected by end of year 1

2. Postharvest technologies

2.1. High-yielding varieties of Two to three vegetable varieties Annual progress reports Strong support of popular vegetables with improved shipping and national organizations in processing qualities selected by selection and end of year 2 adaptation of suitable technologies Two to three vegetable varieties adopted in targeted farm and processing communities by end of year 3

Continued on next page 24 Appendix 3

Design Summary Performance Indicators/Targets Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions

2.2. Suitable low-cost Three to five postharvest Technical reports Available postharvest postharvest technologies technologies for target vegetables technologies that can introduced and adapted in target be adapted to local communities by end of year 3 conditions and to priority vegetables

3. Training, capacity building, and information

3.1. Model postharvest and Model enterprise for postharvest Facility installed Suitable site can be processing microenterprise handling and processing identified; industry industries, jointly with local small- development support by scale entrepreneurs, initiated in CLV governments one CLV country in year 2

3.2. Capacity building Training conducted for producers, Training manuals; number Producers, wholesalers, processors, wholesalers, and of people trained retailers are willing to retailers (60/country per year) participate

Women participation, skills, and capacity enhanced

3.3. Market information made Market information on seasonality, Web site established; Lack of interested and accessible current status of postharvest information available in suitably committed problems, and opportunities local languages partners collected and widely disseminated in years 2 and 3

4. Partnerships strengthened Establishment of mutually agreed Steering committee Inability to join for program in the postharvest sector meetings political or economic among CLV countries, and cross- reasons border exchange of experiences Annual review and planning meetings An annual workshop conducted regularly Technical management group meetings

Activities 1.1 Assess needs and Constraints and bottlenecks in the Reports constraints in the vegetable vegetable postharvest sector supply chain identified by the end of year 1

1.2 Identify key strategies for Key strategies documented by the Reports improvement end of year 1

2.1. On-farm testing and shelf-life CLN1462A evaluated at 15–20 Data from trials tests of promising tomato on-farm trials and shelf-life varieties compared to current varieties by mid-year 2

Five to 10 more varieties tested for yield and shelf life by year 2

Continued on next page Appendix 3 25

Design Summary Performance Indicators/Targets Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions

2.2 Identify high-yielding Two or three high-yielding Data from trials; reports varieties of popular vegetable varieties for high- vegetables for shipping and volume and high-value shipping processing and processing identified through selection by year 2

2.3. Adapt low-cost, postharvest Three to five low-cost postharvest Reports technologies to prevailing technologies developed and conditions and needs adopted for priority vegetables by year 3

3.1. Facilitate support of Criteria for selection of Reports; site visits postharvest and processing postharvest handling and microenterprises processing micro enterprises defined, and suitable locations selected, by year 2

Model postharvest handling and processing industry set up in target vegetable production area in one country by the end of year 2

3.2. Conduct training in Annual training/field days for 60 Reports postharvest technologies selected producers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, researchers, and extension personnel for training in postharvest technologies and principles of postharvest physiology

3.3. Collect and widely Market information database Reports; web site disseminate market developed and made available to information on seasonality, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet and current status of Nam by year 2 postharvest problems and opportunities

4. Conduct regular workshops An annual workshop conducted Meeting reports and develop joint work plans Partnership among Cambodia,

Lao PDR, and Viet Nam built

Transparency and exchange of experiences improved for better economic cooperation among GMS countries

Inputs of $1,550,000 ( in $’000):

Personnel $836 Equipment $170 Research Expenses $290 Training, Seminars and Conferences $145 Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs $89 Contingencies $20

CLV = Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam; GMS = Greater Mekong Subregion; Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). 26 Appendix 3

3. Methodology and Key Activities

20. A planning workshop will be held early in project implementation to define details of the work program and ensure coordinated implementation of activities among the GMS partners. The assessment of postharvest priorities, with the help of a postharvest consultant, will be followed by identification of suitable postharvest technologies for a prioritized set of vegetables. A detailed monitoring program will be developed simultaneously. Annual performance monitoring and planning workshops, as well as a final workshop, will be organized late in year 3 to define future steps. Key activities for the main outputs are described below.

a. In-depth Assessment of the Vegetable Supply Chain in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam

21. The implementing agency will: (i) assess needs and constraints in the vegetable supply chain, and (ii) identify key strategies for its improvement.

22. Information exists that postharvest losses in vegetables are considerable. However, this information is incomplete and not widely known. The extent of postharvest losses differs based on crops, season, marketplace, and available infrastructure. The economic value of postharvest losses is a direct function of the commodities’ market price. Both the extent and the value of postharvest losses are important in determining priorities for the development of postharvest technologies for vegetables. A preliminary study, based on key informant interviews and stakeholder meetings, including farming communities and the private sector, would identify: (i) demand for postharvest technologies, (ii) priority research areas for certain vegetable crops, and (iii) existing constraints, as well as potentials in rural communities for consideration in developing postharvest technologies. Equal representation of both genders will be encouraged.

b. Promotion of High-yielding Varieties of Popular Vegetables with Improved Shipping and Processing Qualities Selected and Made Available

23. The implementing agency will: (i) conduct on-farm testing and shelf-life tests of promising tomato varieties, (ii) select two or three high-yielding varieties of popular vegetables and make them available to farming communities, and (iii) identify three to five suitable low-cost postharvest technologies and introduce them to farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs.

24. Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Viet Nam have identified the AVRDC tomato variety CLN1462A as promising and worthy of extensive on-farm testing. Fruit firmness is a key feature of CLN1462A; it is believed that its shelf life will be longer, and postharvest losses lower, than those of local varieties. In 2004, AVRDC released new tomato varieties for processing that resist leaf curl viruses, which are now the leading threat to tomato crops in the region. These varieties will also be included in on-farm testing. AVRDC will provide 5 to10 additional firm- fruited tomato varieties of other market types (such as cherry tomatoes) for yield and shelf life evaluation.

25. Chili pepper will be another high-priority crop. Anthracnose is the major postharvest disease of pepper, reducing yields by 20% or more in some Asian countries. The Project will introduce AVRDC’s new anthracnose-resistant chili pepper varieties to farmers. These are the Appendix 3 27 world’s only varieties that resist this disease. High-yielding varieties of other popular vegetables for shipping and processing will be identified. The quality and yield of vegetables will be evaluated in selecting for postharvest traits. Value-added services such as processing will be explored.

26. Improved harvesting techniques, such as harvesting at the optimal time of day and stage of plant development, as well as pre-cooling, packaging, and cooling, will help reduce losses during shipping and marketing at the wholesale, retail, and consumer levels. Research will focus on testing innovative, low-cost postharvest technologies on both leafy and fruit vegetables. Pre- cooling techniques and disinfectant technologies will be developed and standardized for each vegetable. Product handling using traditional methods and locally available materials will be tested. Packaging techniques and methods will be developed and standardized for each vegetable, using locally available materials.

c. Training, Capacity Building, and Information in Postharvest Handling and Processing

27. The implementing agency will: (i) initiate a model postharvest and processing microenterprise, (ii) conduct training in postharvest technologies, and (iii) collect and widely disseminate market information on seasonality, and current status, of postharvest problems and opportunities.

28. A model postharvest and processing microenterprise will be initiated and established jointly with small-scale entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial villagers. This microenterprise will be assisted in developing value-added products, depending on demand. Product ideas include pickles, sun-dried vegetables, dehydrated vegetable products, juice, fermented vegetables, vegetable teas, and vegetable ground powders. This initiative is expected to promote small- scale enterprises for vegetable-related food products. Initially, only one country will be involved. Groups of producers, processors, marketers, researchers, and extension specialists from the other two countries will be invited to the model enterprise for training and the exchange of ideas.

29. Through regional projects, AVRDC has developed a network of institutes where training courses for producers, researchers, and extension specialists are conducted regularly. The proposed project will expand training into postharvest technologies and microindustry development. Each year, specialized training courses focusing on these technologies will be provided to 60 producers, processors, marketers, and NARS. At least 50% of the trainees will be women. Curricula will focus on introducing shipping/processing-type varieties, improving field harvesting mechanisms, developing low-cost cooling facilities, adding value to vegetable products, introducing appropriate processing techniques, identifying markets, and managing microindustries. Scientists and educational materials from AVRDC headquarters and its Asian Regional Center will support training, in collaboration with country coordinators and NARS staff. The model industry supported under the Project will provide hands-on training for trainees from the three countries.

30. A major constraint to wider dissemination of postharvest technologies is that information is not easily available to farmers and marketers. To improve their access to information, a web site will be developed with links to price information and publications on the current status of postharvest problems and opportunities. Bulletins and other publications on postharvest technologies will be written and translated into local languages.

28 Appendix 3

d. Partnerships Among the CLV Countries Strengthened

31. Conduct Regular Workshops and Develop Joint Work Plans. Partnerships will be established and strengthened among various national universities, organizations, research institutes, and extension agencies through AVRDC (see appendixes). Cross-border partnerships and economic cooperation in the postharvest sector will be strengthened by joint planning and priority-setting exercises, coordinated implementation activities, training of national staff, exchange of experiences, and easy access to a database shared by the participating countries.

4. Costs and Financing

32. The cost of the proposed project for the initial 3 years is estimated at $1,550,000 (Table A3.2). It is proposed that ADB provide $700,000 (including a contingency fund of $20,000) to finance 45% of the Project. The remaining cost will be financed by AVRDC ($600,000 or 39% of the cost) and by the NARS ($250,000 or 16%). ADB’s funds will mainly finance the Project’s operational costs, essential equipment, monitoring and coordination, and project administration. In-kind contributions by AVRDC and the NARS will support personnel, facilities, equipment, and other goods and services. AVRDC will provide staff expertise to further develop and provide vegetable varieties with improved postharvest qualities.

Table A3.2: Cost Estimates and Financing Plan ($ '000)

Item Foreign Local Total Currency Currency Cost A. Asian Development Bank (ADB) Financinga 1. Consultants (i) Postharvest Technologies-Project Manager (36 210.0 0.0 210.0 person-months) @ $70,000/year) (ii) Research Assistant (36pm @15,000/year) 45.0 0.0 45.0 (iii) Resource Person (4person-months) for 36.0 0.0 36.0 Monitoring Database Development, etc. 2. Travel (i) International Travel 30 0 30 (ii) Domestic Travel 15 0 15 3. Equipment (i) Postharvest Entrepreneurial Support for One 40 0 40 Country (ii) Office Equipment 10 0 10 (iii) Postharvest Technology Laboratory Facilities 40 0 40 4. Research, Technology Adoption, and Supply 80 0 80 5. Training, Seminars, and Conferences 40 0 40 6. Regional Coordination, Networking, and Technical 45 0 45 Support Annual Planning and Coordination Meetings (3) 7. Administrative Support (15%) 89 0 89 8. Contingencies 20 0 20 Subtotal (A) 700 0 700

Continued on next page Appendix 3 29

Item Foreign Local Total Currency Currency Cost B. AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center 1. Research Personnel 400 0 400 2. Travel 0 0 0 3. Equipment 0 0 0 4. Research, Technology Adoption, and Supply 150 0 150 5. Training, Seminars, and Conferences (i) NARS Scientists 0 0 0 (ii) In-Country Training 0 0 0 6. Regional Coordination, Networking, and Technical 50 0 50 Support 7. Administrative Support 0 0 0 Subtotal (B) 600 0 600

C. Government Financing (NARS) 1. Research Personnel (Local Project Staff) 0 90 90 2. Travel (Domestic) 0 10 10 3. Equipment, Facilities, Experimental Fields 0 80 80 4. Research, Technology Adoption, and Supply 0 60 60 5. Training (In-Country) 0 10 10 6. Dissemination of Results, Networking, and Technical 0 0 0 Support 7. Administrative Support 0 0 0 Subtotal (C) 0 250 250 Total 1,300 250 1,550

AVRDC = AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center, NARS = national agriculture research system. a Financed by the Asian Development Bank's technical assistance funding program. b Includes small-scale packaging machine (5) juicers/blenders (1); canning machines (2); stainless steel containers (2); corking machines (2); balances (2); bottles, cans, and packaging bags (4); plastic containers for handing produce (2); mini-UV irradiation chambers (2); field cooling facility (1); Electrical Conductivity meter (1); hand-held chlorophyll meter (2); pilot scale drier (5); brix meter (1); infrared thermometer (1); tissue moisture meter (3); and miscellaneous costs (4). c Includes desktop computer, industry model (1.50), notebook computers, by participating countries (4.5), desktop computer, AVRDC (1.50), notebooks, AVRDC (1.50), and miscellaneous costs c Includes electronic sensitive balances (3), brix (2), electrical impedance systems (5), infrared thermometer (1), chlorophyll measurement systems (3), gas monitoring chambers (16), deep freezers (5), and refrigerators (5) Source: AVRDC estimates.

5. Implementation Arrangements

33. AVRDC will be the Executing Agency (EA) for the project, and the NARS and development agencies in the participating developing member countries (DMCs) will be implementing partners. AVRDC will appoint a project team coordinator from its staff. Each collaborating DMC agency will appoint a national team coordinator for its component. National teams will be responsible for specific research and technology transfer in the field. Under the TA, a total of 40 person-months of international consultants will be engaged (a postharvest technologist-project manager for 36 months; and database development, monitoring specialist, and plant physiologists for 4 months); and 36 person-months of domestic consultants (a marketing specialist and support staff for 36 months).

30 Appendix 3

34. A detailed work plan will be finalized in an inception workshop within 3 months from the Project’s start. Its proceedings, and outcomes from other project workshops and training activities, will be reported soon after the events. A steering committee will be formed, chaired by the AVRDC director general or deputy director general for research.

35. AVRDC will be required to submit the following reports to ADB: (i) the inception report, (ii) semiannual progress reports, (iii) semiannual financial statements accounting for use of project funds, (iv) audited annual financial statements, and (v) a comprehensive completion report. The inception report will be submitted within 3 months from the Project’s start, the semiannual progress reports and financial statements every 6 months, and the comprehensive completion report within 3 months from project closure.

36. The EA will also organize annual planning and review meetings and a project completion workshop, which all project partners, including ADB, will attend. At the project completion workshop, project achievements will be reviewed and the strategy to ensure continuity of selection and dissemination activities beyond the present ADB-AVRDC project will be outlined. The workshop will recommend sustainable approaches to ensure continuity of the improvement programs initiated.

37. AVRDC will procure goods and services in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines for Procurement, and will engage consultants by ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants, and other arrangements satisfactory to ADB.

D. Potential Project Impact

38. Relationship to ADB Priorities. The proposed Project is directly related to ADB’s key priority of sustained pro-poor economic growth in the region. Vegetable-based postharvest technologies will enhance productivity and help increase household food security and income. Also, ADB country strategies for the CLV region focus on sustainable growth through agricultural diversification and private sector development. The Project will facilitate agricultural diversification by making vegetable production less risky and more profitable for farmers, and will contribute to private sector development by making improved technologies and information available to the processing sector.

39. Expected Benefits. The Project is expected to (i) reduce average postharvest losses for high-value vegetable crops (at least 10% for tomatoes, 20% for leafy vegetables) in target areas, (ii) provide employment for both men and women in the rural labor force by stimulating postharvest industries, (iii) enhance private sector competitiveness by providing access to low- cost technologies and market information, and (iv) increase the year-round availability of fresh and processed vegetables, thus contributing to healthier diets and nutrition. As described earlier, the current average postharvest losses of 30% in vegetables cost the CLV countries about $300 million annually. Reducing average postharvest losses by 5%, from 30% to 25%, would thus contribute to additional long-term income of about $50 million annually, to be shared by producers, wholesalers, and retailers. This does not take into consideration additional income through newly created employment opportunities, or increased vegetable demand; both would create substantial additional economic benefit.

40. Potential for Adoption. Technology adoption by the model postharvest handling and processing industries is projected to be high and widespread, because growth in vegetable production in Southeast Asia has averaged 5%/year over the past 10 years. Thus activities related to vegetable production and processing are attractive investment opportunities. Also, as Appendix 3 31 more consumers move to urban areas, demand for processed vegetables will increase, as has been show in other countries. Selection of priority vegetables and appropriate technologies will be determined though a consultation process involving major stakeholders from the private and public sectors and thus, will increase the potential for adoption.

