Laser land leveling introduced to Indonesia’s tidal swamp areas to boost rice productivity

by Reianne Quilloy 
Reposted from Rice Today online 

SOUTH SUMATRA, Indonesia—“Now, I and my fellow students who came here can better help our parents in running our farms,” exclaimed Dulhamid, a high school student at a specialized agricultural school in nearby Tanjung Lago. He was enthusiastically talking about his recent attendance at a demonstration of a laser land-leveling system that could improve the productivity of rice farms in the tidal swamp areas in Palembang and other parts of Indonesia.

Farmers, extension workers, and students in Palembang learn firsthand the basic of laser land leveling. (Photo by R. Quilloy)

Twenty-four farmers, extension agents, and local students attended the demonstration, held 28-29 September. It clearly showed how the technology could become a vital tool for increasing agricultural production while reducing the cost of growing rice and thus encourage its adoption.

One of the challenges that limit farmers’ rice production in Mulya Sari and neighboring villages in Banyuasin District is their unleveled fields. Unleveled rice fields consume three times more water than leveled fields. They also suffer a 5-10% yield reduction due to uneven crop maturation and higher weed infestation. However, traditional land leveling using draft animals or two-wheeled tractors are quite laborious that still leave the field inadequately leveled.

Land leveling using the laser system is faster and more effective in ensuring an even surface. In laser-leveled fields, irrigation water reaches every part of the field thus reducing waste from waterlogging and runoff. Evenly distributed water in rice fields can also control weeds so farmers can reduce their use of herbicides.

The event was organized by Closing Rice Yield Gaps in Asia with Reduced Environmental Footprints (CORIGAP) project in collaboration with the Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technologies (AIAT).

“Our goal at AIAT is to assess technologies being introduced and make recommendations for the government’s extension arm,” said Budi Raharjo, AIAT researcher and postharvest specialist. “This is part of our efforts to reach our national rice sufficiency goals and an initial step to introduce the laser-leveling technology in the country. It is also gaining a lot of interest in other provinces.”

Caling Balingbing, a scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), conducted the demonstration and provided training on topographic field surveying and operating and maintaining a tractor.

“We want to know more about this technology and the experience of farmers in other countries, said Pak Ruwanto, a farmer from Banyuasin. “We also hope that other farmers in Indonesia can see and use this technology so we can all benefit.”

“We learned how to do the pace method as part of the topographic surveying and I was able to operate a tractor,” added Dulhamid.

During the demonstration, IRRI and AIAT introduced the concept of the Learning Alliance. This is an interactive and participatory activity that brings together different stakeholders to assess and develop ways to optimize the use of new technologies so smallholder farmers can truly benefit from them. The CORIGAP project has been using the Learning Alliance as a platform where different stakeholders with common interests can share and learn from each other’s experiences.

CORIGAP is a 4-year project implemented by IRRI and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Smallholder farmers develop business models for postharvest services

Reposted from: IRRI News

MAUBIN TOWNSHIP, Myanmar –Farmers from rice-based villages have developed business plans for the sustainable use of postharvest equipment and generating income by providing postharvest services to other farmers.

Eleven farmers, representing three farmer groups from Maubin and Daik-U Townships, created practical business frameworks for threshing, drying, and storage technologies developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The plans were formed with assistance from the Department of Agriculture and IRRI's postharvest group.

Through the Learning Alliance (LA), IRRI will lend threshers, solar dryers, and hermetic storage technologies to the farmer groups that will provide postproduction-related services to other rice farmers. The LA is a platform supported by the project, Diversification and intensification of rice-based cropping systems in lower Myanmar (MyRice), and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The farmer groups will then use the earnings to pay for the equipment through MyRice.

 “If we can prove that the plans we developed are profitable for these farmers, we can use this model to help other smallholder farmers in other regions of Myanmar,” said Martin Gummert, IRRI’s postharvest expert. “MyRice has demonstrated effective postharvest technologies. This is an opportunity to sustain the use of technology that is already tested and found technically feasible. At the same time, this will help other farmers increase the value of their rice by providing access to the technologies.”

Using this approach, which is similar to leasing, IRRI can demonstrate the viability of the business model without the need for an upfront investment. Such an investment is an unrealistic requirement for farmers who have to take considerable risks when trying a new technology.

