Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas in South Asia Edited by S. Pandey, D. Gauchan, M. Malabayabas, M. Bool-Emerick, and B. Hardy 2012 Contents i The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations with the help and approval of the Government of the Philippines. Today, IRRI is one of the 15 nonprofi t international research centers supported in part by more than 40 donors: members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR – www.cgiar.org), other government funding agencies, foundations, the private sector, and nongovernment organizations. The responsibility for this publication rests with the International Rice Research Institute. 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ShareAlike: If this work is altered, transformed, or built upon, the resulting work must be distributed only under the same or similar license to this one. l For any reuse or distribution, the license terms of this work must be made clear to others. l Any of the above conditions can be waived if permission is obtained from the copyright holder. l Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. l Fair dealing and other rights are in no way affected by the above. l To view the full text of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Mailing address: IRRI, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines Phone: +63 (2) 580-5600 Fax: +63 (2) 580-5699 Email: [email protected] Web: www.irri.org. Rice Knowledge Bank: www.knowledgebank.irri.org Courier address: Suite 1009, Security Bank Center 6776 Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Philippines Tel. +63 (2) 891-1236, 891-1174, 891-1258, 891-1303 Suggested citation: Pandey S, Gauchan D, Malabayabas M, Bool-Emerick M, Hardy B, editors. 2012. Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas in South Asia. Los Baños (Philippines): International Rice Re- search Institute. 318 p. Cover design: Juan Lazaro IV Page makeup and composition: Emmanuel Panisales Figures and illustrations: Emmanuel Panisales ISBNii Contents 978-971-22-0287-2 Contents Foreword v Acknowledgments vi Chapter 1 Synthesis of key results and implications 1 D. Gauchan and S. Pandey Chapter 2 Methodological framework 19 D. Gauchan and S. Pandey Chapter 3 Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level 35 impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas of Nepal D. Gauchan, H.K. Panta, S. Gautam, and M.B. Nepali Chapter 4 Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level 105 impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas of Assam, India N. Deka and D. Gauchan Chapter 5 Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level 161 impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas of Bangladesh M.R. Islam, M.A. Islam, M.S. Rahman, A. Salam, S. Alam, E. Harun, and M. Bool-Emerick Chapter 6 Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level 215 impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas of West Bengal, India B. Bagchi and M. Bool-Emerick Chapter 7 Patterns of adoption of improved rice varieties and farm-level 259 impacts in stress-prone rainfed areas of Chhattisgarh and Orissa D. Behura, A. Koshta, D. Naik, P. Samal, and M. Malabayabas Foreword iii vii Foreword Widespread and persistent poverty in Asia is a longstanding problem, particularly in rainfed ecosystems. Rice is dominant in these areas because it is the only crop that can be grown in the wet season. As a result, it is the principal source of the rural popula- tion’s food, employment, and income. Rice yields in these rainfed ecosystems—home to 100 million farm households that plant a total of 60 million hectares—remain low (1.5–2.5 tons/ha) and unstable— unstable because of two perennial wraths of nature, drought and fl ooding, which with looming climate change will only become worse. Compounding this problem are poor soils that pervade many rice-growing environments. The incidence of poverty in these rainfed areas is high. Many of these poor people belong to minority ethnic groups, lower castes, and tribes that are economically and socially marginalized. These people are truly the poorest of the poor. And they will stay that way unless the farm families among them can obtain higher incomes through higher and more stable rice yields in the rainfed environments where rice productivity is constrained by diffi cult growing conditions. Raising the productivity and stability of rice in this region is a key to reducing poverty. Higher rice productivity will directly increase the quantity of food available to poor households. This will also raise the income of poor landless households as family members are employed as hired labor for rice production. Increased production will benefi t the poor households that buy rice by keeping its price low. In addition, higher rice productivity will promote diversifi cation into income-generating activities as family food needs can be met from using less land and labor. The cumulative effect of these factors can provide a strong foundation for reducing poverty. With this vision, IRRI is investing substantially in developing rice varieties and production practices that are suited to rainfed environments where rice production suffers from drought, submergence, and salinity. Support from many donors has led to the development of several improved rice varieties that are tolerant of submergence, drought, and salinity. These varieties are now being widely distributed in rainfed rice areas in Asia and Africa under the project “Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA)” with major support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is important to understand the social and economic context of rice production in these areas for effi cient targeting of such varieties and for assessing their impacts. The various chapters in this book are based on household-level benchmark data on farmers’ livelihood strategies, technology adoption patterns, constraints to adoption, and the impact of drought, submergence, and salinity in rainfed rice-growing areas of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. I am confi dent that the results, based on a detailed analysis of farm-level data from these three countries, provide important insights for underpinning technology development and dissemination in stress-prone rainfed areas. Robert S. Zeigler Director General IRRI v Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge several organizations and individuals that have directly or indirectly contributed to the completion of this research work and publication. The research carried out here is a part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations (BMGF)– supported project on Stress-Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (STRASA). We acknowledge funding support from the Foundation. The research was implemented by IRRI in partnership with many national re- search organizations in South Asia. The main partner organizations directly involved were the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Orissa Univeristy of Agri- cultural Technology (OUAT), Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Indira Gandhi Agricultural University (IGAU), Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Nadia Zilla Farmers’ Development Organization (NZFDO), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Institute of Agricultural and Animal Sciences (IAAS), and Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). The following staff of these organizations took on leadership roles in implementing the research work: Dr. Shahe Alam (BRRI), Mr. Eusuf Harun (BRRI), Dr. M. Rafi qul Islam (BRRI), Mr. M. Ariful Islam (BRRI), Mr. Abdus Salam (BRRI), Mr. M. Saidur Rahman (BAU), Dr. Bhanudeb Bagchi (NZFDO), Dr. Parshuram Samal (CRRI), Dr. Dibakar Naik (OUAT), Dr. Debdutt Behura (OUAT), Dr. Nivedita Deka (AAU), Dr. Ajay Kumar Koshta (IGAU), Mr. Megh B. Nepali (NARC), Mr. Sudeep Gautam (NARC), and Mr. Hari Panta (IAAS). We would like to express our appreciation to those organizations and individuals for their collaboration. We thank the staff of the Social Sciences Division—Ludy Velasco, Orlee Velarde, Lydia Damian, and Gina Zarsadias—who were directly involved in providing sup- port at various stages of the research study. Dr. Andy Nelson and the staff of IRRI’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory, particularly Cornelia Garcia, provided the maps. Other SSD staff who provided logistical and other support were Dr. Thelma Paris, Josie Narciso, and Mirla Domingo. We also wish to thank the staff of IRRI’s Communication and Publications Services, who helped with the graphic design and gave editorial assistance: Emmanuel Panisales, Juan Lazaro, and Grace Cañas. We are also grateful to the STRASA management team, initially led by Dr. David Mackill and subsequently by Dr. Abdelbagi Ismail. We also acknowledge the help provided by Dr. Umesh Singh, the South Asia coordinator for STRASA. Finally, we are thankful to the 1,900 farmers from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal who provided their time and valuable information on which this work is based. Editors vi D. Gauchan and S. Pandey vii Chapter 1 Synthesis of key results and implications Synthesis of key results and implications 1 2 D. Gauchan and S. Pandey Synthesis of key results and implications D. Gauchan and S. Pandey Rice is the main staple food and a major source of livelihood for more than 400 mil- lion people in South Asia (IRRI 2010).