Myanmar experts push ASEAN Guidelines on Soil and Nutrient Management

About 40 national experts in Myanmar recently gathered in the 2nd Meeting of National Soil and Nutrient Management (SNM) Expert Group for ASEAN Guidelines on Soil and Nutrient Management in Yangon, Myanmar on 25 August 2016. The Meeting aimed to discuss soil and nutrient issues in the country as part of the development of the ASEAN Guidelines on SNM. The issues discussed included soil data, land use constraint, and good soil and nutrient management in Myanmar and ASEAN.

Chair person, Mr. Soe Win, Director of Land Use Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation

Mr. Soe Win, Director of Land Use Division, on behalf of Director General, Department of Agriculture delivered the opening remarks. He stated that Soil and Nutrient Management (SNM) practices played a vital role to ensure the long-term food security and malnutrition in Myanmar as well as other ASEAN Member State. For this reason, he said that the most important step was to craft the ASEAN SNM Guidelines, which included appropriate SNM technologies for ASEAN region by integrating the ideas of regional and national soil experts.

Mr. Soe Win also welcomed and suggested all participants to put comments and discuss their options freely on the draft ASEAN SNM Guidelines.

The meeting was comprised of SNM experts from Land Use Division, Department of Agricultural Research and Yezin Agricultural University from Yangon and also other States and Divisions as well as the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, private sector, and coordinator from the ASEAN Sustainable Agrofood Systems project.

It was hosted by the Land Use Division, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.

For more details, please read the Summary Report of the 2nd Meeting of National Soil and Nutrient Management Expert Group for ASEAN Guidelines on Soil and Nutrient Management

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By Rojana Manowalailao, ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems

30/08/201610/07/2017

Standard is needed to lift Thailand’s agrifood trade, says exporter

The outbreak of fatal mad cow disease found in red meat and other dairy products in 1999 in Belgium had fired up the food safety issue among the consumers not only in Europe, but around the world. This effected directly to Thai exporters and manufacturers, who export products especially perishable agricultural goods to the continent.

Mr. Chusak Chuenprayoth, founder of Thailand’s Kamphaengsaen Commercial Co., Ltd. or known as KC Fresh, who exported fruits and vegetables to Europe since 1993 had also been affected tremendously by the so-called issue.

Since the outbreak, the European Union required the international exporters to follow the standard classified in the EU white paper’s ‘Good Agricultural Practice’ (GAP) and this gave Mr. Chusak and his partner quite an astonished time.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) uses GAP as a collection of principles to apply for on-farm production and post-production processes, resulting in safe and healthy food and non-food agricultural products, while taking into account economical, social and environmental sustainability.

“When we started, we just bought the vegetables from the market, packed and sold [export]. GAP was quite new to Thailand and not many Thai people had the knowledge about it at that time,” Mr. Chusak said.

His first attempt was to educate himself about this sustainable production. He contacted Kasetsart University, which was well known in agricultural education in Bangkok, in order to translate the EU’s GAP from English to Thai for his better understanding.

At a step by step, he redesigned and reconstructed his export business system taking into consideration the concept of sustainability in the three dimension areas mentioned. Instead of buying fresh vegetables and fruits from the local markets, he established his own ‘family farming system’ under his close monitoring on a use of chemical pesticide and fertilizer. Mr. Chusak made farming contracts with local farmers in Kanchanaburi, Nakornprathom, and Suphanburi.

“Farming contract is a deal on the paper, but what is more important is building trust. I see my farmers as partners. We communicate a lot to make sure that farmers are happy with us and the offers,” he said.

In the ‘family farming system’ farmers share lands and work together in a group as a one big family. In Dontoom Farm, Nakornprathom, for example, 30 contracted small-holder farmers from 13 families grow vegetables together in the shared cultivation area of 125 rai (20 hectare). They grow Chinese morning glory, green asparagus and sweet basils which bring them a net annual income of Baht 211,500 (Euro 5,430) per person. For the Chinese morning glory alone, the farmers at the Dontoom Farm harvest 1 ton (1,000 kilograms) per day continuously for 365 days for export and domestic markets.