41. Potential Constraints to Achievements. The success of the Project will depend on continued support of partner institutions in the development of postharvest and processing technologies to support rural small-scale industries. Success will also be determined by the identification of suitable varieties and technologies. But initial successes with the tomato variety CLN1462A has shown that promising varieties are available. Replication and expansion of the Project’s impacts will largely depend on an enabling environment for industries, such as access to information, competitive access to markets, and availability of credit.

1. Monitoring Plan

42. Monitoring will be based on the semiannual submission of progress reports from participating countries and monitoring of progress indicators, targets, and work plans developed in the initial and following annual planning workshops. During years 2 and 3, a short-term consultant will evaluate progress, define constraints to implementation, and suggest solutions. Community stakeholders will be involved in the consultation.

2. Personnel

43. Project implementation requires staff involvement to: (i) Coordinate the overall Project (AVRDC); (ii) Coordinate activities within participating member countries (country representatives) (Table A3.3); (iii) Perform research and outreach activities (AVRDC and NARS); and (iv) Secure input of specific expertise in areas such as project management, postharvest technologies, market assessment, and monitoring (funded by ADB).

Table A3.3: Implementing and Collaborating Agencies

Country Implementing Agencies Contact Person Cambodia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry Srun Sokhom and Fisheries Deputy Director Phnom Penh Department of Agronomy and Agricultural Land Improvement

Royal University of Phnom Penh Prof. Pit Chamnan, Rector

Lao People’s Democratic Ministry of Agriculture and Kham Sanatem Republic Forestry, Vientiane Assistant Director General Department of Agriculture

Viet Nam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Prof. Dr. Vu Manh Hai Development, Research Institute Director of Fruits and Vegetables, Hanoi

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center. 32 Appendix 4

IMPROVING FARMERS’ INCOME THROUGH ENHANCED MAIZE PRODUCTIVITIES IN DROUGHT-PRONE ENVIRONMENTS IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA (INTERNATIONAL MAIZE AND WHEAT IMPROVEMENT CENTER)

A. Introduction

1. The proposed technical assistance (TA) will support implementation of research and dissemination activities for maize systems. The value of local farmers’ knowledge, interests, and ability to experiment and innovate will be recognized. The objective is to increase and stabilize maize productivity in five major maize-growing countries of East and Southeast Asia by developing improved maize varieties, and enhancing the capacity of the national agriculture research systems (NARS) to develop and deliver stress-tolerant, high yielding varieties suitable for drought-prone areas. This proposal targets the tropical environments in Indonesia, the Philippines, southern People's Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, and Viet Nam where maize farmers are often exposed to the risk of drought and to household food insecurity.

2. Drought stress is the most widespread abiotic constraint in maize production, and a major cause of yield loss in the tropics, where most maize is grown under rainfed conditions. In a study on sustainable intensification of rainfed upland farming systems (funded by the International Fund for Agriculture and Development, 2000–2002), drought emerged as a priority constraint in farmer surveys and secondary data gathered on maize-based production systems in seven Asian countries, including the five targeted in the proposal. During the annual meeting of the Asian Maize Biotechnology Network (AMBIONET) in Thailand in November 2003, participants from nine Asian countries, again including all five targeted countries, underscored the need for a concerted effort to tackle drought in ways that exploit the synergies of regional cooperation.

3. The proposed Project reflects the increasing importance given to drought by many Asian NARS. The NARS are actively involved in country-specific as well as regional research using molecular tools in maize breeding, including efforts to breed for drought tolerance, through AMBIONET, an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with Asian NARS. The proposed Project will build on the strong regional interest and growing momentum to improve maize productivity in drought-prone environments.

B. Issues and Constraints

4. Maize is currently Asia’s third most important cereal crop. But demand for maize in the region is projected to surpass both rice and wheat, increasing in East and Southeast Asia from 150 million tons in 1995 to 280 million tons in 2020 (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2000, as cited by Pingali and Pandey, 2001).1 This growth in maize demand is leading to the intensification of higher-potential production systems and major expansion into more marginal environments, with increased reliance on dry season planting. Except in the PRC, small-scale, subsistence-oriented farmers grow much of the maize in rainfed areas.

1 Pingali, P.L. and S. Pandey. 2001. Meeting world maize needs: Technological opportunities and priorities for the public sector. In: Pingali, P.L. (ed.). International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT). 2001. 1999–2000 world maize facts and trends. Meeting world maize needs: Technological opportunities and priorities for the public sector. , D.F.: CIMMYT. Appendix 4 33

5. Maize crops in the tropics suffer regularly from drought, a pervasive cause of yield instability in rainfed cropping systems. Throughout Asia, drought affects about 10 million hectares (ha) of maize and reduces production by more than 30 million tons yearly. Although drought occurs in most environments, its incidence and intensity cannot be predicted. In much of East and Southeast Asia, maize is produced largely on upland or sloping fields, where shallow soils can lead to drought conditions within a relatively short period with no rain. With increased use of second-season, or off-season, plantings and shifts to marginal lands, the likelihood of water deficits and losses due to drought are also increasing. Drought impacts farmers with devastating effects—they not only lose their crops, but also suffer additional costs in coping with the effects of drought, such as reduced food consumption, borrowing money, and selling of assets. Considering the importance of drought to farming households whose livelihoods depend on maize production, new approaches must be found to increase and stabilize crop yields in these areas. Main issues that the Project will address follow.

6. Resistance to Drought is a Major Factor in Stabilization of Crop Performance in Water-Stressed Environments. Many crop and water management technologies that mitigate the effects of drought are available, but they are often knowledge-intensive and site-specific, and can require major investments in labor and cash. Resilient, high-yielding maize varieties that withstand water stress offer benefits at a low recurrent cost and can be broadly applicable to large areas.

7. Adapting Maize to Drought-Prone Environments Requires a Deliberate Breeding Effort. Breeding for drought tolerance is difficult because of the variability in the timing and severity of drought, the genetic complexity of drought tolerance, and strong genotype-by- environment interactions. In recent years, CIMMYT has demonstrated breeding strategies that can produce maize cultivars with higher and more stable yields, including the selection of maize under carefully managed drought stress and selection of secondary traits associated with high levels of drought tolerance. In some extremely harsh environments in southern Africa, for example, such drought-tolerant maize can raise grain yields by 10–20% at the 1–2 t/ha level, yet still match yields of other varieties when grown in high-yield environments.

8. Much Remains to be done to Diffuse New Varieties to Farmers. Despite the significant coverage of improved varieties in the region, more than 30% of the maize area (60% in the Philippines) is still sown to unimproved varieties with low potential yields. The spread of modern varieties in many marginal environments has been slowed by their unsuitability for the production and consumption requirements of people who live in the areas. Furthermore, many small-scale maize farmers do not have access to quality seed of improved varieties. CIMMYT has successfully applied participatory methodologies in the Southern Africa Drought and Low Soil Fertility Project, which was initiated in 1996 and is ongoing.

9. Substantial Resources are Required to Address Complex Problems, Underscoring a Vital Need for Working Effectively in Collaborative Relationships. Networking scientists partner together so that they can address common problems and create synergies and economic efficiency at the regional level. CIMMYT facilitates the ADB-funded AMBIONET, which has built an enabling environment in the region, resulting in the integration of molecular tools for maize breeding research in the NARS, and fostering a culture of sharing and interaction among maize scientists. As AMBIONET nears its end (in December 2004), its established synergies can be harnessed through the proposed Project to reach resource-poor farmers in Asia by adding an essential dimension of technology dissemination, involving farmer participatory technology evaluation and linkages to seed/technology producers and retailers.

34 Appendix 4

C. The Proposed Technical Assistance 1. Rationale 10. In many parts of East and Southeast Asia, maize is grown in drought-prone rainfed uplands and other marginal areas, mainly to meet the subsistence needs of the poorest households, including ethnic minorities for whom maize is the primary staple. Farmers face an increasing risk of drought, due partly to global climate changes, the displacement or expansion of maize cultivation to more difficult environments, and declines in soil organic matter that reduce soil fertility and water-holding capacity. The need is urgent for improved maize varieties that can better withstand drought and other stresses and produce more grain to raise the average yields and crop-related income of farming households.

11. Breeding for enhanced drought tolerance is a challenging because of the complexity of the trait, difficulties in field evaluation and selection, and strong genotype-by-environment interactions. In general, and especially for favorable environments, a centralized global approach to germplasm improvement has been successful by relying on use of purchased inputs to create a uniform environment suited to germplasm characteristics. But this approach has largely failed to address the diversity of environmental conditions and end-user needs in smallholder, subsistence-oriented farming systems where large amounts of purchased inputs are often not available or are unprofitable. Furthermore, it is evident that many modern varieties, because they have not been developed from farmers’ concerns and conditions, have not readily diffused to farmers in marginal environments.

12. Despite the challenges of developing drought-tolerant, farmer-preferred varieties, progress has been substantial and the probability of success is high. Understanding is now better of the maize crop’s behavior under drought stress. New breeding methodologies enhance selection efficiency have been developed, including the use of carefully managed stress conditions (by controlling the timing, intensity, and uniformity of the stress through irrigation) and the development of physiological selection criteria (secondary traits that relate to yield under drought) for stress resistance. Particularly successful has been the development of maize with anthesis-silking synchrony under water deficit at flowering, allowing greater grain set and grain yield in drought conditions. More recently, molecular methods such as marker- assisted selection are being adopted for more efficient selection for distinct components of stress resistance. Furthermore, major advances have been made in understanding the social context of technological change. With the realization that the clients of new technologies have much to contribute to their development and dissemination, participatory methodologies that better incorporate the knowledge and preferences of technology end users have been developed, refined, and successfully applied.

13. Considering all these factors, CIMMYT is uniquely positioned to effectively implement the proposed Project with its Asian NARS partners, and to ensure that higher-yielding varieties with tolerance to drought (and other stresses in the local environments) will reach farmers’ fields. This Project will help build the capacity of NARS scientists to develop and effectively deliver improved maize varieties to their constituents by taking the lessons learned, especially those from Africa where drought is one of the two most severe challenges of subsistence agriculture (low soil fertility is the other), and adapting them in the Asian context.

14. Value to Related ADB Projects and Strategies. Suitable drought-tolerant maize varieties will increase productivity in drought-prone environments and help stabilize production systems. Over the long term, this will reduce drought-related risks that farm families face, and Appendix 4 35 increase their food security. Furthermore, increased productivity per unit of land, water, and labor invested may lessen the pressure to expand cultivation into more fragile environments. Similar to the ADB-funded AMBIONET, this proposed TA is consistent with ADB’s emphasis on supporting regional cooperation and strengthening regional ties. We expect activities, products, and experiences of this Project to also prove relevant and benefit other ADB developing member countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, the Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

15. Other Projects and Activities Related to the Proposed Project. CIMMYT is well placed to take advantage of the latest knowledge and technologies that can contribute to improvement of maize for enhanced drought tolerance. For example CIMMYT, along with the International Plant Genetic Research Institute and the International Rice Research Institute, helped establish the Generation Challenge Program (www.generationcp.org) that uses comparative genetics and synteny to take drought tolerance and other traits to new levels of expression. Also, this TA will add value to other international crop improvement programs that focus on drought, such as the Program on Resilient Crops for Water- Limited Environments, in which CIMMYT is an active partner.

16. Because the duration of the proposed Project is extremely short, considering the complexity of the task, it is essential to acknowledge that the Project will begin by evaluating the drought tolerance of existing maize varieties and their suitability for use in drought-prone areas. An important early outcome of drought tolerance work in southern Africa, for example, was the identification and subsequent recommendation of two or three best hybrids among many that were commercially available. Similarly, experimental varieties from ongoing breeding projects, such as quality protein maize (QPM) research will be evaluated and may provide the first materials for farmer-participatory evaluation in drought-prone areas. Thus, the Project will have concurrent short-, medium-, and long-term objectives, building on existing elite materials and new sources of stress tolerance.

2. Purpose and Outputs 17. The overall goal of the proposed TA is to increase and stabilize maize productivity in five major tropical maize-growing countries of East and Southeast Asia (southern PRC, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam) by developing, and enhancing the capacity of NARS to develop and deliver, stress-tolerant, high-yielding maize varieties suitable for drought-prone areas. The project has the following specific purposes: (i) Identify and/or develop high-yielding maize varieties that tolerate drought and other prevailing stresses by selection for drought tolerance-conferring traits under managed stress field conditions; (ii) Evaluate drought-tolerant and other promising maize cultivars developed by NARS and CIMMYT for adaptability to local conditions and farmer preferences through farmer participatory trials in at least two countries; (iii) Enhance the capacity of NARS researchers to apply new technologies to support variety development; and (iv) Build on the network established within the ADB-funded AMBIONET to maintain a network of maize scientists fostering collaborative interactions and the sharing of information and experiences.

36 Appendix 4

18. The following outputs are expected from the proposed TA: (i) Output 1. High-yielding, stress-tolerant maize varieties locally adapted to drought-prone areas of East and Southeast Asia (especially within the five target countries) will be identified, and development of others will be initiated; (ii) Output 2. Enhanced capacity of NARS, and steps toward institutionalizing an approach by NARS to conduct maize improvement for drought tolerance and integrate farmer-participatory approaches in the selection and dissemination of improved maize varieties; and (iii) Output 3. An effective and functional network of NARS partners working to enhance maize productivity in the region

19. Output 1 will have site-specific tangible outcomes that will directly benefit farmers at key sites in the proposed project countries. Output 2 will directly benefit maize scientists and workers of participating NARS, helping to build enhanced core competencies for maize research, development, and dissemination in rainfed environments; and to support the institutionalization of needs-driven, participatory research and delivery methods. The enhanced capacity of the NARS to deliver suitable and acceptable technologies will benefit maize farmers in each country. Output 3 will create regional synergies that will extract added value by promoting the sharing of research experiences and technologies among countries. Such regional exchange will result in significant spillover benefits to other countries in the region.

3. Methodology and Key Activities

20. The primary focus of the Project will be in five major maize-growing countries in tropical Southeast Asia: southern PRC, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. These countries are already engaged in the development of high-yielding maize with tolerance to various stresses, including drought tolerance, with the use of molecular tools to aid conventional breeding as AMBIONET participants. As AMBIONET ends, the proposed Project will build on AMBIONET’s achievements and strengthen links between molecular and field- based breeding approaches, and breeding and technology verification and dissemination activities.

21. Specific project activities will be incorporated into a set of individual country workplans, developed by the NARS with involvement of local researchers for development-oriented organizations, government extension agencies, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), and farmers. CIMMYT will lead and coordinate the proposed Project, provide guidance and technical expertise, and link with other crop improvement efforts (global and regional) that target drought-prone environments. CIMMYT will also guide and facilitate, initially in one or two selected countries, an inclusive approach that involves a wider range of actors in technology verification and dissemination activities in each country, aiming to redress the common history of low technology adoption (particularly of “modern” crop varieties) by resource-poor farmers. Coordination will be through several mechanisms, including an initial inception meeting and annual planning and review meetings, charting and monitoring of workflows, timely communication of results, and team visits. Table A4.1 gives the overall TA project framework.

