Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program Grant Extension Proposal Project Proposals Volume 2 Contents Volume 2: Project Proposals NuMaSS Tradeoff Analysis Rice-Wheat Carbon Sequestration Biotechnology and the Rhizosphere NuMass Testing, Comparing, and Adapting NuMaSS: The Nutrient Management Support System University of Hawaii Adoption of the Nutrient Management Support System (NuMaSS) Software Throughout Latin America North Carolina State University Testing, Comparing, and Adapting NuMaSS: The Nutrient Management Support System University of Hawaii Testing, Comparing, and Adapting NuMaSS: The Nutrient Management Support System Principal Investigator: Co- Investigator/Consultant - Decision- aids/ Russell Yost - University of Hawai'i at Manoa Decision- making: 3190 Maile Way Mandy Haggith - Worldforests, Lochinvar, Scotland Honolulu, HI, 96822 Phone: 808-956-7066 Collaborator: Fax: 808-956-3894 Thomas Jot Smyth - North Carolina State University Email: [email protected] Funds requested: $347,000/year Total funds requested: $1,735,000 Co-Investigator - Philippines: Co-Investigator - Thailand/Laos: Madonna Casimero, PhilRice, Philippines Tasnee Attanandana – Kasetsart University, Thailand Collaborators: Collaborators: Miguel Aragon - Central Luzon State University, Taweesak Vearasilp - Department of Land Development, Alice Mataia - PhilRice, Kukiat Sontong - Department of Agricultural Extension, Jocelyn Bajita - University of Hawaii, Thailand James Hill, Gary Atlin, Bruce Linquist - IRRI, Anolath, Olayvanh Singvilay - Lao-IRRl, Agus Sofyan - CSAR, Indonesia, Pham Dung - Vietnam/CARES Co- Investigator - Africa: Aminata Badiane - ISRA, Senegal Collaborators: Abou Berthe - IER,Mali, Alieu Bittaye - NARI/The Gambia, Baptiste Taounda, Burkina Faso, Isaurinda Baptista - INIDA, Cabo Verde, Jesse – Naab, Ghana, Charles Yamaoh - IFDC/Togo, Andre Bationo - TSBF /CIAT A revised proposal submitted to the Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program by the University of Hawaii Acronyms: IRRI: The International Rice Research Institute, Philippines CSAR: Centre for Soils and Agroc1imate Research, Indonesia CARES: Center Agricultural Research and Ecological Studies, Vietnam ISRA: l'Institut Senegalese de Recherche d'Agricole, Senegal IER/Mali: l'Institute d'Economie Rurale, Mali NARI: The National Agricultural Research Institute: The Gambia INIDA: Instituto Nacional de Investigacoes de Agricultura, Cabo Verde IFDC: International Fertilizer Development Center, USA TSBF: Tropical Soil Biology & Fertility, Nairobi, Kenya CIA T: Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, Colombia 1 Table of Contents Problem Statement 2 Constraints Addressed 5 Project Objectives 6 Project Strategy and Approach 8 Collaborative relationships 9 Annual Workplans 11 Annex: Logical framework for impact assessment I verifiable indicators of success 14 Annex: Budget Summary, across all objectives and outputs 16 Annex: Biodata - Investigators and Co-Investigators 18 Annex: Literature cited 43 Annex: Letters of support 46 Problem Statement Improving soil nutrient status in support of food and income is a challenge for farmers, regardless of their land holding size and location in the world. In Africa and Southeast Asia, this challenge is even greater due to high population growth rates of 2 to 3 percent per year and resulting high land densities. These factors combined with others, such as lack of non-farm income sources, severe soil fertility depletion, excessive soil acidity, and very low levels of fertilizer use (4 to 7 kg/ha in Africa), result in chronic food insecurity for an increasing number of rural people. Paradoxically, a growing number of agricultural systems of the tropics are also leaking nitrogen and phosphorus into the groundwater and downstream water bodies. Such extremes call for improved management of nutrient stocks and flows. Four example opportunities for improved nutrient management are given. Improved nutrient management opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia illustrate characteristic facets of nutrient management problems. In sub-Saharan Africa, per capita cereal production has declined an average of over 1 % per year from 1961-1991 (Sanders et al., 1996, pp. 3-5). The current low-input agriculture cannot meet the 4% annual increase in food production needed to keep pace with a burgeoning population (Shapiro et al., in review). Several factors contribute to such decreases in productivity, including disappearance or reduction of fallow land and loss of its nutrient regenerating benefits (Berthe et al., 2000). Amounts of animal manures are insufficient to meet this demand (Badiane,1993): e.g., only 1 to 2 3 tonnes of manure per hectare are available, which can seldom supply more than 20 