On average, KC Fresh delivers 75 tons per month to the oversea markets and 20 tons per month within local markets from the three farms.

“In the beginning I had a lot of headaches,” Mr. Chusak said. “We had to design and calculate how we could harvest the required numbers of the fresh produces daily for every 365 days in GAP qualities.”

In the early days Mr. Chusak had experts from Kasetsart University and also other local agriculture universities visiting the farms on a regular basis to train and educate farmers about the GAP and how to keep up the farming system with the global standard.

It took Mr. Chusak almost 10 years to develop the standardized and sustainable family farming system. He put the special thanks to Kasetsart University and advices from an agricultural expert from South Africa, as well as his farmers and good partnership with supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, where he mostly imports his fresh vegetables and fruits to.

“We will never be successful without the qualified human resource,” Mr. Chusak said, “It is very important to help the people in our supply chain developed as we possibly as we could.”

Mr. Chusak also developed a packing house system and made sure that all the fresh produces were checked, recorded, washed, pre-graded and packed to be in accordance with the certified food safety and standard measures.

KC Fresh is currently certified with ThaiGAP, Q-GAP and GLOBALG.A.P. ThaiGAP is the voluntary private standard while Q-GAP is the government standard belonged to Thailand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. GLOBALG.A.P is the global GAP certifications.

“Standardization is a basic rule and we have to comply,” he said.

Mr. Chusak also put high priority on logistics management to make sure that customers receive quality fresh produces.

The vegetables and fruits are picked in the early morning and sent directly to the packing house within half an hour. At the Dontoom farm where it is quite a distance from the main packing house he built a packing room to secure freshness. After all the packing processes, the products are delivered by the cool truck and always kept in the cool storage room or containers during shipment. For local markets, the products are guaranteed delivery within 24 hours after harvesting while the oversea supermarket chains will receive the goods within 48 hours.

In case of exporting, Mr. Chusak said good communication and support from reliable airlines were needed.

“We have our pride and we have to maintain our reputation,” he said.

After over 20 years in the agrifood business KC Fresh now becomes one of the successful export companies in Thailand with chains of partnership in Asia and Africa continent. Only in the first half of 2016, the company reached a sale volume of 20 million Pound.

When asked if he found anything left challenging, Mr. Chusak said he wanted to name Thailand the food safety and food standard country.

Now that he also chairs at Thai Chamber of Commerce as Deputy Secretary General, he is working on a setup of primary GAP, which is the voluntary private standard, as an entry point for Thai farmers to acquire the higher level standard of ThaiGAP and Q-GAP.

“If we want to develop the [agrifood] industry, we need to set the standard,” he said, “But it is hard to push when people are not yet ready. The farmers need to grow one step at a time. It is like before students pass to secondary schools, they have to go through primary schools first. The benchmark of global GAP is high and to get the Thai national GAP is also not easy. Government may wish to subsidize the cost to implement the Thai national GAP. The farmers need a lot of coaching and training.

“Without the certified food safety and standard, who will trust products from Thailand?,” Mr. Chusak said.

By Rojana Manowalailao and Thitirat Uraisin, ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems

23/08/201607/08/2017

Calling for public-private partnerships in developing green agriculture

Sustainable Agrifood Systems urges for more public-private partnerships in improving environmental friendly food production in agriculture.

Nineteen representatives from eight ASEAN Member States and ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (ASEAN SAS) project recently met at the 7th Steering Committee Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand to report on progress and seek advice on the project’s strategies and future activities.

Dr. Matthias Bickel, ASEAN SAS Project Director said a lot still needed to be done in reaching green agriculture and teaming with public and private companies would deem necessary.

During the Meeting, Mr. Quy Duong Nguyen, Deputy Director General of Plant Protection Department from Vietnam addressed an overuse of chemicals in agriculture in the country and suggested further trainings for both farmers and chemical retailers to be responsible pesticide users to achieve sustainable agrifood production.

Supported by Croplife International in Vietnam, ASEAN SAS cooperates with the Can Tho University and the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute to develop training modules for farmers and retailers in a programme called “Promotion of Integrated Pest Management to address plant hopper outbreaks in Rice”. It is expected that a minimum of 15,000 farmers and 300 pesticide retailers will be trained in agro-ecological practices and the effective use and safe application of pesticides.