The farmer groups, which are also LA members, and Dr. Myo Aung Kyaw from the Pioneer Postharvest Development Group, discussed mechanisms to manage the equipment.This Group is one of IRRI’s key partners in Myanmar. They also formed groups to assign roles and responsibilities to ensure proper maintenance of the equipment as well as a practical business plan that provides services to potential clients.

The farmer groups will validate and fine tune the initial business model developed during the April 2016 harvesting season.

Through the LA, MyRice will provide the technical assistance and advice on managerial issues that might occur during the piloting.

“If we can fully develop a business model for at least for one technology, we can use the data as a benchmark to develop more business models for other postharvest technologies that will cater to other interested farmers or farmer groups in Myanmar,” Gummert said.

IRRI-Bangladesh gets the ball rolling on new project for reducing postharvest losses

by Alfred Schmidley 

IRRI-Bangladesh kicked off the Innovations Lab for Reduction of Postharvest Loss, a new project that aims to enhance food security in Bangladesh by reducing postharvest losses and recovering more rice from farmers’ harvests, at the BRAC Center in Dhaka on 3 June.  The 5-year project is funded by USAID, under the Feed the Future initiative, and will be implemented by IRRI–Bangladesh with support from Kansas State University and  the University of Illinois.

The event included learning activities in identifying postharvest needs for research and technologies. It also focused on improving the processing of both paddy and seed through multi-stakeholder partnerships, including farmers and women Self-Help Groups. Participating organizations included international NGOs, universities and government research institutions, community-based organizations, and other postharvest stakeholders. Dr. M.A. Sattar Mandal, former vice-chancellor and current professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Dr. Shahidur Rahman Bhuiyan, USAID senior agricultural and food policy advisor, and Dr. Paul Fox, IRRI representative for Bangladesh, were the featured speakers. 

As part of its next step, Innovations Lab for Reduction of Postharvest Loss will engage local partner networks for assessing needs for training and piloting of awareness-raising of options that suit to local actors needs.

Myanmar: Farmers learn to link with wholesale and export market

by Rica Joy Flor

Farmers from Bogale and Maubin asks some questions to the trader about the prices and the types of rice they sell

A learning alliance (LA) meeting on linking with markets was conducted last May 2-3, 2014 in Yangon. About 25 alliance members, farmers, private sector, and NGO partners from Bogale and Maubin townships attended the event.

The participants visited a wholesale rice trading depot in Wadan and an export market in Bayint Naung area to interact with traders and learn about quality, varieties, logistics and pricing of grains. The group also interacted with members of Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders’ Association (MRPTA) and township trade leaders to know more about trading practices. With the emphasis on producing good quality from good seeds, farmers met with staff of the Hmaw Bi Seed farm to know about available seeds and seed production.

Farmers learned about quality. U Kyaw Ei, a Bogale rice farmer, said that Bogale rice is priced the lowest of nine townships trading the same variety in Wadan. From milled rice samples of traders, he saw the low price has to do with low quality grains.

 For Maubin and Bogale LA, the learning cycle on varieties and postharvest will continue for the monsoon season 2014.

Bangladesh: CSISA and FtF Innovations Lab join hands in Bangladesh for promoting drying technology

by Alfred Schmidley


On 22 March 2014, a “Miller’s Workshop on Flatbed Drying of Parboiled Paddy” was held in Jessore, Bangladesh.  The event was co-sponsored by two US-AID-funded initiatives, the CSISA Project and the Feed the Future (FtF) Lab Project with supporting partners, IRRI, WorldFish, Practical Action, and ADMI.

The stakeholder workshop sought to test and demonstrate newly piloted flat bed drying technology with village millers and other stakeholders for drying of high-moisture freshly parboiled paddy – a new application under evaluation in Bangladesh.  This can potentially remove labor bottlenecks and drudgery in the processing of parboiled rice that is commonly eaten throughout South Asian countries.

Currently village millers sun-dry parboiled paddy on large concrete platforms.  While the sun is “free”, the platforms are expensive and take land out of production.  Moreover, the sun is not available for sufficient periods during cooler, cloudy winter months, or during the rainy season.  This produces delays in processing and a major bottleneck for farmers, millers, and other actors in the chain.