percent of the needs of productive cereals. The result is a net "mining" or progressive decrease in nutrients and nutrient capacity to support and sustain crop growth and production: Smaling et al. (1997: p.52) records losses of22 kg ha.1 of nitrogen, 2.5 kg ha.1 of phosphorus, and 15 kg ha-1 of potassium per year in sub-Saharan Africa. The impact of declining soil nutrient status has been particularly severe for the poorest percentage of the populations, including female-headed households in Africa (Gladwin et al., 1999), because their livelihoods are so closely linked to food and agricultural production and because they often produce the majority of the food consumed in the household. Another often hidden result of soil nutrient mining and depletion is the declining protein availability in household diets resulting from a cropping shift from grain crops to lower protein-producing crops such as cassava, yams, and enset (Hiebsch and Dougherty, 2000). Poor farmers' inabilities to apply adequate amounts of nutrients to high-protein crops is often the result of bad macroeconomic policies resulting in distorted "macro" prices (overvalued exchange rates, distortedly-low product prices and high input prices) as well as a lack of infrastructure (markets, electricity, roads, transportation, credit and banking institutions). Another facet of nutrient management problems is illustrated in the Philippines, where food production is traditionally equated with lowland rice production (Corton et al., 2000). Until very recently, the upland soils were of little interest to mainstream agriculture; they could not easily be converted into paddy rice systems and were not even surveyed at a reconnaissance level. An anecdote from a recent study site in the Philippine uplands illustrates the common perception about upland soil potential. An experiment site was provided by villagers for an SM- CRSP study testing upland technology. The site was well-known; nearly every crop planted there failed inexplicably. Decision aids, however, recommended soil acidity amelioration and the provision of the nutrient phosphorus, based on the hypothesis that food production was particularly limited by excessive acidity and low nutrient status. As a result the legumes peanut and mung bean --local culinary favorites -- grew beautifully. To the amazement of farmers, maize, rice, and soybean are now producing well at the site. Local markets, however, do not yet offer the liming products needed to restore such soils to productivity, although this is likely to change soon due to intense land pressures, reflected by the recent increases in upland rice areas from 85,000 to 137,000 ha (George et al., 1999). This site, further information now indicates, is not atypical. A recent survey of soils of the near the village of San Antonio, Isabela Province, including the site referred to above, indicates that the soils are not only highly acidic with aluminum toxicity, but are also manganese toxic (PhilRice,2000). The Philippine Bureau of Soils and Water Management reported for the first time in 1999 that soil surveys indicate there are 8.1 million ha of Ultisols, soils characterized by high acidity and low nutrient contents, covering nearly 27% of the country. At present, the use of these upland soils are restricted by the lack of nutrient management options available to farmers, which constrain food production not only in the Philippines but also in Laos and Vietnam (Corton 2000). As well as other sites that comprise the IRRI Uplands Consortium. A third facet of the nutrient management constraints is illustrated in Thailand, SE Asia, where inappropriate fertilizers and the lack of soil information are considered problems in nutrient management. For example, farmers in Thailand apply a standard formula of fertilizer irrespective of crop needs (Attanandana, personal communication, 2000). At present, little attention is given to soil differences. Private fertilizer companies do not have research divisions to disseminate information on optimal fertilizer levels to the farmers. In some cases even the fertilizer distributor cannot be changed to apply variable amounts of fertilizers. The western 3 model of a central soil testing laboratory that receives and tests a significant portion of soils from the surrounding agricultural community is not appropriate for the small Asian farmer, who may be farming one hectare in total, but on perhaps 10 separate fields. Clearly a new approach to nutrient deficiency diagnosis is needed on such small land parcels. The challenge of improved nutrient management of such small parcels is not unique in SE Asia but is typical of growers in many tropical regions in not only SE Asia, but also Central and South America as well as sub- Saharan Africa. Recent