“Pest is the huge issue in the ASEAN countries, and so does the education for the pesticide dealers. We should take this [further] to PPP [public private partnership], because this PPP allows us to tap on additional funds and investments from the private sectors, whose concerns are also raised exactly on that kind of point,” said Dr. Bickel.

The ASEAN SAS steering committee also discussed a potential improvement of a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) system in Myanmar particularly on Mango and other crops besides the project’s priority crops (rice, vegetable, and fruit) and facilities for pesticide residue examination which was suggested by Mr. Aye Ko Ko, Deputy Director General of Department of Agriculture from Myanmar.

To improve the GAP system in Myanmar, Dr. Bickel again emphasised the role and cooperation of the private sector would deem significant. In addition, internal discussion would be further conducted upon Myanmar’s request regarding guidance on technical knowledge and facilities for the pesticide residue examination.

“To link the various activities to PPP…that is exactly the approach we are trying to take stronger and stronger to incorporate the biocontrol, farm economies, nutrient management in supply chain.

“[Also] By being able to test the residue level on spot is to make longer sustainable chain, upgrading the supply chain, enabling the farmers and all the traders to really check on spot, and avoiding the cargoes to be rejected. That’s one of the most important issues in ASEAN region,” said Dr. Bickel.

Mr. Aye Ko Ko, Deputy Director General of Department of Agriculture from Myanmar

Mr. Aye Ko Ko from Myanmar also showed interests in improving crop insurance mechanism in the country. He said around 800,000 acres of rice field were destroyed by the change of climate last year.

Ms. Wilma Cuaterno, Chief of Crop Pest Management Division, Bureau of Plant Industry, Philippines shared a story about the crop insurance in her country. She said the crop insurance covered not just crops, but also fish and livestock, and it is being subsidized by the government.

“Two years ago, we talked with the insurance companies, and they doubted that they wanted to erase insurance on pests and diseases because they said that there were some strategies and technology that could really control our management in pests and diseases, and they just wanted to concentrate on natural calamity, because Philippines were very prone to disaster,” she said.

The 7th Steering Committee Meeting of the ASEAN SAS was held on 17 June 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand and attended by steering committee members (focal points) from the eight ASEAN countries with the exception of Brunei Darussalam and Singapore and representative from Project Coordination Unit (PCU) of ASEAN SAS project as members of Project Steering Committee.

Malaysia will host the 8th Steering Committee Meeting in December 2016.

By Rojana Manowalailao, ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems

17/08/201607/08/2017

Channelling climate information services to rice farmers in Indonesia

By: Shinta Purnama Sarie

Climate change challenges among rice farmers in Indonesia

Rice has been feeding the Southeast Asian region’s population for well over 4,000 years. In Indonesia alone, it is the staple food of its 557 million inhabitants. The country is endowed with a tropical climate which provides ideal conditions for rice cultivation. Despite the steady increase in rice production and productivity, the likewise increase in extreme weather events and other climate change-related threats make rice cultivation increasingly risky for the 37.75 million smallholder rice farmers in Indonesia. According to the survey to 251 farmers in Indonesia, sixty nine percent (69%) farmers agree that the main challenge in cultivating rice is pests and diseases, followed by extreme and unpredictable weather, thirty one percent (31%). According to various published studies, climate change also participates in spreading or changing the life cycle of pest and diseases. 1

Therefore, climate information and related agronomic advisory services are needed as an approach to support rice farmers in making the best management decisions on their farms and increase their adaptive capacities to climate change.

How farmers make farming decisions to address climate change

As early as 3000 BCE, rice has already been being cultivated. In Indonesia, the seedling calendar based on weather information is the main consideration before planting due to the country’s dependence on rainfall. With regard to their use of the seedling calendar, 56% of farmers said that it has been recommended by their farmer friend; 21% farmers said that it’s through government intervention; and 10% said they base it on current weather forecast. After the planting time is set, farmers begin to cultivate with several steps to follow, starting from choosing seed varieties and quality, land preparation, seedling.