As a result of this workshop, 4 additional pilots will be established in new locations with new stakeholders who agreed to invest in the technology for the upcoming Boro season.  “Through such learning events, private sector millers and processors are convinced to directly invest in this technology, while projects such as CSISA and the FtF Innovations Lab ensure technical support and training early on for successful entry,” explains Alfred Schmidley, IRRI’s Postharvest Value Chain Specialist.

Myanmar: Village-level learning alliance meetings conducted

Learning alliance partners in Maubin plan their next activities for the Summer 2014 harvesting season

by Reianne Quilloy

Two village-level learning alliance (LA) meetings were held in Maubin and Bogale Townships last March 15 and 18, 2014. These meetings aim to support ACIAR and UNOPS funded project activities and use new technologies like new varieties and postharvest technologies.

 For the Maubin Township LA meeting facilitated by Rica Flor, 44 participants ( 13 women) from the Department of Agriculture (DOA), four key project villages, partner NGOs, millers, traders,  private sector stakeholders, and IRRI personnel attended the event. Updates were provided regarding the ongoing participatory varietal selection trials and postharvest issues.
 Meanwhile, a total of 36 participants joined the Bogale LA meeting held in the Bogale Township Library and facilitated by Reianne Quilloy. There were 23 farmers (6 women); 4 from NGO; 2 from DOA; 1 miller; and 6 from IRRI who attended the event. One of the event highlights was the sharing of farmers about the benefits and challenges in piloting the flatbed dryer (FBD). The FBD was installed by the IRRI Postharvest group and funded by the Group for Research and Technology Exchanges (GRET) and village farmers on October 2013, which the farmers’ group has already used in the last postharvest season.  GRET has in the meantime established an inventory storage system for the group which will complement the drying operation, enabling farmers to store high quality rice coming from the dryer until market prices are favorable for selling grains.

Martin Gummert, one the meeting facilitators, asks the Bogale LA group who wants to try using the flat bed dryer

 As a result of the meetings, the farmers identified next learning activities, i.e. farmers will produce good quality grains using postharvest technology, like the FBD, sell it to the miller partners, document how the crop is assessed, and see if the millers will give price incentive for quality.

The Learning Alliance is a platform to engage project stakeholders to share, learn from each other, and collaborate on providing solutions to produce better quality grains and link farmers to better markets in Myanmar.

India: IRRI joins “Consumer and Marketplace Literacy for Women Entrepreneurs”

by Alfred Scmidley

The Marketplace Literacy Community Trust, an NGO in India that seeks to promote consumer literacy and entrepreneurship amongst the rural poor, conducted training activity for women’s Self Help Groups in Chennai using their innovative video-based marketplace literacy approach.

This approach to helping disadvantaged and marginalized groups was developed by Professor Madhu Viswanathan of the University of Illinois, with whom IRRI is a partner in understanding postharvest needs.

IRRI’s Alfred Schmidley, value chain specialist, and Aanand Kumar, postharvest specialist of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), joined the event to learn more about this approach firsthand.

The training, held on 19-21 February 2014, was organized by MLC founder and director R. Venkatasen and his staff, who arranged visits for farmers, millers, and other postharvest chain actors during the visit of Alfred and Aanand.

“This innovative learning approach can be extended to serve postharvest needs and opportunities for women and marginalized farmers as entrepreneurs,” said Alfred. “This could help foster the sustainable adoption of improved postharvest technologies and a better understanding of markets and linkages in the chain.”

Chinese Taipei: IRRI scientist speaks on reducing postharvest losses at APEC seminar

by Alfred Schmidley

Alfred Schmidley, business model and value chain specialist at IRRI, was a featured speaker at the recent APEC seminar, Strengthening Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Food Losses in the Supply Chain, hosted by Chinese Taipei.

The event, held on 5–8 August 2013, was the first major output of a multi-year project by APEC that was began this year to address losses in food processing and supply chains. It was attended by 120 participants from the APEC Secretariat and 18 member-economies.
In his presentation titled, Advancing postharvest technologies to reduce losses in rice postharvest value chains, Mr. Schmidley spoke about how postharvest losses are aggravated by increased yields, cropping systems intensification, and other factors such as labor shortages, the absence of improved technologies, and the lack of a postharvest sector capacity to efficiently process paddy and reduce losses.