Appendix 4 37

Table A4.1: Technical Assistance Framework

Performance Monitoring Design Summary Risks Indicators/Targets Mechanisms Goal Improve rural Higher incomes of rural National statistics livelihoods and reduce population poverty in selected TA completion report countries of East and National statistics Southeast Asia TA completion report National statistics

TA completion report Greater employment

Reduced poverty

Purpose Increase maize Productivity of maize is National statistics The participating countries productivity in selected increased by 20% in do not give high priorities to countries of East and target areas TA completion report agricultural research Southeast Asia by developing new high- The participating countries yielding and drought- do not provide qualified staff tolerant varieties and resources targeted for drought- stressed areas

Outputs 1. Drought-tolerant maize varieties

1.1 Germplasm Implementation of Annual progress reports Lack of suitable germplasm, improvement drought breeding in at and breeders’ data books reduced financial support to least two countries by research, staff turnover end of year 1, and all five countries by end of year 2

1.2 Regional testing Operational managed Installed facilities Absence of a suitable site stress sites in at least three countries by end NARS data books Delays in purchase or of year 1; all five installation of facilities countries by end of Technical reports year 2 Restrictions in seed movement At least twp drought tolerant varieties/ Destruction of trials by country with yields 15% extreme natural conditions higher than susceptible such as typhoons, or new varieties under stress pests and diseases by year 2, and in all five countries by year 3

Continued on next page 38 Appendix 4

Performance Monitoring Design Summary Risks Indicators/Targets Mechanisms 1.3 On-farm Farmer-preferred Data from mother-baby Lack of interested and verification, and varieties identified in at trials suitably committed partners links to least two countries by dissemination end of Year 3 Technical reports

2. Enhanced capacity of NARS Training courses on Number of NARS maize Travel restrictions due to 2.1 Regional and in- drought breeding and workers trained security threats or epidemics country training participatory varietal courses selection; one course each in years 1 and 2

In country workshops Training manuals, number Turnover of trained staff for “mother-baby” trials of participants, work plans (in two countries by end developed of year 2)

2.2 Scientific and Visits by CIMMYT or Trip reports Travel restrictions caused by technical consultant resource security threats or epidemics backstopping to scientists NARS

3. Regional network

3.1 Network An active network of MOUs with participating Inability to join the network coordination maize workers in South countries for political or economic and Southeast Asia reasons

3.2 Annual meetings Inception meeting by Meeting reports Travel restrictions second quarter of year 1; annual meetings in first quarter of years 2 and 3

Inputs (’000): $1,887

Personnel $1,002.5 Research Expenses $250.0 Training, Seminars and Conferences $450.0 Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs $184.5

ADB = Asian Development Bank, CIMMYT = International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, MOU = memorandum of understanding, NARS = national agricultural research system, PRC = the People's Republic of China, TA = technical assistance. Source: CIMMYT. Appendix 4 39

a. High-Yielding, Stress-Tolerant Maize Varieties Locally Adapted to Drought-Prone Areas of East and Southeast Asia

22. The key activities will include: (i) Germplasm improvement: Breed for improved performance and suitability under the conditions and needs of smallholder farmers in each country; (ii) Regional testing: Establish a regional testing network with the capacity to screen maize genotypes in managed stress environments; evaluate varieties developed locally or at CIMMYT for tolerance to drought and other stresses, as well as other characters that are important to smallholder farmers; and (iii) On-farm verification and links to dissemination: In one or two countries, verify performance of the best varieties under farmers’ conditions, following a farmer- centered variety testing approach (“mother-baby” trials).2

23. The Project will build on CIMMYT’s and NARS’ experiences on development, testing, release, and dissemination of maize varieties, and will involve the evaluation of improved materials from all collaborators, including interested private sector companies. Maize germplasm will be improved to increase yields under conditions relevant to resource-poor farmers in rainfed environments—under drought-stressed conditions—in carefully managed stress screening sites. This will involve the establishment and maintenance of regional drought stress screening sites in at least two participating countries, as well as use of the existing NARS breeding networks. Information will be determined, and made widely available, on the drought tolerance of elite maize germplasm (early generation lines, inbred lines, hybrids, and open pollinated varieties), their responsiveness to good conditions, and their resistance to locally/regionally important diseases such as downy mildew, banded leaf, and sheath blight. The best stress-tolerant varieties will be evaluated in one or two of the countries in “mother- baby” trials to verify performance under farmers’ conditions. This will involve researcher- managed replicated “mother trials” in small plots at several locations implemented by NARS, and farmer-managed unreplicated “baby trials” in large plots near the mother trials but planted and managed by farmers on their own fields. Data from the trials will be compiled and disseminated regionally. The Project will also actively assist in the dissemination of these materials though formal and informal seed sectors.

b. Enhanced Drought Breeding and Farmer Participatory Research Capacity of the National Agricultural Research System

24. The key activities will include: (i) Capacity building will be through regional and in-country training courses that CIMMYT and NARS organize jointly on topics of relevance to the project workplans, and (ii) CIMMYT will provide or facilitate scientific and technical backstopping to, and among, the NARS.

25. CIMMYT will implement the Project with East and Southeast Asian NARS, many of whom have been adversely affected by cuts in funding for public research. Thus, professional

2 Mother-baby trials allow farmers and researchers to test best-bet technologies or new cultivars. Trials are of two types: the researcher-managed mother trials evaluate a set of promising cultivars (9 to 16 cultivars) under optimal and farmer-representative management conditions and is located in the center of a farming community, or at a research station. All baby trials contain a subset of the cultivars in the mother trial (no more than four) and are planted and managed exclusively by the farmers that host them. 40 Appendix 4 development will be an important project component. Through the proposed TA, NARS scientists will learn the latest theories and practices in drought breeding, and will discuss and help adapt and implement methodologies for on-farm verification and farmer participation. Project funds will be allotted for in-country work that will supplement national funds to enable NARS scientists to apply newly learned skills and methods in the project agenda.

c. An Effective and Functional Network of Partners Working Toward Enhanced Maize Productivity in the Region

26. The activities will include: (i) Participatory network coordination, and (ii) Annual meetings to present and discuss findings and progress, plan work, agree on priorities, and allocate funding.

27. A broad-based, dynamic regional network that facilitates the development and delivery of maize varieties that meet farmers’ requirements and preferences will allow economies of scale and carry the Project’s goal beyond the duration of the proposed TA.

28. Linkages and Collaboration with Other Projects. The Project will draw on knowledge and products generated by other CIMMYT projects such as the Southern Africa Drought and Low Soil Fertility Project in Africa and the Hill Maize Research Project in Nepal. For the NARS, the Project complements on-going national efforts for maize germplasm development and testing, such as their national QPM programs, by evaluating their products for suitability and farmer acceptance in drought-prone environments. It is important to note that the proposed project will not entail a “new” research program to be established by each participating NARS. Instead, the Project entails re-tooling and re-orienting existing breeding research activities (including new germplasm and technology dissemination) to effectively and deliberately improve drought tolerance, and dissemination of the research products.

29. Intellectual Property Issues. CIMMYT develops public goods that are freely available to developing countries. Each project participant will be free to develop proprietary technologies within his or her institution, but products developed collaboratively under this TA will be freely available and will remain in the public domain. The exchange and use of germplasm will be subject to an agreed-upon material transfer agreement.

4. Cost and Financing

30. The proposed TA is estimated to cost $1.89 million over 3 years. CIMMYT requests $750,000 from ADB to finance 40% of the project cost. CIMMYT will cover the remaining cost of $737,000, and participating national programs will cover $400,000 through in-kind contributions (Table A4.2). The TA will cover costs for project coordination; in-country research; backstopping; and training, workshops, and meetings. In-country research funds will cover the cost of upgrading existing facilities to enable managed field research on drought stress to be conducted in two or three participating countries, plus the costs of relevant, small research projects. CIMMYT will provide professional time of its staff, germplasm from CIMMYT headquarters and regional stations (especially CIMMYT-Zimbabwe), and support for research expenses. The NARS will give their scientists’ time, expertise, and local knowledge; use of their land and facilities, and other in-kind contributions.

Appendix 4 41

Table A4.2: Cost Estimates and Financing Plan ($'000)

Foreign Local Total Item Exchange Currency Cost A. Asian Development Bank Financinga 1. Consultants 232.5 0.0 232.5 2. Travel 50.0 0.0 50.0 3. Research, Technology Adoption, and Supply 150.0 0.0 150.0 (e.g., drought screening sites) 4. Training, Seminars, and Conferences a. Regional 50.0 0.0 50.0 b. In-Country 50.0 0.0 50.0 5. Regional Coordination, Networking, and Technical Support a. Office Support 30.0 0.0 30.0 b. Annual Meetings 80.0 0.0 80.0 c. Information Dissemination, Publications 10.0 0.0 10.0 6. Administrative Support (13%) 97.5 0.0 97.5 Subtotal (A) 750.0 0.0 750.0

B. CIMMYT Financing 1. Personnel 400.0 0.0 400.0 2. Research, Technology Adoption and Supply 100.0 0.0 100.0 3. Training, Seminars, and Conferences 100.0 0.0 100.0 4. Publications/Web site Support 50.0 0.0 50.0 5. Indirect Costs not Supported by ADB 87.0 0.0 87.0 Subtotal (B) 737.0 0.0 737.0

C. Partner Financing (NARES) 1. Personnel 0.0 320.0 320.0 2. Infrastructure Support 0.0 40.0 40.0 3. Field Labor 0.0 40.0 40.0 Subtotal (C) 0.0 400.0 400.0 Total 1,487.0 400.0 1,887.0 ADB = Asian Development Bank, CIMMYT = International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, NARES = national agricultural research and extension system. a Financed by ADB’s technical assistance funding program. Source: CIMMYT estimates.

5. Implementation Arrangements

31. CIMMYT will be the Project’s Executing Agency (EA). CIMMYT will coordinate the Project, and implement it in a participatory mode to ensure that NARS and other local and regional partners have ownership of the project outcomes, and the commitment to sustain activities beyond the Project. Partnerships will be established with different stakeholders who are active in the project sites, including NARS and relevant NGOs, farmers’ organizations, and seed companies.

32. CIMMYT will provide 3 person-years of input to the Project, to work in collaboration with partners from the five countries. CIMMYT resource scientists will provide expertise and 42 Appendix 4 experience. A national coordinator will coordinate technical activities in each country. Also, two or three countries will be responsible for developing and operating the Project’s managed stress sites. Under the TA, consultants (baseline studies, capacity building, regional coordination, and geographic information services specialists) will be hired to address specific needs that are identified and agreed upon during the inception workshop.

33. The detailed work plan will be finalized in the inception workshop, which will be held within 3 months of the Project’s start. The inception workshop proceedings, and outcomes from other project workshops and training, will be reported soon after the events.

34. CIMMYT will submit the following reports to ADB: (i) inception reports, (ii) semiannual progress reports, (iii) semiannual financial statements that account for the use of project funds, (iv) audited annual financial statements, and (v) a comprehensive completion report. The inception report will be submitted within 3 months after the Project begins, the semiannual progress reports and financial statements every 6 months, and the comprehensive completion report within 3 months of project closure.

35. The EA will also organize annual planning and review meetings and a project completion workshop, which all project partners, including ADB, will attend. The project completion workshop will be held to review project achievements and to outline the strategy to ensure continuity of the selection and dissemination activities beyond the present ADB-CIMMYT project. The workshop will recommend sustainable approaches to ensure continuity of the improvement programs initiated in the Project.

36. CIMMYT will procure goods and services in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines for Procurement. Consultants will be engaged in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants, and other arrangements satisfactory to ADB for engaging domestic consultants.

D. Potential Project Impact

37. Relationship of the Project to ADB Priorities. The proposed Project advances the ADB strategic framework goals of reducing poverty and protecting the environment. High- yielding and resilient maize varieties that meet the diverse requirements of drought-prone, marginal environments will enhance productivity, and help increase household food security and income.

38. Social, Economic, and Environmental Benefits. The Project will help increase yields and stabilize maize production in Asia, especially benefiting resource-poor farmers who are poorly served by the commercial seed sector. When these farmers can produce more, using improved varieties and good management of existing land resources, pressure will be less to expand into marginal areas, and degradation of fragile environments will be less. Furthermore, farmer participatory varietal selection is expected to result in increased adoption of improved varieties, leading to higher production and improved livelihood security for farmers in less- favorable environments.

39. Potential for Adoption. The Project’s farmer participatory approach will empower rural communities to influence the selection of experimental lines to be formally released and planted as new varieties. The use of the mother-baby trials will ensure that the improved maize varieties are responsive to specific farmers’ conditions and thus, increase the potential for farmer adoption. The Project’s deliberate links to seed dissemination organizations (e.g., seed companies, NGOs, etc.) will increase farmer access to quality seeds. Appendix 4 43

40. Potential Constraints. No major technical constraints are anticipated because CIMMYT and its partners have already implemented these approaches in Africa, and are now implementing them in Nepal. The keen interest of Asian NARS to participate in the proposed project, reinforced by their positive experience in AMBIONET and CIMMYT’s track record of coordinating research in the region, lessens the risk that the proposed collaboration will fail. Achievement of project objectives could be adversely affected by a significant deterioration in the financial health of NARS partners that limits their ability to commit resources. Beyond the control of the project stakeholders, there is risk that participation of some countries could be negatively affected by social conflicts, political instability, or disease epidemics. Economic policies that decrease the profitability or viability of maize farming could also reduce the likelihood of success. Climatic change caused by global warming, deforestation, and soil erosion in parts of the region could drive water deficits in crop systems beyond the level where drought tolerant maize can help.

1. Monitoring Plan

41. Monitoring will be guided by the Project’s logical framework. The project organizational meeting will formalize the country workplans and agreements for collective responsibilities. Each country team will chart its component activities, and adjust them when needed. Project participants will meet yearly to present and review progress made in the past year and to plan activities for the coming year.

2. Personnel

42. The director of CIMMYT’s Tropical Ecosystems Program will be project leader, with overall responsibility for the Project. He or she will appoint a project coordinator to manage day- to-day operations and keep the Project on target, on time, and on budget. CIMMYT staff and short-term consultants will provide expertise in breeding, pathology, entomology, agronomy, participatory methods, and seed systems. NARS collaborators will coordinate and manage in- country activities, plus maintain the regional stress screening sites and evaluate regional trials (Table A4.3)

Table A4.3: Implementing and Collaborating Agencies

Country Implementing Agencies Contact Person Indonesia Indonesian Center for Food Crops Research Dr. Djoko S. Damardjati and Development Director, ICFORD Jalan Merdeka 147 E-mail: [email protected] 16111, Indonesia

PRC Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Science Dr. Tang Kaixue, Vice President

Philippines Department of Agriculture Dr. Artemio M. Salazar Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City Director Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Corn Program

Thailand Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center Dr. Manoom Pimklom, Director Takfa, Nakhon Sawan 60190 Thailand

Viet Nam National Maize Research Institute Dr. Ngo Huu Tinh, Director Dan Pulong, Ha Tay, Viet Nam E-mail: [email protected]

CIMMYT = International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, ICFORD = Indonesian Center for Food Crops Research and Development, PRC = the People's Republic of China. Source: CIMMYT. 44 Appendix 5

ENHANCING FARMERS’ INCOME AND LIVELIHOODS THROUGH INTEGRATED CROP AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE RICE-WHEAT SYSTEM IN SOUTH ASIA (INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE)

A. Introduction

1. In South Asia, the Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC)1 countries—Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan—have almost half of their land area of 402 million hectares (ha) in agriculture, to feed and provide livelihood for 1.8 billion people. Rice and wheat, the staple food crops, contribute more than 80% of the cereal production. The intensively cultivated irrigated rice- wheat system is fundamental to employment, income, and livelihood for hundreds of millions of rural and urban poor of South Asia. In the past few decades, high growth rates for food grain production (wheat 3.0%, rice 2.3%) in Consortium countries have kept pace with population growth. But evidence is now appearing that rice-wheat system productivity is plateauing because of a fatigued natural resource base. Thus, the region’s food security is continuously threatened and the emerging challenges of post-Green Revolution (GR) agriculture pose additional hurdles. Also, much of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) has unfavorable rice ecologies where gains from GR technologies have not affected the lives of millions.

2. Four Asian Development Bank (ADB) developing member countries (DMCs), under the umbrella of the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the IGP, in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), are requesting ADB’s assistance to (i) integrate available rice and wheat production technologies (RCTs) from IRRI, CIMMYT, and national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES); (ii) evaluate them in farmers’ fields; and (iii) promote the successful technologies to farmers at large. The Project will be implemented through the research-to- delivery continuum, and will draw on the enormous experience of IRRI and CIMMYT in integrating resource-saving technologies for rice and wheat within the RW system. The new knowledge and technologies of IRRI and CIMMYT are international public goods that can transcend borders and equally benefit the countries in the region. The proposed project will build on a recently-completed ADB-supported project (RETA 5945)2 in scaling up the benefits of validated technologies. The Project will have added value in (i) empowering NARES to train extension and development personnel and support them in the dissemination of proven RCTs; (ii) training of trainers; (iii) developing training, communication, and promotional materials; (iv) encouraging greater involvement of the private sector; (v) conducting impact studies in selected pilot villages; (vi) refining and evaluating new technologies such as double zero-tillage, including integration of sesbania with rice to control weeds, enhance soil quality, and save water in rice- wheat-based systems; and (vii) developing strategies to eliminate burning of crop residues.