To grow rice, farmers have to know when to grow it by selecting the seed varieties and quality that will suit their condition. According to the survey, forty two percent (42%) farmers select their seeds based on the information that their older generation passed; while thirty four percent (34%) select their seeds based on their farmer friend’s recommendation.
After the seed is selected, farmers prepare the land, which involves plowing and harrowing to ‘till’ or dig-up, mix and level the soil. There are two choices on how farmers plant once the land is well prepared – transplanting and direct seedling.3 Eighty one percent (81%) of farmers plant the rice by transplanting while the remaining nineteen percent (19%) plant by direct seedling.

Figure 1. Water system in rice farming

Beyond rice harvest, farmers need to pay attention to pests and diseases and water shortage in their field. Fifty five percent (55%) of farmers have access to the local irrigation system; while thirty one percent (31%) fully depend on rainfall for irrigating their farms. This conveys that most of the farmers who participated in the survey are smallholder rice farmers that have well-developed irrigation. There is no denying that farmers who depend on rainfall are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The role of rice as a main food staple has now extended to issues concerning food security, society, and economy in Indonesia due to the effects of climate change. Only seventeen point five percent (17,5%) farmers plant alternative crops, mainly tomatoes and corn. Alternative plants will give substitutive income when weather is unreliable or even additional income to farmers. The need of a new technique in rice cultivation related to dealing with such is emerging. However, some farmers still have not embraced this change and continuously rely on traditional practices. While some of these are still useful, farmers need new and up-to-date information in making farming decisions as the problem now is getting more complex with climate change

Recommendations in channeling climate information to rice farmers

Since awareness to climate change is present, channeling climate information to farmers on how to cultivate rice while at the same time adapting to climate change has been less difficult. The survey reveals that farmers are aware of the importance of climate or weather information but are having difficulties accessing it. Moreover, fifty eight percent (58%) of the farmers believe weather information is important; fifty three (53%) of farmers do not have the access; sixty nine percent (69%) farmers do not have access to knowledge in dealing with extreme weather or climate change; and ninety eight percent (98%) agree that the knowledge on how to deal with it is important.

Table 1 shows existing modes of communication in disseminating climate information such as weather forecast as well as agriculture knowledge on how to adapt to climate change. In terms of weather forecast, most farmers twenty eight percent (28%) easily get access such information both from Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG) and TV; followed by through farmer friends, twenty seven percent (27%). When it comes obtaining information related to extreme weather events, twenty eight percent (28%) majority of farmers trust extension agents. As previously mentioned, knowledge from farmers friend is the main consideration of thirty four percent (34%) of farmers in making farming decisions. For adapting new agriculture knowledge, farmers also trust information from farmer friend. From this background, the survey suggests maximizing the role of farmer-to-farmer extension in circulating climate information and knowledge to influence farming decision, particularly in tackling climate change.

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The survey was taken by BASF and ASEAN-German Programme on Response to Climate Change in Agriculture and Forestry (GAP-CC). GAP-CC is comprised of two projects designed to improve the framework conditions for sustainable agriculture and forestry in ASEAN Member States: FOR-CC project that promoting increased resilience to climate change in ASEAN Member States through the dissemination of climate smart agriculture practices and the ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems project (ASEAN SAS), through the Better Rice Initiative Asia (BRIA) that developing and disseminating best practices in rice production to improve farmer’s incomes and nutrition while reducing externalities on the environment. Total of farmers who participate is 251 farmers. 61% farmers participating in the survey are from Java islands, which is the main rice growing region of the country. The majority of them is male farmers aged between 31—50 years old. 50% farmers have a piece of rice field as much as 0.1—1 hectares. 57% farmers are able to yield as much as 7—10 ton/hectares.