The APEC seminar highlighted the fact that 95% of agricultural research monies go toward increasing yields while only 5%, or less, is allocated to reducing postharvest losses and addressing other postharvest issues.

The seminar is part of an ongoing effort by APEC to raise awareness about food losses, find better ways to measure and assess losses among member-economies, enable private sector investment, and foster adoption of technologies that can reduce losses across farm and food-processing supply chains.

At the end of the conference, delegates agreed to establish a focal point network (FPN) and appoint cross-sector representatives from APEC member-economies. They also agreed to establish a research team to follow up on assessment methodologies, tool kits, datasets, and the need for future capacity building activities.

VietNam: Rice postharvest and laser leveling advocacy seminar conducted

by Reianne Quilloy and Trina Mendoza

While the Mekong Delta remains to be the major rice-producing area in VietNam, other regions must not be left behind to increase the country’s rice exporting quality through improved postharvest technologies.
 To address this concern, the Asian Development Bank-IRRI Postharvest Project, through Nong Lam University (NLU) and in cooperation with the National Extension Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), organized a Seminar on Rice Postharvest and Laser Leveling for the Northern, Central, and Highland regions of VietNam on 30-31 July in Quang Ngai Province.
 About 70 participants from the project’s partner universities, local government authorities, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Trimble, and Ideal Farming Corporation attended the event. The seminar aimed to (1) identify problems, constraints, opportunities, and potential in expanding technologies in the northern, central, and highland regions of VietNam; (2) document viewpoints, directions for policy recommendations for promoting the laser leveling technology; and (3) discuss future commitments of the provinces.

Demonstration of the laser leveler in Quang Ngai Province, Central Vietnam

 A short field tour was conducted at the Quang Ngai Sugarcane Seed Center and Ngia Hinh District to show the participants the benefits and use of laser leveling technology.  Partners from NLU’s Ho Chi Minh City and  Hue campuses presented the results of their assessments on the different rice postharvest technologies in VietNam.  Ms. Truong Thi Thanh Nhan, one for the first buyers of the laser leveling equipment in Dak Lak Province, central VietNam, reported on the benefits she reaped by using the technology. Mark Heyward of Trimble presented their different business model proposals that interested farmers or farmers’ groups may consider if they want to purchase laser leveling equipment.

 During the discussion, it was concluded that to expand the awareness of postharvest technologies in the country, there should be a developed policy to support farmers in terms of mechanization, land reform, and financial support; increased communication and extension activities in the different regions; established demonstration models for farmers to see the benefits of the technologies; and fostered collaborations in other rice-growing regions in VietNam.

Philippines: ADB-funded project links postharvest actors with finance sector

by Trina Mendoza and Alfred Schmidley

More than 50 representatives from various sectors attended a forum, Emerging opportunities for postharvest technologies and entrepreneurship, which aims to increase awareness among microfinance institutions, banks, and policymakers, of improved technologies and entrepreneurial enterprise opportunities.

The forum, held on 15 January in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, also provided farmers who have tested these new options, to present sustainable business cases for adopting hermetic storage and business plans for pursuing contract drying services.

Dr. Caesar Tado, LA Philippines coordinator, orients the participants about the Reversible Airflow Flatbed Dryer, a learning alliance activity between Vietnam and the Philippines

The forum was an activity of the Philippine Postharvest Learning Alliance, a multi-stakeholder platform that works to reduce postharvest losses and increase incomes of farmers and other postharvest actors. Learning alliances have also been established in Cambodia and Vietnam by the Asian Development Bank-funded Postharvest Project, with complementary support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Alfred Schmidley, IRRI business model and value chain specialist, explains, “We hope that this event will inspire and allow these new stakeholders to establish better linkages to loan products and other services to technologies and enterprise pilot for scaling out further with Learning Alliance actors.”

Several business cases for adopting hermetic storage and mechanical drying services were presented by local farmers. Mr. Schmidley and Raquel Dacanay from Caraga State University provided guidance for the farmers in developing business cases.