1 The Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC) is a National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES)-driven initiative that has emerged as an innovative model for regional and international collaboration, and operates as an inter-institutional and inter-center, multidisciplinary network that facilitates system-based farmer participatory research in the rice-wheat ecology of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. “The effectiveness of partnerships among centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and their NARES partners, as well as among the four national systems, is among the most important achievements of the RWC” (extracted from the Review Panel Report The Rice-Wheat Consortium--an Institutional Innovation in International Agricultural Research on the Rice-Wheat Cropping Systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, 2003). 2 ADB. 2001. Regional Technical Assistance for the Fifth Agriculture and Natural Resources Research at CGIAR Centers. Manila. Appendix 5 45

B. Issues and Constraints

3. Tillage and Crop Establishment. The drastically different seedbed requirements for rice and wheat create problems in tillage, the timeliness of wheat sowing, maintenance of soil structure, and management of irrigation water, weeds and other pests, fertilizers, and crop residues. The short turnaround time between rice and wheat and the mindset of farmers to practice excessive preparatory tillage delay wheat planting, resulting in yield losses of 35 kg/day per ha in the northwestern and as much as 60 kg/day per ha in the eastern parts of the IGP. Also, many areas in the eastern IGP remain as "rice fallows" because fields remain wet for a long time, forcing farmers to wait before any preparatory tillage is possible for planting other crops. Wheat sowing is also delayed because of the planting of medium-duration (140 days) basmati rice. In eastern parts of the IGP, farmers begin preparatory tillage for the rice nursery and transplanting seedlings in the main fields after the onset of the monsoons, resulting in low crop yields. This practice also wastes 400 to 600 millimeters (mm) of rainwater. Advancing rice transplanting through some groundwater development for nursery raising and transplanting early in the season has potential to almost double the total productivity of the RW system and enhance farmers' profits.

4. Diversification. In the eastern Gangetic plains, agriculture is more drought- and flood- prone. Farmers generally use groundwater only in the winter and not in the wet season (kharif). This delays rice establishment and thus, delays the planting of succeeding potato, onion, winter maize, wheat, and other crops. Late planting of rice thus causes a vicious circle of reduced yields. To improve farm-gate income and stabilize productivity, farmers' knowledge on the most opportune time for planting rice crop should be improved. In flood-prone areas, intercropping and the choice of appropriate crop cultivars would be helpful. Besides crop diversification per se, increasing biodiversity in the rice-growing season is important.

5. More than 4 million ha of land used for rice are estimated to remain as “rice fallows” in the IGP alone. With appropriate crop establishment technologies, this land could be used to raise a second crop of wheat, pulses, maize, or lentils to improve farmers’ incomes and livelihoods in marginal areas. Unfortunately, both drought and floods can occur simultaneously, as in Bihar, India, in kharif 2002. The land area affected by floods in Bihar was just 2.2 million ha in the 1950s, but was slightly more than 15 million ha in 2002. Any cropping pattern for such areas must consider these risks.

6. Postharvest. In Asian countries, it has been estimated that 25–50% of the total grain value is lost through poor timing of harvesting and threshing, inadequate grain moisture control at various processing stages, and inefficient grain handling and milling. Farmers may be aware of the losses in quantity of grain (10–15%), but not the losses in grain quality (10–35%) that determine the market price for their produce. Most farmers allow the rice crop to over-ripen before harvest and wait for 2 to 5 days between harvest and threshing; these practices increase grain breakage in milling and reduce whole-grain recovery and the price of milled rice. In other situations, farmers harvest the crop and keep it in the main field to dry before processing. Losses in quantity and quality at all levels can be lessened through education of farmers in harvest and postharvest handling and the use of suitable tools such as moisture meters, milling degree charts, and milling equipment. An improvement in harvest and postharvest processing will enhance the market value of rice and thus improve not only farmers’ income and livelihood but also enhance profit to millers.

7. Environmental Benefits. The intensification of rice-wheat rotations has resulted in heavy reliance on irrigation, increased fertilizer use, and crop residue burning, all of which have 46 Appendix 5 a direct effect on the variable that most affects global climate change—emission of greenhouse gases. It is estimated that the carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions from a high-input conventionally tilled cropping system with residue burning and organic amendments would be 8 million milligrams (mg) of carbon (C) or 29 million mg CO2/year if applied to the 1 million ha of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. In a no-till and residue-retained system, without burning, the pollution level is drastically reduced in time and space. The transition to intensified no-tillage systems reduces weed emergence by 60% in year 1 and hence, reduces herbicide use; reduces sequestered C, and reduces nitrogen (N) use. No-tillage systems, along with recommended fertilizer levels, can be both productive and environmentally sound in a world that is rapidly becoming aware of the significant short- and long-term effects of global climate change. New resource-conserving technologies such as bed planting or even direct dry seeding can save 15– 40% of water use on farms and thus, lessen the problem of receding water tables in IGP. New water-wise strategies can help conserve rainwater, improve its use, and improve crop productivity.

C. The Proposed Technical Assistance

1. Rationale

8. Despite tremendous gains in rice and wheat production over the past 40 years, the continued growth in population and pressure on the natural resource base place extreme stress on the rice-wheat system. Additional gains in productivity, profit, and product quality are becoming increasingly difficult through use of the single-technology, centric approach. Therefore, a systems approach is necessary to increase the productivity of both rice and wheat crops grown in sequence in IGP.

9. Past and ongoing studies on rice and wheat by IRRI, CIMMYT, and RWC partners, and work done in the recently-completed project (RETA 5945) have produced several new strategies and technologies that can ensure higher rural income, reduce drudgery, produce cheaper food for the urban and rural poor, and offer greater environmental protection. Collaborative research and training can strengthen the NARES. Currently, most rice-wheat farmers, particularly in the eastern IGP, have limited access to new knowledge, technologies, and options that could help them achieve sustainable gains in production and improvements in livelihoods. For the farmers, this "knowledge gap" results in low profitability, a poor standard of living, and inadvertent environmental damage. Inefficient production also increases the cost to consumers of the world's most important food staples, rice and wheat. There is a need to build on the gains already made in the project (RETA 5945) on Sustaining the Rice-Wheat Production Systems of Asia by integrating all available rice and wheat production technologies, evaluating them in farmers’ fields, and promoting the successful technologies to farmers in general. There is also a need to encourage the involvement of private entrepreneurs in manufacturing, services, and post-production management of goods and thus, help promote agribusiness in the region.

2. Purpose and Output

10. The overall goal of the Project is to reduce rural poverty, improve farmers' livelihoods, and promote resource conservation in rice-based cropping systems in South Asia. Specific project purposes are to: (i) evaluate, refine, and promote integrated crop and resource management systems to attain food and nutritional security for the poor; Appendix 5 47

(ii) improve farmers' incomes through reduced farming costs and efficient resource use; (iii) promote crop diversification to reduce risks, add value, and improve marketing opportunities; (iv) encourage participation of private entrepreneurs in production and post- production management; (v) improve the quality of the environment in rice-wheat ecologies; and (vi) build the capacity of rice-wheat stakeholders.

11. Outputs of the location-specific technologies and interventions identified and/or developed will result in: (i) resource-efficient technologies for rice-wheat systems, developed and evaluated with farmers to enhance productivity and income, and to minimize adverse effects on the environment; (ii) experiences shared among stakeholders at key sites; (iii) key decision tools, management principles, and extension and promotion materials developed for wider dissemination of technologies; (iv) strengthened capacity of NARES and other key stakeholders for participating in the development and dissemination of integrated crop and resource management technologies; (v) farmers’ acceptance, and sustainability, of new technologies assessed; and (vi) policymakers and decision makers sensitized to develop policies that enable wider dissemination.

12. The project framework (Table A5.1) summarizes performance indicators and monitoring mechanisms of the Project.

Table A5.1: Technical Assistance Framework

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Targets Goals Reduce rural poverty, Increased income of rural Impact assessment improve farmers’ livelihoods, households reports and government and promote resource statistics of agricultural conservation in rice-based Increased productivity of productivity cropping systems in South rice-wheat system Asia Survey and development Widespread adoption of studies resource-conserving technologies

Purpose To increase farm productivity Farmers at the key sites are End-of-project impact Conducive agricultural through efficient integrated able to assessment policies of participating crop and resource • improve their rice and governments management options in the wheat productivity by 0.5 Center-commissioned rice-wheat system in four to 1.0 t/ha in Eastern and external review of RWC, Commitment of participating focal countries of South Asia IGP to 100,000 t by year and IRRI’s irrigated and NARES by involving private 3 rainfed rice research enterprises and public • increase by 100% to programs Government endorsement organizations 300% the area covered and support for implementing by land leveling, zero demand-driven research and tillage, and integrated extension approaches

Continued on next page 48 Appendix 5

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Targets crop management, including N management by leaf color chart, by year 3 Research and extension personnel adopt integrated and participatory approaches in technology development

Outputs 1. NARES empowered to Inventory of technologies Surveys confirming Availability of enough train extension and and targeting them for adoption improved farm equipment for development personnel upscaling in different IGP farmers to experiment with and support them in transects by year 1 Project progress report, and adopt dissemination of existing including semi-annual technologies At least 20 national reports to ADB Participating governments scientists and extension permit germplasm exchange specialists trained in Reports of national producing fact sheets, partners Farmers have ready access training materials, and to seeds and other required leaflets and posters for wider Annual review of progress inputs dissemination of RCTs by by the RWC-RTCC years 2 and 3 Banks provide credit to IRRI annual research manufacturers and service At least six training program reporting and providers sessions/year organized by review national institutions for the trainers by years 2 and 3 Scientific and popular publications National scientists (50) trained for assessing impact of the RCTs by years 1 and 2

3–5 farm equipment manufacturers and 30–40 zero-till service providers identified and trained to serve farmers in target areas of 25,000 ha by years 1 and 2

At least 20 farmers trained in laser-aided precision land- leveling systems for providing custom services to other farmers (8, 7, and 5 farmers in years 1, 2, and 3, respectively)

At least six NARES scientists trained in crop genetic enhancement issues in RCT context by years 1 and 2

Continued on next page Appendix 5 49

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Targets

At least three drill manufacturers trained and motivated to develop the second-generation drills for seeding into loose residues to avoid burning by years 2 and 3

2. Existing RCTs refined and Existing zero-tillage drills Project progress report, NARES partners have second-generation RCTs modified for multicrop including semi-annual functional access to the developed to enhance seeding by years 1, 2, and 3 reports to ADB Internet productivity and income, and to minimize adverse A system of “double no till” Project web site updates NARES institutions commit effects on the environment developed for rice-wheat resources to adapt materials cropping system by years 1, Annual reporting of to suit local languages and 2, and 3 NARES agencies cultures

Drills refined to enable Annual review of progress farmers to plant a crop into by the RWC loose residues by years 1, 2, and 3 IRRI annual research program reporting and Complementary practices for review N and irrigation developed for residue retention system Scientific and popular of crop production publications

0.5 to 1.0 ton/ hectare increase in rice-wheat yield in eastern IGP by years 1, 2, and 3

At least 25% of target farmers adopt refined RCTs by years 1 and 2

At least 20% of collaborative farmers adopt land leveling and zero tillage in rice-wheat system at key sites by years 2 and 3

A 15–20% reduction in water use at field level achieved by cooperative farmers in northwest IGP by years 2 and 3

At least a 15% reduction in urea N application achieved in rice and wheat crops with no yield loss, in northwest IGP by years 1, 2, and 3

At least 10 new promising varieties of rice, wheat, and legumes introduced, and seed production organized

Continued on next page 50 Appendix 5

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Targets for crop diversification, by years 1 and 2

At least a 10% reduction in rice-fallow area in eastern IGP for crop intensification, and higher farmers’ profits, by years 3 and afterward

Reduced burning of crop residue (straw) in 20% of the target environments by ear 3 and afterward

3. Training, communication, At least 50 national R&D Project progress report, Country service of trained and promotion materials staff trained in design and including semi-annual research and extension developed and synergies delivery of integrated crop reports to ADB personnel to allow building of of public-private sectors and resource management critical masses harnessed for promoting technologies by years 2 and Annual reporting of RCTs; capacity of NARES 3 NARES agencies enhanced for dissemination of RCTs Annual review of progress by the RWC

IRRI annual research program reporting and review

Fact sheets and leaflets on Project web site updated NARES partners have improved technologies functional access to the developed for wider Scientific and popular internet dissemination by years 2 publications and 3 NARES institutions commit resources to adapt materials National scientists providing to suit local languages and information for web-enabled cultures knowledge bank updating; number of hits for using web information increased by 50% by years 2 and 3

Partners at key sites participate in at least 1 training course or workshop during the project period by years 1, 2, and 3

National partners trained in project development and fund raising by years 1, 2, and 3

5,000 farmers trained on the use of new technologies by year 3

Continued on next page Appendix 5 51

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Targets 3–5 farm equipment manufacturers and 30–40 service providers identified and trained in national institutions for manufacturing of newly designed drills and to serve farmers in target areas by years 1 and 2

4. Farmers’ acceptance of National partners learn to Project-initiated appraisals new technologies identify and solve key with participating farmers assessed; and policy and constraints to farm-level decision makers adoption of new Project progress report, sensitized to develop technologies by year 3 including semiannual policies that enable wider reports to ADB dissemination

Annual reporting of

NARES agencies

Annual review of progress by the RWC

IRRI annual research program reporting and

review

Key agricultural policymakers, R&D managers, and community representatives attend policy briefing seminars in each country by year 3 and afterward

Activities (hierarchically numbered to correspond with above outputs

Output 1 NARES empowered to train extension and development personnel and support them in dissemination of existing technologies Activity 1.1 Site and partner selection, and identification of site coordinators/project staff, by year 1 Activity 1.2 Inventory existing, new, and indigenous technologies (variety, crop, soil, water management, and cropping systems practices) specifically suited to the target environments, and design interdisciplinary on-farm trials that incorporate the key technological interventions needed to solve specific production problems on-site, by year 1 Activity 1.3 Conduct at multiple locations farmer participatory trials and evaluation of integrated crop and resource management practices that enhance crop performance, resource-use efficiency, and farmers’ income by years 1, 2, and 3 Activity 1.4 Organize cross-site visits across networks of on-farm demonstrations that promote exchange of experience and knowledge among farmers and R&D workers on different approaches and production systems that emerge and evolve under different circumstances by years 1, 2, and 3

Output 2 Existing RCT refined and second-generation RCTs developed to enhance productivity and income, and to minimize adverse effects on the environment Activity 2.1 Distill location-specific experiences and results into “global lessons” and decision rules that can be applied more widely in similar environments by years 1, 2, and 3 Activity 2.2 Develop fact sheets and leaflets on improved technologies for wider dissemination by years 1, 2, and 3

Continued on next page 52 Appendix 5

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Targets Activity 2.3 Analyze data, interpret results, and prepare reports and maps, and GIS data, to determine the target domains for different sets of technologies and interventions by years 1, 2, and 3

Output 3 Training, communication, and promotion materials developed and synergies of public-private sectors harnessed for promoting RCTs; capacity of NARES enhanced for dissemination of RCTs Activity 3.1 Conduct training involving NARES partners on specific technical and operational skills, including training on minimum data sets, data collection, and database management by years 1, 2, and 3 Activity 3.2 Familiarize project teams, including NARES partners, with participatory technology development and extension approaches by years 1, 2, and 3

Output 4 Farmers' acceptance of new technologies assessed and policy and decision makers sensitized to develop policies that enable wider dissemination Activity 4.1 Monitor and analyze crop performance in relation to technical management of farmers and their socioeconomic strategies by years 1 and 3 Activity 4.2 Develop effective evaluation procedures to assess socioeconomic and developmental effects of adopting the innovations in integrated crop and resource management, including zero tillage in the rice-wheat system, by years 1, 2, and 3 Activity 4.3 Compile data and feedback from farmers and rural communities that identify constraints and opportunities for effective adoption of improved agricultural practices by years 1, 2, and 3 Activity 4.4 Publicize project progress and achievements to relevant government authorities, and hold dialogs on policy and other development implications for enhancing desired outcomes from such agricultural R&D efforts, by years 1, 2, and 3 Inputs (‘000): $2,037

Personnel $871.3 Equipment $309.0 Research Expenses $402.5 Training, Seminars, and Conferences $203.0 Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs $160.0 Administrative Support $91.2

ADB = Asian Development Bank, ha = hectare, IGP = Indo-Gangetic Plains, IRRI = International Rice Research Institute, NARES = national agricultural research and extension systems, PRC = the People’s Republic of China, RCT = rice- wheat production technologies, R&D = research and development, RTCC = Regional Technical Coordination Committee, RWC = rice-wheat consortium, t = ton. Source: IRRI.