1 D. O. Manzanilla, T. R. Paris, G. V. Vergara, A. M. Ismail, S. Pandey, R. V. Labios, G. T. Tatlonghari, R. D. Acda and T. T. N. Chi, “Submergence Risks and Farmers’ Preferences: Implications for Breeding Sub1 Rice in Southeast Asia,” Agricultural Systems, Vol. 104, 2011, pp. 335- 347. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2010.12.005

14/07/201610/07/2017

Thailand’s agrifood industry moving one step at a time to food standard and safety

Instead of creating a burning feeling in a mouth, a small packet of dried chili powder spiced up a far hotter impact by putting agrifood exports of ASEAN nations into a heating pot.

A story was told by Chusak Chuenprayoth, a Chair Director of KC Fresh, one of Thailand’s largest exporters of fresh vegetable and fruit to European countries. Over a hundred shipment containers of instant noodles from an ASEAN nation were rejected at a destination country in Europe and returned to the export company after chemical residue was found in the small chili flavoring powder wrap in one instant noodle pack. The noodle sample was randomly selected from those of thousands and thousands.

Millions were lost. So did the credit and reputation.

The seemingly trivial little chili powder was used as an example by Mr. Chusak to explain to his GIZ’s visitors that the insignificant details could not be ignored in food standard and food safety, particularly in exporting business.

“GAP (Good Agricultural Practice)] should be used as a tool for the product’s safety and it should be implemented on the ground, not just having it a license paper,” he told the 22 participants from the Agriculture Working Group of GIZ’s Sector Network Natural Resources and Rural Development Asia (SNRD) at his office in Nakornpathom province, Thailand. A team of ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems who is a member of the Agriculture Working Group also joined this study visit on an afternoon of 3 June 2016.

Mr. Chusak, however, stressed that small-holder farmers in Thailand need to be assisted well better to meet requirements for the national GAP (ThaiGAP and Q-GAP) and global GAP (GLOBALG.A.P) certifications. ThaiGAP is the voluntary private standard while Q-GAP is the government standard belonged to Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

These days he spends most of his time with the Thai Chamber of Commerce to develop a new private standard primary GAP called ‘primary GAP’ as an entry point to gradually prepare the small-holder farmers and make them adjusted in order to eventually meet the national and global standards.

“[The purpose of] having standards is not for marking up higher prices. Standard is a basic rule and ones should comply. But, we will never succeed without the people [farmers]. In my experiences, we provide them skills and develop them to their maximum [to perform their functions and roles] in a supply chain,” he said.

After over 20 years in the agrifood business and his company’s sale volume of 20 million pound in the first half of 2016, he said he wished to see Thailand’s agrifood industry developed and the nation is known for its food quality, safety, and standard.

“The big problem is lack of human resources. The benchmark of global GAP is high. To be certified with the national GAP is also not easy. Government may wish to subsidise the cost to implement the national GAP. The farmers need a lot of coaching and training. They need to grow one step at a time. It is like before students pass to secondary schools, they have to go through primary schools first. It is hard to push when people are not yet ready.

Photo courtesy: KC Fresh

“And, the private sector also has to take part.”

In 1993 when Mr. Chusak established his KC Fresh, he said he had had a lot of big headache, and through times things has become settled and routine. This time, as a Deputy Secretary General of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the ultimate goal of improving the agrifood export business in Thailand, Mr. Chusak would have been going through a lot of challenges once again. But, as he said: “Because life was not perishable” [unlike his fresh vegetables and fruits], he would remain being active and alert.

The stake is high, but Mr. Chusak would sure be active and alert.

By Rojana Manowalailao and Thitirat Uraisin, ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems

11/07/201610/07/2017

A study in Cambodia finds organic contract farming raises income of smallholders by as much as four times

A recent study compiled by ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (ASEAN SAS) found that organic contract farmers in Cambodia generated almost four times more from farm activities than conventional smallholders – an economically highly substantial finding. For the most part, these results are attributable to the CEDAC (The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture) agricultural programme, which through a bundle of hands-on training on organic farming, group certification, and contract farming arrangements aims to tackle rural poverty.

Since additional income is created, organic cultivation offers a highly interesting modality for development whereas the organic label reflects the value added.

In 2015, ASEAN SAS commissioned this research to evaluate how organic contract faming impinges on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers adopting it. Over the course of three months, lead researcher Mr. Benjamin Scholz supported by an interpreter and two CEDAC field staff conducted over 250 face-to-face interviews with rice farmers from 39 villages in Tram Kak district in Takeo province.

