Front Cover Top & Bottom Views of the building and central courtyard of the Research Centre. The courtyard has been landscaped to reflect the five eco-geo- graphic regions of Tamil Nadu described in Tolkappiam M. S. SWAMINATHAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural and ~ural Development . Fourth AnnualReport 1993-94 Contents Introduction I Coastal Systems Research 1 Biological Diversity 19 Biovillages 69 Reaching the Unreached 85 Education,.Training and Communication 117 About the Foundation 137 M. S. SWAMINATHAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development Third Cross Road Institutional Area, Tharamani Madras-600 113, India Telephone 91-44-2351229, 2351698 Fax 91-44-2351319 Designed & Printed at Reliance Printers 9, Sardar Patel Road Adyar, Madras - 600 020 Telephone: 414974, 415346 Introduction The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)was registered as a non-profit, scientific Trust in July 1988 with its initial funds derived from the first World Food Prize awarded to Dr. M.S. Swaminathan in 1987. The major goal of the Foundation is the amelioration of the plight of the rural poor through organisational, technological and economic empowerment in the fields of agriculture and allied activities. The Foundation serves as a resource for innovative and socially dedicated scientists and scholars as well as non-governmental organisatIons dedicated to the cause of integrating the dimensions of ecology and gender equity with those of economics and employment in technology development and dissemination. To carry out its research and education programmes, MSSRF established the Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (CRSARD) at Madras in February, 1990, as a non-profit, scientific, registered ,Society. MSSRF and CRSARD started their research and training programmes in a few rented buildings in April 1990. On 14 April, 1993, the Centre moved into its own building constructed on land kindly made available on long-term lease by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Taramani Institutional Area in Madras. Excerpts from the speeches made on the occasion of the dedication of the new building were included in the third Annual Report. During 1993-94, the specialised facilities and laboratories were put to full use. These include an Informatics Centre and CD ROM Library, a Community Gene Bank, a 10 KV solar power generator, a micro-propagation and tissue culture facility and green houses and mist propagation chambers. The total strength of professional and support staff reached 120 at the end of June 1994. I The central asset of the Foundation is however not just the sum of its facilities or the individual skills of its staff and Trustees: It is rather the whole set of its institutional capacities in the area of identifying and developing empowerment mechanisms and technologies that can make a difference in the lives of the rural poor. It is a matter for s~tisfaction that the job-led economic growth strategy based on a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to research and development described in our earlier reports has now received widespread international recognition, as for example in UNDP's criteria for fostering sustainable human development. It is clear from the data given in UNDP's Human Development Reports of 1992 and 1994 that the present pattern of economic development has built-in seeds of discrimination against the poor. Twenty percent of the global population receive most of the world's annual income, while the poorest 20 percent as well as the middle classes are getting increasingly impoverished (Figures 1 & 2). Among the poor, the most seriously affected are women and children. The matter hence deserves urgent attention from all sections of society, particularly scientists, technologists, planners, policy makers and political leaders. Annual Report - 1994 T :::: Each horizontal band represents an equal fift ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••of the world's ~•••••••••••••••••• people ~••••••••••••••••• ..- ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• !••••••••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••• ftDD ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• GNP .1.4 The poorest fifth receives World trade. 0.9 Poorest Domestic savings. 0.7 1.4% of total world income Domestic investment • 0.9 fifth ........................................................................................... ..................................................................................•.................................................................................. .......................................................................... >l ~ 1 2 ~ ~ Source UNDP Human Development Report (1}1992 (2) 1994 •... co co Global economic disparities ~ Figures J & 2 I The dualism in economic well-being, evident in Figures 1 & 2, becomes accentuated in a knowledge-based society. The information superhighway which is helping the well-to-do to reach greater levels of prosperity has no room for the poor. This is one reason why MSSRF has placed considerable emphasis on taking the benefits of modern information technology to the rural poor. The World Trade Agreement concluded in April, 1994, places stress on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The Annual Inter-disciplinary Dialogue organised in January 1994 considered methods of recognising and rewarding informal innovation in the field of plant genetic resources conservation. The Dialogue helped to develop a draft ,Plant Variety Protection Act which provides an implementable mechanism for protecting the following rights : (a) The rights of breeders/breeding institutions to reward for their contributions resulting in new varieties of crop plants; (b) The rights of tribal and rural women and men to reward for their contributions to the selection and conservation of plant genetic material which help plant breeders to assemble in new varieties an array of valuable characters; and (c) The rights of farm families to raise crops from their own seeds and also enter into limited sale/exchange of seeds of new strains in their neighbourhood. The Madras draft Plant Varieties Recognition and Protection Act, prepared on the basis of discussions at this Dialogue, converts for the first time in the world, the concept of Farmer's Rights developed in the forum of FAO during the past ten years into an operational reality based on transparent and administratively simple procedures. A few highlights of the work done in the five major programme areas during 1993-94 are given below. Programme Area 100 : Coastal Systems Research (CSR) The CSR methodology developed at the Centre provides a mechanism for linking the livelihood security of coastal communities with the ecological security of coastal areas in a mutually reinforcing manner. At Vettaikaran Iruppu, further progress was made in developing and demonstrating agro-forestry systems of land and water management which enhan.ce the income of rural families on an ecologically sustainable ba~s. Rehabilitation of degraded mangrove ecosystems was undertaken at Muthupettai in the Nagai-Quaid-e-Milleth district and at Pichavaram. Plans were finalised for organising/ India's first All-Women Aquaculture Estate at Karaikal in collaboration with the Women's Development Corporation and Fisheries Department of the Pondicherry ,Administration. Technical guidance for the project, supported financially by the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India, is being provided by the Central Institute for Brackish Water Aquaculture of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Coastal aquaculture, Annual Report :, 1994 III regarded by industrialists as a 'sun rise' enterprise from the point of view of economic return and export potential, is unfortunately getting the reputation of being ecologically destructive and socially disruptive. The aim of this project is to demonstrate how ecological aquaculture can be promoted in such a manner that brackish water aquaculture becomes a sustainable 'sun rise' industry not only for the rich but also for women and men belonging to fisher and landless labour families. The All-Women Aquaculture Estate, Karaikal, will serve as a training centre for creating a cadre of fisheries entrepreneurs who can integrate the principles of ecology and equity in coastal aquaculture projects. Programme Area 200 : Biological Diversity MSSRF and CRSARD were the first to initiate a systematic programme for cataloguing and conserving mangrove genetic resources as well as to initiate research on the preparation of molecular linkage maps in mangrove tree species using RFLP, PCR and RAPD techniques. In addition to the conservation of mangrove ecosystems, the other areas which received intensive attention during the year are : (a) identification and conservation of endangered plant species from the Western and Eastern Ghats, (b) review of entries in Red Data Books relating to endangered plants for possible additions and deletions, (c) micro-propagation of species listed in Red Data books, and (d) standardisation of bioindicators for monitoring the health of ecosystems rich in biological diversity. A new programme initiated during the year with financial support from the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was the chronicling of threats to important national parks, protected areas and biosphere reserves. Thus, saving endangered plant species