3. Methodologies and Key Activities

13. The Project will focus on four countries⎯Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan⎯in South Asia. These countries have substantial areas planted to rice and wheat. The Project will continue work at the five ongoing sites in the four countries in RETA 5945 (Kushtia-Chuadanga, Bangladesh; Patna-Varanasi and Karnal, India; Bhairahwa-Kotuynajay, Nepal; and Lahore, Pakistan). We also propose to scale up benefits in 6–10 villages/districts around a few selected sites. Lessons learned through RETA 5945 will be used to develop a strategy to target the technologies and scale up benefits obtained at the core sites. Early adopting farmers in strategic locations will be used as demo farmers to inform and educate other farmers on the potential benefits of adopting new technologies and practices. This will probably enhance farmer-to- farmer education and the spread of information and technologies. Such technologies, when targeted appropriately, are essentially scale-neutral and can work as well for small and marginal farmers as for the relatively larger farmers who have 5–10 ha. Emphasis in different Appendix 5 53 environments will include farmer-to-farmer education and seed exchange, enhancing resource use efficiency, and minimizing adverse environmental effects of farming. Also, IRRI and CIMMYT and their NARES partners are developing complementary activities through the ongoing project Accelerating technology adoption to improve rural livelihoods in the rainfed Eastern Gangetic Plains (2003–2005), funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

14. Activities to examine the emerging priorities will be built into three subcomponents:

a. Subcomponent 1. Crop Productivity Enhancement and Efficient Resource Use

15. Technology options for producing more grain through efficient use of resources are available, but have not yet been integrated into a systems approach and evaluated on farms. Improved technologies will be evaluated for worthiness in the rice-wheat systems and to formulate recommendations for upscaling for similar regions within the transects.

16. Summary of Activities. Six to 10 villages/districts at each of the five sites in four countries will be selected as focal areas to ensure an approach with tangible outputs and clear lessons learned for further dissemination. The methodology introduced and the national staff trained will allow broader application of the principles and thus, greater impact. Initially, a participatory needs and opportunities assessment will be conducted to identify (i) known options to be tested in farmers' fields at focal sites, (ii) gaps requiring research for the development of solutions, and/or (iii) policy interventions to be targeted. The participatory research will determine the significance of individual factors under integrated crop management (ICM, the integrated use of compatible technologies at the farm level for crop production, harvest, and postharvest to enhance synergistic benefits to farmers) approach, and help prioritize interventions to enhance production efficiency and farmer profitability. Key target stakeholders will play an important role in validating ICM options, and make suggestions on packaging and presenting the options for wider dissemination. Continued interaction with, and feedback from, farmer-cooperators will allow assessment of advances in both profit and productivity. Such packaging of the interventions around an ICM framework will probably include information technology (IT) packaging⎯a powerful new tool that allows greater capture of content. IRRI has experience in this area with the development of Trop Rice⎯an IT-based tool that captures key practical information on how to grow a rice crop. A similar concept for wheat will be evaluated.

b. Subcomponent 2. Post-Production Management, Product Quality, and Diversification

17. The post-production part of the commodity chain will be analyzed to evaluate potential interventions for grain quality improvement in relation to market demand and consumer preferences. Such a vertical commodity approach will allow a realistic assessment of diversification potential and processing options. Integral parts of the strategy will be crop diversification and intensification while resolving conflicts of interest between farmers and industry, and finding alternate sources of productivity and income growth.

18. Summary of Activities: (i) Crop production and post-production activities will be jointly analyzed, taking into account the range of players involved, to identify and examine constraints and potential opportunities for improvement. 54 Appendix 5

(ii) Appropriate post-production technologies such as threshing, drying, storage, and milling will be evaluated, refined, and promoted to improve product quality and byproduct use. (iii) Potential interventions and/or incentives to change will be identified and used to motivate the partners in production and post-production, and to enhance post- production management and product quality. (iv) Market analysis will be done to identify and promote suitable crop diversification and product mixes.

c. Subcomponent 3. Capacity Building 19. The Project will train national collaborators in all steps of project implementation. Thus, institutional strengthening is expected at all levels. The two basic steps will be: (i) Building human capacity. Determine human resource needs to support rice- wheat research and delivery and then enhance that capacity through training (including an appropriate mix of workshops and on-the-job, short-course, and post-graduate training) and, where appropriate, provide infrastructure. (ii) Access to rice-wheat literature. Upgrade the countries’ literature on rice and wheat, and internet access to rice and wheat knowledge worldwide.

20. The Project will also monitor and quantify the impact of improved technologies on farmers’ income and livelihoods, the resource base, and efficiency of its use. The analysis will help sensitize national agricultural policymakers; extension services; public-, private-, and NGO- sector organizations; and farmer groups. The Project will also produce and disseminate new knowledge and science tools for managing and improving natural resources, and developing and perfecting new technologies.

21. Linkages and Collaboration with Other Projects. Because the Project aims to integrate available rice and wheat production technologies, evaluate them in farmers’ fields, and promote the successful technologies widely to farmers, it will need to draw on the rich body of scientific knowledge and products generated by other projects. The Project will use the research-to-delivery continuum and draw on the enormous experience of IRRI and CIMMYT in integrating resource-saving technologies for rice and wheat within the RW system. Linkages will be made with several projects being, or expected to be, undertaken by IRRI, CIMMYT, RWC, and NARES. These include (i) an IFAD-funded project Accelerating technology adoption to improve rural livelihoods in the rainfed Eastern Gangetic Plains (2003–2005), (ii) an ongoing ADB-funded project on Integrating and mobilizing rice knowledge to improve and stabilize crop productivity to achieve household food security in diverse and less-favorable rainfed areas of Asia (RETA 6136), (iii) an ongoing BMZ-funded project on Managing crop residues for healthy soils in rice ecosystems, (iv) an International Atomic Energy Agency-funded technical cooperation project on Simulating water and nitrogen interactions in the rice-wheat cropping system, (v) a Agency for International Development-funded project for India on Accelerating the tillage revolution in the IGP: fostering adoption of resource-conserving technologies to promote economic growth and resource conservation, (vi) a Department for International Development-funded CAB International-CIMMYT project on Reaping the RCT’s benefits for impact, (vii) a comprehensive assessment on tillage and water, and (viii) a Europen Union- project on Sharing knowledge and technologies.

22. Intellectual Property Issues. Parties participating in and contributing to distinct research activities shall jointly own outputs resulting from the research, including all intellectual property rights. As such, they will remain in the public domain. The exchange and use of Appendix 5 55 germplasm will be subject to the pertinent material transfer agreements that the participating countries recognize.

4. Cost and Financing 23. The total cost of the Project, including contingencies, is estimated at $2.04 million. Table A5.2 gives details. It is proposed that ADB provide a grant of $0.7 million to finance 34% of the total cost of the project. The remaining cost will be financed by IRRI ($435,000, or 21%), CIMMYT/RWC ($325,000, or 16%), and the DMCs ($577,000, or 28%). Of the $0.7 million requested from ADB, 49% will go directly to NARES partners to implement site work; 11% to hire coordinators, purchase research supplies, and conduct NARES training; and the remainder to support travel and other activities of international agricultural research center (IARC) and RWC staff.

Table A5.2: Cost Estimates and Financing Plan ($'000)

Foreign Local Total Item Exchange Currency Cost A. Asian Development Bank Financinga 1. Consultants 154.6 0.0 154.6 2. International and Local Travel 114.7 0.0 114.7 3. Equipmentb 39.0 0.0 39.0 4. Research Suppliesc 87.0 0.0 87.0 5. Research and Technology Dissemination 90.5 0.0 90.5 6. Training and Workshops 46.0 0.0 46.0 7. Seminars, Communication, and Publication 37.0 0.0 37.0 8. Technology Targeting and Database 40.0 0.0 40.0 Management 9. Administrative support 91.2 0.0 91.2 Subtotal (A) 700.0 0.0 700.0

B. IRRI 1. Personnel 200.0 0.0 200.0 2. Office Accommodation and Other Logistics 75.0 0.0 75.0 3. Equipment 100.0 0.0 100.0 4. Training 60.0 0.0 60.0 Subtotal (B) 435.0 0.0 435.0

C. NARES 1. Personnel 0.0 252.0 252.0 2. Equipment and Offices 0.0 100.0 100.0 3. Research, Extension, and Training 0.0 225.0 225.0 Subtotal (C) 0.0 577.0 577.0

D. RWC/CIMMYT 1. Personnel 150.0 0.0 150.0 2. Office Accommodation and Other Logistics 45.0 0.0 45.0 3. Training 60.0 0.0 60.0 4. Farm Implementation 70.0 0.0 70.0 Subtotal (D) 325.0 0.0 325.0 Total 1,460.0 577.0 2,037.0

CIMMYT = International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, IRRI = International Rice Research Institute, NARES = national agricultural research and extension system, RWC = rice-wheat consortium. a Financed by the Asian Development Bank's technical assistance funding program. b Field equipment and farm equipments (e.g., zero tillage drill, bed planter, urea deep placement machine, leaf color charts, data logger, soil moisture measuring device, climate unit soil samplers) c Essential supplies for field experiments (e.g., fertilizer, biological and chemical analysis of soil and plant samples, equipment, fuel, labor, computer software, laboratory supplies, seed) Source: IRRI estimates. 56 Appendix 5

5. Implementation Arrangements

24. IRRI, having a long experience in implementing ADB RETA activities, has a unique role as the world's leading rice research institute focused on helping developing countries, particularly in South Asia. IRRI, an RWC active member, has dynamic collaboration with all the major rice- and wheat-growing nations of Asia, and with sister international institutions in the region.

25. The Project will be implemented in close collaboration with the RWC/CIMMYT and NARES.

26. IRRI will submit the following reports to ADB: (i) inception reports, (ii) semiannual progress reports, (iii) semiannual financial statements accounting for use of project funds, (iv) audited annual financial statements, and (v) a comprehensive completion report. The inception report will be submitted within 3 months from the start of the Project; the semiannual progress reports and financial statements, every 6 months; and the comprehensive completion report, within 3 months of project closure.

27. The RWC,3 a NARES-led and -driven initiative in which the Consortium decides the role of IARCs and other partners, is a multi-tiered organization with the Regional Steering Committee (RSC) the main management group for endorsing the research themes and approving work plans developed by the Regional Technical Coordination Committee (RTCC) and budgets. The NARES are majority members of the RSC, which consists of the director general of each of the four participating NARES (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan), the director generals of both IRRI and CIMMYT, and a donor representative. The chair of RSC rotates annually among heads of the four NARES, and is currently chaired by Dr. Badaruddin Soomro, executive director, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council. Regional technical issues are deliberated at the RTCC, which comprises senior partner scientists, national coordinators, site coordinators, and relevant scientists of Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR centers. There are national steering and technical committees in each participating country, and site coordinators and teams at the key sites.

28. The mechanism of implementation in RETA 5945 will be followed. Stakeholders involved in implementing the Project include farmers, service providers, traders, millers, public/NGO/private extension staff, researchers, and media people. Annual meetings of key stakeholders will be organized in each country to present and discuss project progress and to plan, discuss, and agree on activities for the next year. Successful farmers’ experiences will be conveyed to fellow farmers through field demonstrations, farmers’ days at harvest time, publications, media broadcasts, newsletters and leaflets about successful technologies, and farmer-to-farmer exchange of locally important project news items.

29. IRRI will procure goods and services in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines for Procurement. Consultants will be engaged in accordance with its Guidelines on the Use of Consultants and other arrangements satisfactory to ADB for engaging domestic consultants.

D. Potential Project Impact

30. The expected project benefits will enhance socioeconomic development of the commodity producers and selected private-sector agencies, with spillover benefits to society as

3 www.rwc..org. Appendix 5 57 a whole. The Project focuses on both well-endowed and resource-poor farmers. Sustainability of production for both groups of farmers is essential to eliminate poverty. Intensive well-endowed areas will help produce cheap food for rural landless laborers, the poorest of the poor who must spend much of their income to buy food. Improved sustainability in these areas will also reduce the pressure to expand cultivation into marginal lands. Resource-poor farmers will benefit directly through increased profits or a reduced need to purchase food. The products will result in (i) accelerated adoption of double zero-tillage in the rice/wheat system, (ii) income security and higher profit at the farm level, (iii) protected food supplies at affordable prices for both the rural and urban poor, (iv) production stability and thus, lower risk for producers, (v) reduced drudgery for producers, (vi) improved environment and maintenance of the natural resource base for society as a whole, (vii) enhanced national research and development capacity to ensure a system that is sustainable and integrated, and that involves an effective network of research and relevant civil societies/organizations, and (viii) enhanced partnerships with local organizations to ensure that the needs of the rural poor are met, and that products of research are suitable and made readily available to all.

31. Rice-wheat research to increase site-specific productivity and sustainability supported by ADB through RETA 5945 in the four RWC countries has made remarkable progress in successfully evaluating resource-conserving technologies for the system. Promising technologies include land leveling, zero-tillage, bed planting, surface seeding, and deep placement and plant need-based application of fertilizers. Traditional transplanted rice on puddled soil required 24 or more irrigations/season. With a mean time of 10 hours/irrigation per ha, the total pumping hours/ha per season were 244. The past 2 years of on-farm work have shown that zero-till transplanted rice on flat land or transplanted rice on beds reduced the total pumping hours by 15% to 40%/ha per season. Similarly, direct-seeded rice on beds reduced the total pumping hours/season by 37%. Farmers’ interest in these water-saving technologies is increasing, as shown by their increased adoption in the past 2 years of implementation of RETA 5945: zero-tillage technology has increased from 300 ha to more than 200,000 ha; bed planting, from 500 to 3,000 ha; and surface seeding, from 1,000 to10,000 ha. These successes show enormous future potential impact. Likewise, plant need-based N management using the leaf color chart (LCC) has shown that at least a 25% application rate of N can be saved without reducing rice yield. As an example, benefits from two technologies⎯zero tillage and LCC-based N management⎯were estimated. It was found that the ex ante impact of proposed investments in terms of economic value would be $55 million in just the wheat season if zero-tillage were practiced on 1 million ha. The benefits estimated would be $2 million if LCC-based N management were practiced on 1 million ha. If 1 million ha of “rice fallow lands” in the eastern IGP could be reduced and diverted to winter maize, potato, or other suitable crops, an estimated 10 million tons of additional food could be produced where most poor people reside. Productivity of the rainfed fertile meander islands could be increased substantially to promote livelihoods of dairy farmers and save at least 50% in seed costs (the seed rates that farmers use—100 kg/ha to 140 kg/ha for lentils and chickpea—are extraordinarily high).

32. Large-scale adoption of resource-conserving technologies will have considerable environmental benefits. Improved fertilizer and residue management will reduce emissions of potent greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, and nitrate pollution of groundwater. Zero-tillage technology is energy-efficient. Adoption of zero tillage on 1 million ha could save as much as 100 million cubic meters of water/year, plus 60 million liters of diesel 58 Appendix 5

(which would reduce CO2 emissions considerably). The farming communities of the project area will learn new methods of managing farms and resources, will have new knowledge, and will be empowered to make informed decisions for managing natural resources. Farmer involvement in traveling seminars of the ongoing RETA 5945 has provided an excellent mechanism to improve farmers’ convictions and confidences in resource-conserving technologies.

33. Potential Constraints. Attaining an effective level of coordination for interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborative research is among the biggest challenges for the Project, especially because team members are from different countries and subject to many other demands on their professional time from their institutions. The policy environment must be favorable and market outlets well developed to promote farmer adoption of RCTs. The RWC mechanism is designed to facilitate collaboration and to influence policies in the best possible way.

1. Monitoring Plan

34. The initial project work plan will be developed in close consultation with partners in different countries. The planned activities are in accordance with the RWC work plans that were approved by the technical coordination and steering committees. Project partners will meet annually to review progress and to adjust/update the work plan. Site coordinators will convene to monitor progress and make mid-course corrections. Joint development and acceptance of the Gantt chart and periodic internal reporting will help keep implementation on schedule and produce outputs on time. Major milestones will be identified for assessing social, economic, and environmental outcomes, and will be indicated in the jointly agreed-upon Gantt chart for follow up.