On 23 June 2016, the ASEAN SAS team in Cambodia held an event to disseminate the findings at the newly inaugurated Eco-Agri Center, located at the heart of Phnom Penh city. Among the participants were representatives of CEDAC, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the Japanese Embassy, Oxfam Cambodia, SNV Netherlands Development Organization, the German Foreign Exchange Service (DAAD), Indochina Research, the project’s partner company Entrée Baitang, and other GIZ projects as well as the GIZ Country Director to Cambodia, Mr. Adelbert Eberhardt.

Apart from sharing specific study findings, the event served as a valuable platform to exchange ideas and spread the word about the organic movement in Cambodia. During the presentation of results, some participants were surprised about the stark difference in farm income separating CEDAC farmers and conventional farmers.

But on an alarming note, many among the audience were shocked as to how vulnerable both organic and conventional rice farmers appear to be towards frequently occuring natural disasters, such as drought and flood. The findings revealed that in many cases farmer households lost up to one third of their total produce, reflecting both particularly severe climatic conditions and low capacity to cope.

Irrigation systems are therefore still very much needed to secure harvests in times of recurring water scarcity – regardless of whether one grow with organic techniques or not.

The results of the research study are now available and will soon be publish published by ASEAN SAS.

By ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems Team, Cambodia

07/07/201618/07/2017

Lao’s pesticide decree uplifted and to be finalised soon

Department of Agriculture of Laos has recently completed a series of “Government Hearing Consultation Meetings on the Pesticide Decree for Synthetic Chemicals and Biological Control Agents” participated by 115 representatives from 16 provinces.

Lao PDR has 18 provinces including Vientiane as a capital province.

Pesticides are dangerous to human, animal and environment both in short and long terms. Pesticide residues also lead to rejections of export of agriculture produces. To manage the pesticides in Lao PDR, the Decree therefore has been developed in order to ensure the safety of the living beings and environment.

The Lao government has issued a mandate stating that the current Ministerial Regulation on pesticides must be uplifted to Prime Minister Decree in order for providing more powers and measures to assigned authorities in control of the synthetic chemical pesticides while promoting the biological agents that ASEAN Member States have already harmonising its regulatory framework through the ASEAN Guidelines on the Regulation, Use, and Trade of Biological Control Agents.

Further, the Pesticides Decree will create coordination mechanism for relevant government sectors to involve and participate in controlling not only the use of the pesticides but other related activities in relation to pesticides as production, sale, transportation, importation and disposal.

After the gathering of comments and recommendations gained from Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Offices, the Pesticide Decree will be considered by the committee.

Department of Agriculture with the support of the regional cooperation project “ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (ASEAN SAS)” organised two Government Hearing Consultation Meetings on the Pesticide Decree. The first meeting was conducted on 26^th April 2016 in Bokeo province attended by 35 participants from six provinces of the northern part of Lao PDR, and the second meeting was conducted on 24^th May 2016 in Bolikhamxay province with 80 participants from ten provinces in the central and southern parts of the country.

The participants requested the committee to look into comments and recommendations of the two consultation meetings to review technical words in the Pesticide Decree such as the words ‘Pesticide Decree’ and ‘Pests’ and check the whole contents in the Decree because there are overlapped in some Articles. Comments and inputs as technical support were also provided by experts from the ASEAN SAS.

The key recommendations from the two government hearing consultation meetings will be considered and incorporated into the final draft of the Pesticide Decree that will be finalised at the round table committee meeting to be organised in the near future.

After that, the final draft of the Pesticide Decree agreed by the Committee will be considered and approved by the Council for Science and Technology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry before a signature endorsement by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.

By ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems Team, Lao PDR

16/06/201610/07/2017

Increasing the use of climate information services to manage climate related risks in rice farming

The ASEAN Forestry and Climate Change Project (FOR-CC) joined hands with the ‘Better Rice Initiative Asia’ (BRIA) to organize a training of trainers on ‘Using Climate Information for Decision Making in Rice Farming’. The event was held in Grand Serela Hotel, Medan on May 5—7, 2016 and aims to develop an effective approach to support farmers in making better informed decisions about their crop and management options. To do so, a training module to improve farmers’ access to climate information as well as capacities to use this information and develop response strategies will be developed based on the training.