35. A team of the ADB nominated staff will be invited to annual meetings of the RWC technical committee, followed by field visits to the experimental sites. These visits and meetings will provide ample opportunities for the ADB coordinator to interact with site coordinators from each country, and see actual implementation of the work at each site and its impact on the livelihoods of participating farmers. Also, ADB staff will be invited to attend the cross-country traveling seminars organized for scientists, extensionists, private entrepreneurs, and farmers.

2. Personnel

36. The rice-wheat coordinator and senior soil scientist from IRRI will have overall responsibility for managing the project. He will be assisted by two Project Coordinators for the eastern and northwestern IGP, respectively, who will be hired under this TA for full-time administration and coordination of the entire project. The Regional Facilitator of the RWC will also lend support to project management and execution.

37. Core work of the Project will be carried out by the research teams at the five sites. Most of research personnel will be employed staff of the NARES institutions, IRRI, CIMMYT, and the RWC (Table A5.3). In some cases, as indicated, additional project staff will be hired under this TA for implementing the work on-site. Appendix 5 59

Table A5.3: Implementing and Collaborating Agencies

Country Implementing Agencies Contact Person

Rice-Wheat RWC for Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Dr. R.K. Gupta Consortium Pakistan Regional Facilitator

Bangladesh Bangladesh Rice Research Institute Dr. M.M. Haque Director General

M. Alam Soil Scientist

Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute Dr. M.A. Sattar

India Department of Agriculture, Karnal Dr. R.S. Mehla Additional Director

Haryana Agricultural University Dr. S. Singh Scientist-in-charge

Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Vice Chancellor

Dr. U.P. Singh Professor of Agronomy

Nepal National Agricultural Research Council Dr. D.S. Pathic Executive Director

Regional Agriculture Station, Bhairahwa Dr. A.P. Regmi Agronomist-Soil Sientist

Pakistan National Agricultural Research Center Dr. M. Ashraf Chowdhury Islamabad Director General

Dr. R. Mann

On-Farm Water Management, Lahore Dr. Mustaq Gill Director General RWC = rice-wheat consortium. Source: International Rice Research Institute.

60 Appendix 6

ENABLING COMMUNITIES IN THE ARAL SEA BASIN TO COMBAT LAND AND WATER RESOURCE DEGRADATION THROUGH THE CREATION OF “BRIGHT SPOTS" (INTERNATIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE)

A. Introduction

1. The breakup of the former Soviet Union (FSU) led to emergence of five independent states in Central Asia that are in transition to market based economies: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Economic reforms are occurring at varying rates with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan pursuing rapid transition policies, while Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan follow more cautious approaches. Before independence, the Central Asian economies were interdependent upon a centrally managed Soviet economy. Each republic was agriculturally specialized according to agroclimatic zones, with production and marketing distributed throughout the entire Soviet trade system. After the FSU breakup, the collapse of existing trade arrangements, and the abolition of subsidies, the agriculture sector contracted significantly, and agricultural output dropped by about 50%. Consequently, these newly independent states were left with the task of developing independent market economies.

2. Intensive irrigated agriculture in the Aral Sea Basin expanded rapidly during the FSU era, resulted in significant increases in food and fiber production and made agriculture the backbone of the economies of these Central Asian republics, contributing more than 25% of their gross domestic products and employing about 45% of the workforce. In rural areas, irrigated agriculture and the processing of agricultural products was, and remains, by far the main source of employment and income.

3. Over-exploitation of water and soil resources in the region, however, along with desertification of the Aral Sea and damage to the delta systems, has caused serious economic, social, and environmental problems. Declining agronomic productivity, along with salinization and elevated water tables, has contributed to endemic poverty in rural agrarian communities.

4. The proposed technical assistance (TA) will promote the development of innovative technologies that enhance the productivity and income-generation opportunities of rural farmers through effective management of saline soils and water. The Project will address poverty and improve food security at the household level through increasing productivity of irrigated farming systems and enhancing the capacity of the national agriculture research and extension systems (NARES) to promote and deliver effective land and water management strategies to farmers. Effects of land and water degradation are extreme, compromising household food security and income generation, in the proposal targets: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

B. Issues and Constraints

5. Conditions for crop production in the Central Asian republics have deteriorated significantly. High salinity levels and rising water tables in large areas of irrigated land have led to crop yield losses of more than 30%. Salinization affects 47.5% of the irrigated land in Central Asia, ranging from 95.9% in Turkmenistan to 11.5% in Kyrgyzstan. In the Central Asian republics, 289,000 hectares are affected by medium to high salinity levels. Declining agronomic productivity associated with salinization and elevated water tables has contributed to endemic poverty in agrarian communities.

Appendix 6 61

6. Enhancing Adoption of Innovative Strategies to Address Land and Water Degradation. Although the region faces enormous challenges in preventing, mitigating, and reversing degradation of soil and water resources, there is cause for cautious optimism. Individuals, households, and small communities have adopted innovative practices and strategies to reverse resource degradation in a sustainable manner while maintaining or enhancing food security and income generation. These have been termed “bright spots,” and have been documented in collaborative research of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (Ul-Hassan et al., 20041). For example, farmers have developed coping strategies that include simple changes in farming practices such as ensuring timely agricultural operations, using organic soil amendments, maintaining water infrastructure, and use of wastelands for crop diversification. These practices, combined with innovative coping strategies to enhance cash flow, have resulted in higher crop yields, higher profits, and improved farm resource conditions. These “bright spots” clearly indicate the potential of individuals and communities to overcome the current inhibitory policies, which are market barriers. Such improvements are possible for many more farms. Integration of these “bright spots” into current policy and institutional structures is a unique opportunity. The challenge is to develop innovative ways to extend these “bright spots” to more individuals and communities.

7. Increasing Productivity and Income Generation While Reversing Soil and Water Degradation. Excessive salt levels in soils inhibit crop growth. The main approach to remedy the problem has been to apply large amounts of water, to leach salts below the root zone. From 20 to 25% of the annual available surface water in the region has been estimated to be used to leach these salts. That water could otherwise be delivered to the Aral Sea. Application of excessive water causes elevated water tables and will, in the medium term, cause further salt intrusion and increase the risk of waterlogging. Construction of vertical and/or horizontal drainage systems would help remove excess water from fields, but costs of such infrastructure construction, management, and operation over extensive areas are prohibitive. Technologically, and from a management perspective, a range of forages, field crops, and medicinal and aromatic plants have shown the potential to grow on salt-affected soils. Several of these species can potentially play a significant role in biodrainage, which removes excess water by vegetation, rather than mechanical means. Based on a selection of plant species, production systems, crop and irrigation management systems, and socioeconomics of farming communities, there is a need to identify and expand these successes from communities to regions and river basins.

8. Enhancing Capacity within NARS and Causing Institutional Change. Although several Central Asian countries are adopting integrated land and water resources management, most are still constrained by obsolete institutional legacies of the Soviet and “technocratic improvement” eras. These include over-sized bureaucracies with low productivity and accountability, highly fragmented and sectorized agencies based on administrative rather than resource or environmental boundaries, poor coordination, and a chronic inability to mobilize sufficient resources for water resource development and management. Inadequate legislation, contradictory policies, and a lack of capacity in community organizations to manage water resources at local levels helps make many Central Asian countries ill-suited to implement integrated land and water resources management. The need is clear to address these deficiencies through institutional capacity building and changing restrictive policies.

1 Ul-Hassan, M., Noble, A. D., and Kazbekov, J. 2004. “Bright Spots” in Uzbekistan, reversing land and water degradation while improving livelihoods: Key development and sustaining ingredients for slow transition economies of the Former Soviet Union. Comprehensive Assessment Research Report. Comprehensive Assessment Secretariat, Colombo, Sri Lanka. (In Press). 62 Appendix 6

C. The Proposed Technical Assistance

1. Rationale

9. More than 16 km3 of irrigation return flow is discharged back into the Amu Darya and Syr Daryr river systems in the upper and middle reaches of the basins. This has dramatic impacts on the quality of water (i.e., salt levels) that reaches tail end users, contributing to high salinization in irrigated fields. Through a process of decreasing both diversion for, and return flows from, irrigation within the upper and middle regions of the basin that are currently being used for leaching salts, water quality for tail end users, and environmental flows, will be improved.

10. The availability of irrigation water is critical for improving productivity in most Central Asian states because the climate is generally dry and droughts are frequent. But water use efficiency remains low because irrigation systems are poorly maintained and irrigation technologies are inappropriate, causing soil salinity and waterlogging. Thus the need is urgent for water-saving technologies, and for options for sustainable use of other available, but marginal quality, water resources by developing improved and innovative farming systems.

11. The Fergana Valley Project, sponsored by the International Water Management Institute and State Industrial Corporation of Sri Lanka clearly demonstrated that strong institutional structures, such as water users associations (WUA) and federations, must be established to mitigate soil salinity associated with irrigation systems on a meso-scale. The move toward privatization and reduced farm sizes in Central Asia requires involvement of all stakeholders, including local farmer organizations and WUAs, water managers, and key decision makers in the adoption of improved technologies to address secondary salinity. Key to such changes is creating awareness and capacity building at all levels of governance.

12. Considering these factors IWMI, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), in partnership with key national institutions, have demonstrated that appropriate water management techniques and soil conservation practices can significantly increase agricultural productivity and income generation. The proposed project will use results from these activities and develop additional strategies to reverse the existing downward spiral of hopelessness by researching innovative income-generating strategies that make use of problematic water and soils.

2. Purpose and Output

13. The overall objectives of the proposed TA are to address poverty, improve food security at the household level, and enhance environmental security by developing, promoting, and adopting strategies that enhance the productivity of existing irrigated farming systems in Central Asia. The immediate objective of the proposed project is the development and farmer adoption of innovative technologies that enhance productivity and income generation opportunities for disadvantaged rural farmers through the effective management of problematic saline soils and water, and to change resource and agricultural management policies. To this end, the Project has the following objectives: (i) Identify and promote the expansion of community-based innovations termed ‘”bright spots” that prevent further land and water degradation and enhance the livelihoods of agrarian communities. Appendix 6 63

(ii) Evaluate plant species and management systems that have the potential to increase productivity and income generation on saline soils through farmer participatory trials in the three target countries. (iii) Enhance the capacity of national research and extension services to develop and promote innovative strategies that address the degradation of land and water resources.

14. The following outputs are expected from the proposed TA: (i) Output 1. Identification, promotion, and adoption of innovative practices that prevent further land and water degradation in the Aral Sea Basin in the three target countries; (ii) Output 2. Identification of plant species with the potential to increase productivity and income generation on salt-affected soils, and promotion of improved management systems; and (iii) Output 3. Promotion of enhanced capacity of national research and extension services, and steps to institutionalize changes in policy to address land and water degradation.

3. Methodology and Key Activities 15. The proposed project will address specific problems associated with the economic utilization of saline soils. An inception workshop will be held at the start of the Project to finalize annual work plans for its duration and to distribute key tasks among the partners. Project implementation will be within the framework of three integrated components in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan:

a. Identification, Promotion, and Adoption of Innovative Practices to Prevent Further Land and Water Degradation in the Aral Sea Basin 16. Using innovative approaches, including participatory learning and action and social mobilization, the Project will create community-led “bright spots,” and will provide a framework for replication that will ensure a higher probability of success in Central Asia. IWMI will lead this component, and achieve its objectives through: (i) Documentation of existing “bright spots” that address land and water degradation issues through comparative research and a framework of lessons learned. A “rapid appraisal methodology” will be used to document existing “bright spots” in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, using locally trained enumerators (Table A6.1, Output 1.1). (ii) A comprehensive database will be developed jointly with relevant NARES and fully housed in the ministries of agriculture and water resources of each of the three target Central Asian governments. This will be an interactive database that will allow the input of further “bright spot” cases based on the current IWMI website (www.iwmi.org/brightspots) (Table A6.1, Output 1.1). (iii) Through a comprehensive analysis of the development of “bright spots,” a framework and methodology will be developed that will assist in their development and promotion. The outcome of this activity will be a manual on How to Create Bright Spots for Addressing Land and Water Degradation (Table A6.1, Output 1.2). (iv) Well-tested social mobilization methodologies, currently used in Central Asia by IWMI along with local partners, will be used to organize selected communities. Through collective action within these communities a methodology that enhances the adoption of “bright spots” will be developed (Table A6.1, Output 1.2). 64 Appendix 6

(v) An analysis of limiting policy and structural barriers that inhibit the upscaling of Bright spots will be undertaken. This will be based on data collected in the documentation of cases and impacts of current policies (Table A6.1, Output 1.3). (vi) Roundtable discussions will be organized with agricultural and water management ministries to create supportive environments for the promotion and upscaling (legal and economic) the concept of “bright spots.” (Table A6.1, Output 1.3).

Table A6.1: Technical Assistance Framework

Design Summary Performance Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Indicators/Targets Goal The overall project goal is to address poverty, improve food security at the household level, and enhance environmental security through the development, promotion, and adoption of strategies that enhance the productivity of existing irrigated farming systems in Central Asia.

Purpose To develop and promote the adoption of innovative technologies that enhance productivity and income generation opportunities for disadvantaged rural farmers through the effective management of problematic saline soils and water, and to affect changes in current resource and agricultural management policies.

Outputs 1. Identification, promotion, and adoption of innovative practices

1.1. Establish database of Project web site established by Project annual reports and Suitable “bright spots”’ verified “bright spots’ month 12, including web- 6-month progress reports identified; adequate classified by enabled database by month 18 financial support agroecological zone

1.2 Integrate known “bright Framework for the Technical reports Minimal staff turnover; spot” techniques and development of “bright spots” suitable “bright spots” identify alternate cropping developed, documented, and identified systems implemented by year 2

1.3 Recommendation on Policy briefs prepared for Policy briefs presented at Continued interest and policy changes to expand participating countries by year roundtable discussions with commitment by partners “bright spots” 3 relevant ministries

2. Plant production on salt- affected soils

2.1. Evaluation of salt-tolerant Establishment of three on-farm Technical reports on the Farmers can be mobilized forages, field crops, and demonstration sites beginning most appropriate species to participate in on-farm medicinal and aromatic from year 1 to 3 in each and management practices research and trials; plants participating country prepared suitable framework on seed imports of new crops established

2.2 Develop viable farming Modeling of activities Technical report prepared Basic input data for the systems and framework undertaken and piezometric on modeling scenarios SWAP model is available for saline, and monitoring sites installed by waterlogged soils the end of year 2

Continued on next page Appendix 6 65

Design Summary Performance Monitoring Mechanisms Assumptions Indicators/Targets 2.3 Socioeconomic Recommendations on Technical reports Markets can be developed assessment of farming processing and market systems development disseminated during year 3 through focused workshops in each participating country

2.2. Development of GIS/RS in Field based testing and Updated salinity soil Assuming that RS/GIS mapping saline soils. validation completed by the mapping of target regions based systems can end of year 3 completed by end of year 2 accurately assess salinity

3. Capacity building and dissemination

3.1. Annual training programs Training course on assessing Number of NARES workers No Travel restrictions due for national research and crop species for adaptation to trained to security threat or extension staff. saline soils to be undertaken epidemics annually with five participants from each participating country

3.2. Postgraduate training Number of MSc students Number of dissertations Suitable student program. deployed on the project. Over produced candidates available the course of the project at least nine MSc students will be trained

3.3. NARS workshops and on- Annual training courses Training manuals produced Low turnover of trained the-job training. completed in each participating staff country

3.4 Development and Annual workshops and farmer Published reports, popular No travel restrictions due dissemination of field days held in each country. articles in local languages, to security threat or communication materials and peer-reviewed journal epidemics for farmers papers

Inputs ($’000): $1,339.7 Personnel $711.4 Equipment $ 27.6 Research Expenses $280.5 Training, Seminars and Conferences $ 78.9 Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs $211.3 Contingencies $ 30.0 GIS = geographical information system, MSc = Master of Science, NARES = national agricultural research and extension system, RS = remote sensing.

b. Plant Production on Salt-Affected Soils

17. This activity will field test and verify efficacy and management options for growing crop and forage species on saline soils, and their roles in biodrainage. Potential project sites will be selected according to four levels of salinity—low (less than 5 deci-siemons per meter [dS m−1]), moderate (5 to 10 dS m−1), high (10 to 20 dS m−1), and extremely high (greater than 20 dS m−1)—for crop production systems and soil improvement. ICARDA will lead this component, with ICBA and IWMI support. Key activities will include: 66 Appendix 6

(i) Selection of forages and field crops that can tolerate ambient levels of soil salinity, sodicity, and waterlogging. This will be undertaken using a field-based assessment of indigenous and introduced plant accessions under the selected regimes (Table A6.1, Outputs 2.1 and 2.2, ICBA and ICARDA). (ii) Development of appropriate crop management practices for specific soil salinity and waterlogged conditions. These studies will focus on identifying appropriate methods of crop establishment and possible soil remediation, based on field trials. (iii) Assessment of irrigation management strategies aimed at maintaining root zone salinity within acceptable levels while lowering water tables by considering irrigation water quality and quantity, crop water requirements, leaching fractions, and irrigation scheduling. This will be achieved through field studies and supplemented by a modeling platform (i.e. Soil-Water-Atmosphere-Plant [SWAP]) and field observations using piezometers (Table A6.1, Output 2.2, ICARDA and IWMI) (iv) A comprehensive assessment of the socioeconomic environment to facilitate the adoption of alternative cropping strategies. This will focus on evaluating economic returns, market development, and community acceptance based on surveys and quantitative production estimates (Table A6.1, Output 2.3, ICARDA) (v) By analyzing temporal satellite images, develop crop coefficients to indicate levels of crop stress associated with salinity. This will be validated through selective ground testing and associated laboratory analyses of soil samples (Table A6.1, Output 2.4, IWMI).

c. Capacity Building and Dissemination

18. The capacity of farmers and NARES will be strengthened through full involvement in the design and implementation of project activities. On-farm testing of promising technologies and annual field days will help disseminate project results. Local language manuals, extension releases, and guidelines will be produced and made available to farmers. NARES scientists will undergo both informal and formal training, and will be encouraged to disseminate research results at international workshops and conferences. IWMI and ICARDA will jointly lead this component, with ICBA support. Specific activities follow. (i) Farmers’ and community capacities will be strengthened through their full involvement in project activities. Field days will be organized for “learning by seeing” so that lessons from successful “bright spots” associated with improved soil and water management can be widely shared among farmers in similar environmental and socioeconomic conditions. This will also include roundtable policy briefings (Table A6.1, Output 3.1, IWMI and ICARDA). (ii) Research findings will be disseminated through simple brochures in local languages, policy briefs to the national governments, organizing joint field visits with policy makers, and through an annual project workshop that local media will cover (Table A6.1, Outputs 3.1 and 3.4, ICARDA and IWMI). (iii) Partner communities will be fully involved in all activities of establishing and managing farmers’ organizations, on-farm testing of promising technologies, community-centered field days, and workshops (Table A6.1, Outputs 3.1 and 3.3, IWMI, and ICARDA). (iv) Simple manuals on sustainable land and water management, salinity and sodicity, managing return-flows, and organizational and business management will be published and disseminated in local languages (Table A6.1, Output 3.3, ICARDAand IWMI). Appendix 6 67

(v) Specialized trainings in water and land management will be held for NARES (Table A6.1, Output 3.3), IWMI, ICARDA, and ICBA). (vi) The capacity of university students in research on land and water resource degradation and geographical information systems/remote sensing will be enhanced through involvement of postgraduate students in selected project activities (Table A6.1, Outputs 3.2 and 3.3, IWMI and ICARDA).

4. Cost and Financing

19. The cost of the proposed project is estimated at $1.34 million over 3 years. ADB is requested to provide $700,000 equivalent, or about 52% of the cost. The balance will be sourced through in-kind contributions of IWMI, ICARDA, and ICBA of $615,900 and by participating NARS, of $23,800. (Table A6.2).

Table A6.2: Cost Estimates and Financing Plan ($'000)

Item Foreign Local Total Currency Currency Cost

A. Asian Development Bank Financinga 1. Consultant a. Remuneration and Per Diem i. International Consultants ii. Domesticb 117.6 0.0 117.6 b. Travel i. International 40.0 0.0 40.0 ii. Local 35.0 0.0 35.0 c. Reports and Communications 11.0 0.0 11.0 2. Equipmentc 27.6 0.0 27.6 3. Training, Seminars, and Conferences a. Facilitators 21.6 0.0 21.6 b. Training Programs 50.0 0.0 50.0 4. Research, Technology Adoption, and Supply a. Materials and Supplies 50.0 0.0 50.0 b. Field Trial Operations 155.0 0.0 155.0 5. Technology/Information Dissemination a. Technology Dissemination 15.0 0.0 15.0 c. Information Dissemination 15.0 0.0 15.0 6. Regional Coordination, Networking, and Technical Support a. Annual Planning and Coordination Meeting 15.0 0.0 15.0 b. Workshops 15.0 0.0 15.0 7. Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs 102.2 0.0 102.2 8. Contingencies 30.0 0.0 30.0 Subtotal (A) 700.0 0.0 700.0

Continued on next page 68 Appendix 6

Item Foreign Local Total Currency Currency Cost

B. IWMI/ICARDA/ICBA Financing 1. IWMI/ICARDA Senior Personneld 507.8 0.0 507.8 2. Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs 108.1 0.0 108.1 Subtotal (B) 615.9 0.0 615.9

C. Partner Financing (NARS) 1. Training Seminars and Conferences 0.0 5.4 5.4 a. National coordinator (54 person-months) 0.0 1.9 1.9 b. Training Programs 0.0 2. Research, Technology Adoption and Supply a. Materials and Supplies 0.0 1.9 1.9 b. Field Trial Operations 0.0 12.6 12.6 3. Technology/Information Dissemination 0.0 1.0 1.0 4. Miscellaneous Administration and Support Costs 0.0 1.0 1.0 Subtotal (C) 0.0 23.8 23.8 Total 1,315.9 23.8 1,339.7 ICARDA = International Center for Agriculture in the Dry Areas, ICBA = International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, IWMI = International Water Management Institute, NARS = national agricultural research system a Financed by the Asian Development Bank's technical assistance funding program. B Includes translator (33 person-months), three local scientists (66 person-months), one local soil scientist (66 person-months), hydrotechnique (33 person-months), GIS/RS specialist (36 person-months). c Includes pH/EC meters (3), GPS (3), computers (3), piezometer depth measures (3), flow meters (3), RS images, and others. d Includes project manager and socioeconomist (12 person-months), water resource/irrigation engineer (15 person- months), principal soil scientist (3–4 person-months), marginal water management specialist (4.5 person-months), agronomist (6 person-months), agricultural economist (3 person-months), salinity modeler (3 person-months), field and forage crop specialists (3 person-months), halophyte agronomist (3 person-months), crop forage agronomist (3 person-months), water management specialist (1.5 person-months), and forage systems specialist (1.5 person- months). Source: IWMI estimates.

5. Implementation Arrangements

20. IWMI will manage the Project. It will be implemented jointly by IWMI, ICARDA, ICBA, and the NARES (i.e. Central Asia Research Institute of Irrigation (SANIIRI), Uzbekistan; the Institute of Water Economy, Kazakhstan; and the Ministry of Agriculture, Turkmenistan. The project steering committee, comprising representatives of IWMI, ICARDA, ICBA, each “national program focal point” and donors will oversee project progress. In each target country, research teams will be established and project management will appoint national scientists on a secondment or consultancy basis. The project manager will oversee development and implementation of work plans, coordinate research and training activities, and coordinate and prepare annual and technical reports in consultation with national scientists. Collaboration with universities will be on an assigned basis in order to mobilize post-graduate students and field teams. Country members of the International Fund for the Aral Sea and the United Nations Convention tom Combat Desertification will be invited to participate and provide inputs in design and implementation at annual project meetings. Under the TA, 66 person-months of three local consultants (social scientists); 66 person-months for one soil scientist; 33 person-months for hydrotechnician; and 36 person-months of GIS will be engaged.

Appendix 6 69

21. The Project will start with an inception workshop where all stakeholders finalize project activities and work plans. Meetings on regional technical research coordination and planning will be held annually in each country, where annual reports and results will be presented, and plans for the next year agreed upon. At the Project’s end, a final workshop will be held to review progress, and coordinate actions to ensure the Project’s sustainability.

22. IWMI must submit the following reports to ADB: (i) inception reports, (ii) semiannual progress reports, (iii) semiannual financial statements accounting for use of project funds, (iv) audited annual financial statements, and (v) a comprehensive completion report. The inception report will be submitted within 3 months from the start of the Project, the semiannual progress reports and financial statements every 6 months, and the comprehensive completion report within 3 months of project closure.

23. The Project will seek opportunities for large-scale replication of project recommendations through mobilization of additional resources from development programs in the region, funded by ADB and other organizations.

24. IWMI will procure goods and services in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines for Procurement. Consultants will be engaged in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants, and other arrangements satisfactory to ADB.

D. Potential Project Impact

25. Relationship of the Project to ADB Priorities. The proposed project contributes to all six ADB priorities for agricultural and natural resources research. The development of innovative practices and new cropping systems for the management of saline soils and water will contribute to poverty alleviation and improved food security in vulnerable rural communities through community-led, efficient, inexpensive, environmentally feasible, and sustainable remediation in the Aral Sea Basin.

26. Environmental Benefits. The utilization of saline waters at generation points will significantly decrease pressure on limited freshwater resources, thereby allowing increases of flow in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river systems, along with improving the quality of water delivered to downstream users and, ultimately, the Aral Sea. In the medium-term, this will have positive impacts on the health and well-being of participating communities through improved standards of living. The proposed approach will help prevent further expansion of salt-affected soils and will, in the long-term, facilitate their remediation.

27. Social and Economic Benefits. The Project will help increase productivity of saline soils and water through increased yields and crop diversification. This will significantly stabilize productivity of these problem soils and hence, increase income generation. When farmers can enhance productivity using adaptive cropping systems and improved management practices, there will be less pressure to abandon land and expand into marginal areas, thus reducing the risk of environmental degradation. Furthermore, farmer participatory involvement in the Project through on-farm testing will increase adoption of improved cropping systems and management practices, leading to improved production, and enhanced income generation and livelihood security.

70 Appendix 6

28. Potential for Adoption. The participatory approach in the development of “bright spots” and in assessment of improved cropping systems and management practices will empower rural communities to select appropriate practices that suit their needs. The Project's focus on deliberately influencing policy makers will help facilitate adoption of improved management strategies.

29. Potential Constraints. Some risk is always associated with the introduction of new cropping systems and farming practices that are outside the status quo. Incorporation of new plant species into farming systems is particularly and strongly influenced by farmers’ readiness for change. But by maintaining a close working partnership with farmers, the NARES and policy makers can minimize such risks. Successful adoption of new crops and cropping systems could be constrained by restrictive national policies and availability of markets for new agricultural produce. The Project includes activities to develop marketing plans to determine consumer acceptability and market opportunities. This task is challenging, because markets may not initially respond positively, because of uncertainties, state restrictions, and implications for future trade. The potential for market development will be assessed and interventions to minimize the risks to stakeholders will be selected.

1. Monitoring Plan

30. A three-level monitoring plan is proposed: (i) compliance with project protocols during implementation, (ii) quality of project outputs, and (iii) progress to achieving project goals. The technical assistance framework (Table A6.1) gives quantifiable performance indicators and targets. In brief, project performance will be monitored through: (i) the execution, progress, and results of field trials from different sites according to the project plan and fulfillment of agreed responsibilities by different stakeholders, to be presented in regular progress reports; (ii) the quality and relevance of project outputs, measured by acceptance and adoption of project recommendations by target farming communities by monitoring the number of farmers participating in, and adopting, concepts and technologies associated with project “bright spots” and peer-reviewed publications; (iii) achievement of the project goal of poverty alleviation, including food security and environmental sustainability. Achievement of the latter goal will be established through periodic surveys in selected areas to measure improved productivity, quantified by farm production; and environmental effects, assessed by changes in soil and water salinity, groundwater level and composition, and budgets for irrigation and drainage. Baseline figures of key statistics for longer- term evaluation will be recorded for post-project impact evaluation.

2. Personnel

31. IWMI will manage the Project through the project leader in Tashkent. The Project will be implemented jointly by IWMI, ICARDA, ICBA, and the NARES (Table A6.3)

Appendix 6 71

Table A6.3: Implementing and Collaborating Agencies

Country Implementing Agencies Contact Person Kazakhstan Scientific Research Institute of Water Dr. Valiakhmet Mukhamedjanov Economy Director K.Koigeldy, 12 Taraz 484022 Kazakhstan

Tajikistan Irrigation Research Institute of Hydraulic Dr. Yarash Pulatov Engineering and Amelioration Director Republic of Tajikistan

Turkmenistan Soil Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Ovez Nazarmanedov of Turkmenistan. Azady kiiz, 63 Ashhabad 744000 Turkmen Republic

Uzbekistan Central Asian Institute of Irrigation Dr. Ikramov Rakhimjon Karimovich Ministry of Agriculture and Water General Director Resources h 11. Karasu-4, Tashkent 700187 Dr. Farrukh Aknazorov Uzbekistan Director

Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers 39 Qori-Hiyoziy Tashkent, 700000 Uzbekistan

Source: International Water Management Institute. 72 Appendix 7

WORKSHOPS FOR STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIPS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE PLANNING, RESEARCH, AND DEVELOPMENT IN AGRICULTURE IN THE MEKONG AND SOUTHEAST ASIA REGIONS

A. Introduction

1. Agriculture provides home and livelihood to most of the poor in rural Asia. Thus, improving agriculture and natural resources is critical to any poverty reduction efforts. On this premise the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invested in agricultural research and development for almost three decades and has harnessed the knowledge and expertise of the international agricultural research centers (IARCs) to help developing member countries (DMCs) with technologies, planting materials, and training. Since 1995, ADB has provided grant funds to the IARCs through an umbrella regional technical assistance of about $4-$5 million/year. But this assistance has been declining in the last few years, largely because of increased competition for limited grant funds within ADB. It is imperative, therefore, that work of the IARCs be seen in the context of the countries’ and region’s priorities and programs, and that the linkage between their outputs and ADB’s overarching goal of poverty reduction be clearly presented.

2. Efforts to streamline ADB’s contribution to agricultural research began with the preparation of background papers on funding agricultural research and discussions among the members of the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development Sector Committee. Outcomes of the meetings were presented to all regional directors of agriculture, environment, and natural resources, to seek their views and develop a strategy to enhance the quality and focus of the IARCs’ work and the synergy between it and priorities of the countries, the region, and ADB. One decision of these deliberations was that detailed guidelines should be prepared to reflect ADB’s expectations from IARCs in project preparation, implementation, impact, and follow-up. These guidelines were formulated, reviewed, and finalized in March 2003, and circulated to the IARCs, with the approval of the director general of Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

B. Issues and Constraints

3. Previous meetings among the agriculture, environment, and natural resources divisions had indicated a strong need for greater interaction among the IARCs, the national agricultural research systems (NARS), and ADB to ensure that research activities funded by ADB regional technical assistance (RETAs) reflect the sector priorities of the region and the output of efforts is linked with national programs and ADB’s operational portfolios. The Eighth Regional Technical Assistance Program of ADB for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (RETA 6136) included a project to enhance the effectiveness of investments in agricultural research for development in Central and South Asia. The project conducted two regional workshops, co-hosted by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 23–25 August and by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in New Delhi, India, 1–3 September 2004.

4. Research and new technologies are an integral part of agriculture growth and strategies in most DMCs, yet there is little institutionalized interaction among governments, international financial institutions, development and extension agencies, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), and national and international research organizations who share the primary goal of poverty alleviation. The proposed forum will provide all stakeholders and actors in the agriculture sector an opportunity to explore opportunities to build linkages in future operations. Appendix 7 73

5. Effective investment in research and development in the sector requires efficient coordination among all actors in planning, programming, resource allocation, and implementation. This is difficult because it involves many stakeholders including farmers, country sector planners, national and international funding agencies, national and international research organizations, development and extension services, private input suppliers, consultants and traders, and national and international NGOs. Barriers to collaboration can be spatial (e.g., local, national, international), professional (e.g., research, extension, development orientation), social (e.g., government vs. NGOs) and economic (e.g., public vs. private).