The training was attended by BRIA champion farmers, BRIA’s field facilitators, education institutions (University of North Sumatera (USU), Islam University of North Sumatera (UISU), College for Agriculture Extension (STPP) Medan), Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology(BPTP) North Sumatera, Food Crops and Horticulture Plant Protection Service (BPTPH) North Sumatera. They are expected to use the learning and integrate it into their services provided to farmers and related organizations. Lectures were provided by key experts on the topic in Indonesia like the Indonesian Agroclimate and Hydrology Research Institute (IAHRI), the Indonesian Center for Rice Research (ICRR), the Center for Pest Forecasting (BBPOPT), the Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG), University of Indonesia and the Indramayu Rainfall Observers Club. They covered topics ranging from the basic concepts of climatology and climate change to the Integrated Cropping Calendar of the IAHRI, new and improved rice varieties as well as the relationship between climatic factors and pest control.

The training was complemented by a field trip to Suka Makmur village, Binjai, Langkat, North Sumatera to observe a BMKG rainfall monitoring station and discuss the possible uses of climate information. On this occasion, Rhino Ariefiansyah an anthropologist from the University of Indonesia, together with one ofIndramayu Rainfall Observers Club member, Nurkillah demonstrated how the club collects rainfall and agro-ecological information and utilized to improve farm management decisions.

“I feel lucky to be able to join the training. It gave me an insight how actually we can use climate information to be well prepared of climate change. Nurkillah inspired me a lot on how to manage rice field. I am also happy that I have new friends to discuss about my rice fields and new knowledge. I just learnt that we actually have many types of rice varieties,” told Suhaimin, a farmer in Langkat, Medan, North Sumatera.

In the future, BRIA will keep updating its training modules by taking climate issues into account for extension activity. Furthermore, BRIA plans to integrate the CFT for rice within its database as well as to seek a cooperation with BMKG Sumatera Utara in term of addressing climate information services.

ASEAN-German Programme on Response to Climate Change in Agriculture and Forestry (GAP-CC) is comprised of two projects designed to improve the framework conditions for sustainable agriculture and forestry in ASEAN Member States: FOR-CC project that promoting increased resilience to climate change in ASEAN Member States through the dissemination of climate smart agriculture practices and the Sustainable Agrifoods System project (SAS), through the Better Rice Initiative Asia (BRIA) that developing and disseminating best practices in rice production to improve farmer’s incomes and nutrition while reducing externalities on the environment.

Article contributed by ASEAN Forestry and Climate Change (FOR-CC)/ Photos by Theopilus Sitepu

14/06/201607/08/2017

‘From Fruit to Juice: From Integrity to Food Security’ video (English)

07/06/201607/08/2017

Cambodia experts contribute to the drafting of Regional Guidelines on Soil and Nutrient Management

National expert group discussed issues of soil and nutrient management in Cambodia emphasizing adoption of good practices for current soil problems in contribution to the development of the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on Soil and Nutrient Management.

The consultative meeting in Phnom Penh jointly organized by the General Directorate of Agriculture (GDA) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and GIZ through ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems (ASEAN SAS) project brought together 35 national participants from NGOs, public and private sectors to exchange their experiences on practical management of soil constraints, soil fertility, cropping system, and relevant law, regulations, and directives in Cambodia. The information would be submitted to ASEAN Expert Group for drafting the ASEAN Regional Guidelines (GLs) on Soil and Nutrient Management (SNM).

There is an alarming call for ASEAN to formulate a specific set of regionally coordinated policy recommendations in addressing soil degradation problems and encouraging and supporting productive use of agricultural crop lands to secure agrifood system in the region. In recent years, more attention has been given by ASEAN to an integrated approach to tackle soil degradation in the context of the environmental, economic and livelihood and against a background of harsh climate change, globalization and demographic shifts within the region. Such an approach involves policy development, legislation and regulation, and the application of comprehensive and coordinated measures to stabilize and remediate soil degradation.

ASEAN SAS supports the ASEAN member states (AMS) in formulating ASEAN Regional GLs on SNM. The development of the GLs is designed as a policy framework tool to create enabling condition for AMS for the promotion of sustainable food production at the national level.

Deputy General of GDA, Mr. Sron Sokhom who said during his opening remarks that the ASEAN economic integration that came to effect in December 2015 allowed combining effort among the member states to work together for improved food and nutrition security, and the results of the meeting should be valuable inputs for developing the GLs.

In Cambodia, rice farming is a major production which occupies around 3 million hectare equalling 80 percent of total agricultural land and 20 percent of national territory.

Mr. Tim Thon, representative from GDA told that the Cambodian royal government defined soil as a key factor to improve agricultural productivity. It is required to have better knowledge on the management of soil resources, especially farmer or extension works should be able to identify and analyse their soil type and its fertility before transplanting.

He furthered that in Cambodia deforestation for crop cultivation is observed in slopping land areas. As a consequence, high surface runoff takes place resulting in soil lose and nutrient depletion. In farmer fields where cultivate monoculture such as maize cultivation in North provinces, farmer practice also causes soil loss and water runoff, and soil degradation.

At present improper use of fertilizer and/or pesticide is widely observed, and soon to be a major issue occurring – in southeast of Cambodia, however he stated that Cambodia is one of its neighboring countries that consume lowest chemical fertilizer (N,P,K).

Mr. Thon highlighted that GDA would focus on the law drafting on agricultural soil management, designing of a map for cropping (Geography Crop Identification), increase of production and price of agricultural products, and development of irrigation system.

ASEAN Regional GLs contents are developed through regional and national consultations. The ASEAN Expert Group on SNM is responsible for writing contents of the GLs with support from national working groups in AMS. The Group of regional expert comprises of ten senior officers nominated by AMS government officials. In the implementation at the national level, ASEAN Expert Group member leads and directs the national task force in preparation of national contents on relevant topics based on the scope of contents of the GLs.

The 1^st and the 2^nd meetings of ASEAN Expert Group were held in Myanmar in 2014 and Singapore in 2015 consecutively where scope of contents of the GLs was finalised. The scope of guidelines on SNM covers:

Properties and issues of soils in ASEAN
Good Soil Management Practices

Good Nutrient Management Practices

Standards, Regulations and Market information of bio-fertilizer and supplements
Recommendations for soil and nutrient management

The guidelines will be derived from what has been suggested as best practices in AMS and aim to:

emphasise the importance of soil and nutrient management in attaining sustainable agriculture;.
provide guidance that helps decision makers to formulate policies that encourage sustainable agriculture, crop production and soil health;
provide guidance to practitioners to implement best management practices that underpin productive, profitable and sustainable soil and nutrient management;
harmonise recommendations across the ASEAN region in order to improve soil and nutrient management and support the rural sector to become resilient to climate change.

Currently, the development of the guidelines has reached the third review stage by the ASEAN Regional Expert Group. The latest review of contents was conducted last November through the 3^rd meeting of ASEAN Expert Group in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

The 4^th meeting of ASEAN Expert group on SNM was organized from 11 to 12 May 2016, in Brunei Darussalam to review the 3^rd draft of ASEAN Regional GLs on SNM.

ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems supports the ASEAN member (AMS) states in formulating the ASEAN Regional Guidelines (GLs) on Soil and Nutrient Management (SNM). The development of the GLs is designed as a policy framework tool to create enabling condition for AMS for the promotion of sustainable food production at the national level. The ASEAN Regional GLs contents are developed through regional and national consultations. The ASEAN Expert Group on SNM is responsible for writing contents of the GLs with support from national working groups in AMS. The Group of regional expert comprises of ten senior officers nominated by AMS government officials. In the implementation at the national level, ASEAN Expert Group member leads and directs the national task force in preparation of national contents on relevant topics based on the scope of contents of the GLs.

By ASEAN Sustainable Agrifood Systems Team, Thailand