6. There are many examples of effective coordination and collaboration within groups of stakeholders (for example, between national and international research organizations). It is more difficult to find examples of effective cooperation among different groups of stakeholders (for example, between country planners and NGOs), or between researchers and development projects. The proposed workshops with IARCs and country stakeholders in common forums are expected to yield feedback and provide an opportunity for discussing possible improvements and new directions.

7. To address these needs, regional forums on agriculture and natural resources research are proposed to facilitate discussion, dissemination, and collaboration among national and international agricultural research centers and country sector planners. The forums are expected to enhance understanding and use of the work being done by research institutions, facilitate greater information sharing among all research and development partners, and build collaboration and synergy in the work programs. The workshops will present the added benefits of identifying opportunities for incorporating the RETA findings into ADB’s regional and country programs.

C. The Proposed Technical Assistance

1. Purpose and Output

8. The overall project goal is to identify practical options for more effective collaboration and information exchange among stakeholders in agricultural sector planning, research, and development. The specific purposes of the Project are (i) to elaborate on some of the problems that stakeholders face when promoting partnerships and linkages; (ii) to present and analyze case studies of successful cooperation among stakeholders, and identify which linkages could be added; and (iii) to identify options for strengthening partnerships, and develop a plan of action to implement them. Table A7.1 gives the technical assistance (TA) framework.

74 Appendix 7

Table A7.1: Technical Assistance Framework

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Project Monitoring Assumptions Targets Mechanism Goal An integrated and Identify significant Documentation of All stakeholders remain coordinated partnership achievements, benefits, and successful partnerships and committed to promote and that promotes information contributions of effective lessons learned strengthen partnerships in exchange among partnerships across existing the agriculture sector stakeholders in agricultural projects, national planning sector planning, research, agencies, and organizations Participants from the and development committed to improving participating DMCs, linkages among the many IARCs, donors, and NARS actors in planning, research, actively contribute; and development comprehensive information is provided

Objective 1. Advance regional and Organize two forums in the Workshop proceedings All stakeholders remain subregional cooperation Mekong and Southeast Asia committed to promote and in the agriculture sector regions Final workshop overview strengthen partnerships in by sharing information report the agriculture sector and successful Determine key sector technologies priorities for the regions and Electronic forum consisting Continued support and countries and indications of of workshop participants collaboration are received 2. Reinforce partnerships commitment to key from IARCs and NARS of and commitment among subregional initiatives and participating DMCs IARCs, NARSs, and ADB projects to focus agricultural research on poverty Develop an integrated and eradication coordinated work program to strengthen partnerships for research and development in agriculture

Outputs 1. Summary reports from Describe trends, lessons Workshop proceedings Strong consensus of views the two workshops in learned, new technologies, is achieved, leading to Mekong and South East and common issues Final workshop overview concrete strategies and Asia Regions report work plans

2. Final workshop overview Analyze strengths and Recommendations are reports weaknesses of existing realistic and partnerships and analyze implementable options and identify a range of actions to strengthen Quality of information partnerships in agriculture shared will influence outcome of the meetings

Activities 1. Conduct preparatory Working groups to participate RETA secretariat to work Concerned staff provides meetings for the in the preparatory meetings closely with the project guidance proposed meetings and develop the themes, officer to prepare a draft approaches, and methodology overview report for the ANRR forums

2. Organize two workshops Careful selection of key Timely and adequate to identify issues, current stakeholder groups preparation of the themes, state, and trends of selection of participants, ANRR research and approaches and priorities in Mekong and methodology for the South East Asia regions workshops, and inputs to the overview report

Continued on next page Appendix 7 75

Design Summary Performance Indicators/ Project Monitoring Assumptions Targets Mechanism

3. Publish and disseminate Overview reports overview reports disseminated to participating DMCs, IARCs, NARS, donors, and concerned ADB staff

Inputs $150,000 Personnel International Consultants: Agriculture Research $24,000 Domestic Consultant: Technical Assistant $23,000 International Travel $23,000

Meetings, Seminars, and Conferences $67,000 Per Diem and Hotel Accommodations $30,000 International Travel $32,000 Equipment $1,000 Publications $1,000 Miscellaneous Expenses, Supplies, and $3,000 Communications

Travel $6,000

Contingencies $7,000 ADB = Asian Development Bank, ANRR = agriculture and natural resources research, DMC = developing member country, IARC = international agricultural research centers, NARS = national agricultural research system, RETA = regional technical assistance.

2. Methodology and Key Activities

9. To start this effort in 2005, it is proposed that two regional forums under the ninth RETA be established and activated: one forum in the Mekong Region and the other in Southeast Asia. Workshops will be organized in the two regions to bring the key sector operators on one platform to promote dialogue and information flow among the national policy and program planners, NARS, IARCs, donors, and other financial institutions. The workshops are expected to highlight significant achievements, benefits, and contributions of agricultural research and strengthen the commitment to promote partnerships and linkages among all stakeholders. The two regional workshops will bring together representatives of the key stakeholder groups involved in agriculture and natural resources research and development in these regions to analyze relationships among stakeholder groups (within countries and regions) in terms of information flows, decision-making processes, feedback mechanisms and cooperation; identify gaps in the processes; and suggest short-, medium-, and long-term options for improving interaction and cooperation among stakeholders. This regional approach will generate a range of options for action at the national level. The identified options from the two workshops will be synthesized and disseminated widely. The TA will support these meetings, fund two international and one domestic consultants to provide advisory and technical secretariat services before and during the forums, and finance the publication and dissemination of workshop materials. ADB will take the lead for the program, and the organization and conduct of the workshops.

10. Table A7.2 describes the workshop process. Each workshop will be 2.5 days long, with about 35 to 40 participants. Expected outputs include: (i) a map of linkages among key stakeholders; (ii) analyses of strong and weak linkages, information flows, priority settings, and 76 Appendix 7 resource allocations; (iii) identification of existing projects and initiatives with strong linkages across stakeholder groups; (iv) options to ensure effective linkages between stakeholders; and (v) agenda and responsibilities for the next steps.

Table A7.2: Workshop Process

Phase Activities Outputs Expected Outcomes Identify Issues Identify key stakeholders in host List of key stakeholders Increased awareness by countries stakeholders of how the Map of the PRD existing system functions Characterize linkages among system for agriculture stakeholders in terms of Understanding of the gaps information Analysis of strong and in information flows, sharing, feedback, priority setting, weak linkages among coordination, and feedback decision making, and resource stakeholder groups loops to planners and allocation researchers

Analyze strong and weak linkages, and discuss their significance for development

Analyze Identify and analyze existing Identification of current Improved understanding Initiatives projects initiatives and their of the contribution of and initiatives with effective contribution to the PRD current initiatives to linkages system addressing gaps in the across stakeholder groups agricultural PRD system

Plan Identify remaining gaps and Feasible options for Agreement on the need Improvements opportunities enhancing PRD system for additional steps to improve the PRD system, Generate short-, medium-, and and long-term options for more feasible options identified effective linkages for action

Analyze options using the PRD system map

Agree on Discuss follow-up actions Action plan and Effective leadership and Actions agreement responsibility for follow-up action

PRD = planning, research, and development.

11. A wide range of stakeholder interests will be represented at the workshops, and in the design of possible follow-up activities. The workshops will require active inputs by participants in small groups and in plenary sessions. Each regional workshop will use the example of the national sector planning, research, and development system of the host country as a starting point for discussions. An important feature of the workshops will be case studies of projects, consortia, regional forums, and knowledge systems that ADB and others have supported, and that have already made significant contributions to the integration of national planning, research, and development.

12. The TA components will consist of (i) preparatory meetings for the agriculture and natural resources research (ANRR) workshops, (ii) two regional workshops on coordinating agriculture research and development, and disseminating its results, in the Mekong and South East Asia regions, and (iii) publication of workshop outcomes.

Appendix 7 77

13. Preparatory Meetings for the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Summits (Component 1). A meeting is envisaged of the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development (ANRRD) Committee and the working groups for this purpose. The working groups will comprise staff from concerned departments and two international consultants who will be hired to facilitate and implement the workshops. The meetings will be to discuss and finalize (i) the program for the proposed forums, (ii) broad-based participation in the forums, (iii) topics to be addressed, (iv) strategic program for disseminating RETA results, and (vi) logistical arrangements for the ANRR workshops (protocol, travel, and related conference arrangements). The TA will finance these preparatory activities and meet the full meeting costs, including any travel costs of participants.

14. Coordination and Dissemination Workshops (Component 2). ADB proposes to take the lead in establishing regional forums for sharing information and discussion among selected participants to promote mutual understanding, partnerships, and linkages for more effective planning, research, and development in agriculture. The proposal is to initiate two forums in 2005 for the Mekong Region and Southeast Asia, and to organize workshops at agreed-upon venues in the two regions. The workshops are to start dialogue and coordination, and to facilitate mutual understanding and collaboration, among the IARCs, NARSs, aid agencies, and country sector managers. The workshops will support learning and information flow among international and national research centers to permit full use and adoption of technology, capacity building, and inclusion of country priorities in the agricultural research agenda of IARCs. The regional forums will bring together research scientists and staff from the concerned regional departments, and promote information sharing on ongoing and future work. The forums are, therefore, expected to enhance operational links and synergies among national and international research institutions and the aid community.

15. Publication and Dissemination of Processes and Outcomes (Component 3). Outputs of the two ANRR workshops will be published and disseminated to staff, IARCs, concerned NARS, government officials of the Central and South Asia regions, and other concerned stakeholders. Lessons learned from this first initiative and the framework developed, if any, will also be put together to guide similar initiatives in other regions and countries.

3. Cost and Financing

16. The TA is estimated to cost $150,000, to be financed by ADB on a grant basis from ADB's TA funding program. Table A7.3 gives detailed cost estimates and the financing plan.

78 Appendix 7

Table A7.3: Cost Estimates and Financing Plan ($’000)

Total Item Cost Asian Development Bank Financinga 1. Consultants a. International Consultants (Two Agriculture Research Specialists) i. Remuneration and Per Diem 24 ii. International Travel 20 b. Domestic Consultant (Technical Assistant) i. Remuneration and Per Diem 23 ii. International Travel 3

2. Meetings, Seminars, and Conferences a. Per Diem and Hotel Accommodation 30 b. International Travel 32 c. Equipmentb 1 d. Publications 1 e. Miscellaneous Expenses, Supplies, and 3 Communications

3. Staff Travel 6

4. Contingencies 7

Total 150

a Financed by the Asian Development Bank’s technical assistance funding program. b Computer peripherals, (thumb drive, CD-Rom discs). Source: Asian Development Bank estimates.

4. Implementation Arrangements

17. ADB will be the Executing Agency for the TA and will implement the three project components. Within ADB, the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Division of the Regional and Sustainable Development Department will ensure successful completion of the proposed project activities and will nominate a project officer for this responsibility. A working group will be formed to guide the planning and organization of the ANRR workshops. The working group will comprise nominated representatives from the concerned regional departments and thematic sectors. Two co-hosts, one for each workshop and from the respective region, will be identified to help implement activities concerning the planned workshops. A letter of agreement, which will include procedures for disbursement of workshop expenses from ADB to the selected co-hosts, will be prepared to facilitate payments and liquidation of workshop expenses. The co-hosts will be requested to provide in-kind contributions of their staff, expertise, and office facilities necessary for the regional forums. A RETA secretariat will be established, led by the concerned project officer and supported by a fulltime domestic consultant (technical analyst). Support staff of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Divisions will participate in the RETA implementation when needed. Appendix 7 79

5. Outline Terms of Reference for Consultants

18. Under the TA, a total of 2 person-months of international consultants in agricultural research and 8 person-months of domestic consultants in agricultural economics will be engaged. Consultant recruitment will be in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants and other arrangements satisfactory to ADB. The international consultants are expected to render 30 person-days of service (intermittently), each in two stages. The initial assignment, for about 10 person-days at ADB headquarters, will be to meet with the working groups, then finalize the approach, methodology, and terms of reference of the regional workshops; to assist in the selection and identification of suitable participants; and to prepare final drafts of the overview reports for the proposed workshops. Twenty person-days will be for facilitation and coordination of the workshops in Mekong and Southeast Asia, to ensure that the workshop objectives and outputs are fully met. The international consultants will participate in the two regional meetings and closely coordinate with ADB in finalizing the overview reports. The domestic consultants (agricultural economists) will help administer the workshops and prepare the reports.

19. Specific responsibilities of the international agriculture research specialists follow: (i) To review ADB's past performance in agricultural research in Mekong and Southeast Asia, and recommend options and discussion points to highlight in the workshops. The consultants will focus on future directions and challenges, on commitments to the next steps to improve mutual understanding of work and priorities, and on reinforcing partnerships and commitment among IARCs, country sector planners, managers, researchers, ADB, and other aid agencies. The consultants will prepare an indicative list of topics for participating officials to discuss, including emerging trends and factors in the global and regional environment that that will support a forum for exchange of views on regional and global trends with implications on agricultural research; (ii) To review relevant literature and documents on agricultural research across all subsectors (policy, crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, biotechnology), including information from ADB's previously funded research projects and activities, experience of relevant IARCs, and other sector studies and policy papers; (iii) Work with the project officer, ADB staff, and the technical analyst to identify suitable workshop participants; (iv) Work with the project officer and ADB staff to facilitate plenary and group discussions during the workshops; (v) The consultants will coordinate, liaise, and initiate contact with officials from IARCs, NARS, and national agricultural research and extension services (NARES), including government representatives from the agricultural planning and extension ministries of participating DMCs in the Mekong and Southeast Asian regions; (vi) Ensure that all workshop presentations are in order and conform with workshop objectives; (vii) Participate in the workshop and act as facilitators in the breakout groups that will discuss specific outputs and case studies; (viii) Provide an overall synthesis of the workshops, including a summary of workshop results; (ix) Based on workshop outputs, identify lessons learned and recommend future actions to strengthen partnerships in the region; and (x) Undertake other tasks assigned by the project officer.

80 Appendix 7

20. Responsibilities of the domestic consultant will be to (i) Work with and help the international consultants, project officers, and working groups in designing the approaches and methodologies of the regional workshops; (ii) Review literature and documents on agricultural research across all subsectors (policy, crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, biotechnology), including information from ADB's previously funded research projects and activities, IARC experiences, and other sector studies and policy papers; (iii) Help plan and organize meetings and activities for the planned workshops; prepare correspondence, budgets, venues, letters of agreement, and provide logistical support; (iv) Prepare the workshop proceedings and help synthesize workshop outputs for the meetings; (v) Help coordinate with the IARCs and NARS staff in Mekong and Southeast Asia regarding substantive and logistical requirements of the workshops; (vi) Ensure the smooth flow of communications and documents among IARCs, NARS, and ADB staff; (vii) Monitor and compile articles related to the ANRR summits; (viii) Help prepare workshop materials for distribution and presentation during the summits; (ix) Undertake other tasks assigned by the project officer.

21. ADB staff assigned to the Project will monitor progress of the work and conduct reviews.

Appendix 8 81 COST ESTIMATES AND FINANCING PLAN ($’000)

Financed by Study ADBa IARCs NARSs Total

1. Improving Rural Livelihoods 700 600 250 1,550 Through Development of Vegetable-Based Post-Harvest Technologies in Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam (AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center)

2. Improving Farmers' Income 750 737 400 1,887 Through Enhanced Maize Productivities in Drought-Prone Environments in East and Southeast Asia (CIMMYT)

3. Enhancing Farmers’ Income and 700 760 577 2,037 Livelihoods through Integrated Crop and Resource Management in the Rice-Wheat System in South Asia (IRRI)

4. Enabling Communities in the 700 616 24 1,340 Aral Sea Basin to Combat Land and Water Resource Degradation Through the Creation of “Bright Spots” (IWMI)

5. Workshops for Strengthening 150 0 0 150 Partnerships for More Effective Planning, Research, and Development in Agriculture in Mekong and Southeast Asia (RSAN)

Total 3,000 2,713 1,251 6,964 Percent 43 39 18 100

ADB = Asian Development Bank; IARCs = international agricultural research centers; AVRDC = AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center; CIMMYT = International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center; IRRI = International Rice Research Institute, NARS = national agricultural research system, IWMI = International Water Management Institute; RSAN = Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Sectors Division, Regional and Sustainable Development Department. a Financed by ADB’s TA funding program. Sources: AVRDC, CIMMYT, IRRI, IWMI, and ADB estimates.