Several financial institutions then presented a range of activities, products, and services available to the farmers who want funding for their business plans.

The participants also discussed issues on finance and policy and next steps for future learning activities.

The event culminated with a demonstration of the reversible airflow flatbed dryer by Dexter Ona and Caesar Tado from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice); and the IRRI Super Bag by Jose Gomos, vice-president of GrainPro, Inc.(makers of the Super Bag), at the PhilRice Agusan del Norte station.

Indonesia: Seminar on rice postharvest technologies and fan testing held in South Sumatra

The Post-Production Work Group of the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium held a two-day seminar-orientation on rice postharvest technologies, in collaboration with the Balai Pengkajian Teknologi Pertanian (BPTP) in Palembang, South Sumatra. 

Thirty farmer leaders, manufacturers, and local government officials attended the event. The attendees were introduced to the stripper harvester technology that will compliment more than 300 flatbed dryers adapted in the area. A video on the stripper harvester was shown, in which the relevance of the technology to flatbed dryers were presented as well as the scarcity of manual labor in the area. 

Farmers raised some of the problems encountered with the flatbed dryer during the seminar, including low drying air temperature and long drying time. 

Pat Borlagdan of IRRI discussed the requirements for a good flatbed dryer and briefed the farmers on fan-testing and how it can ensure the proper functioning of flatbed dryers. A demonstration on the use of an actual fan test rig assembly was held. 

Professors from Sriwijaya University also spoke on the process of technology adaption and the critical role of manufacturers. 

The IRRC-PPWG is managed by Martin Gummert, IRRI postharvest specialist.

The event was was graced by Andy Mulyana, director of the Suboptimal Land Research Center in Sriwijaya University; Rudy Soehendi, director of BPTP Palembang; and Benjamin Lakitan, deputy director for research at Jakarta Central Office.

Philippines: Postharvest Learning Alliance helps farmer groups develop business plans

by Alfred Schmidley

The Sto. Niño Multipurpose Cooperative (SPMC) and the Taguibo Farmers’ Irrigators Association hosted working meetings in Agusan to develop business plans for postharvest enterprise activities, with support from the Postharvest Learning Alliance and Caraga State University.

 The goal of the meetings was to enable farmer groups to develop their own business plans for piloting or expanding their postharvest activities as entrepreneurial enterprise models. Two particular areas identified, for which business plans are being developed by the farmer groups, were mechanical drying of farmers’ paddy and use of rice by-products.

 Gertrudes Fortun, agriculturist from Butuan City, expressed hope that the farmer groups will use the business plan tool to attract resources for adoption of improved postharvest technologies, such as mechanical dryers.

 Plenio Atega, SMPC president, explained that, during the wet season, harvested paddy "often remain covered too long on sun-drying platforms during extended rainfall, sometimes even germinating before we can dry it for milling." The result is very low-quality paddy and milled rice, and farmers like him lose a lot of money as a result.

 At the Taguibo Irrigators Association, President Romy Lasco had a similar concern. “Our farmers can lose at least 30% of the crop due to lack of drying facilities during the wet season. Traders then discount the equivalent of 5 kilograms off the price out of every 50 kilograms due to low paddy quality, and farmers lose another 10%.”

 Professor Raquel Balanay, an economist from Caraga State University, and Alfred Schmidley, business model specialist for IRRI, advised the farmers’ groups on the use of a business plan.

 “During the meetings, we examined the business case for offering mechanical drying services to farmers but discovered many other interesting enterprise activities that these farmers are engaged in," shares Dr. Balanay. "For example, both farmers groups recently began vermiculture and organic fertilizer enterprises that usepostharvest by-products such as rice hull, rice stalks, and coconut husk fiber. They mix these with livestock manure to form high-nutrient compost, a product that helps farmers decrease input cost while allowing their organizations to sustain themselves by selling higher-margin value-added products. The Taguibo group is now looking at setting up a small shop in Butuan for selling vermiculture products, compost, and farmer-produced organic food items."

 “Farmers, when properly enabled, can be very resourceful and innovative,” Mr. Schmidley observed. “The business plan tool can help them analyze the business case for new technologies, expand profitable enterprise activities, or attract additional resources and capital.”

 The next step for the Postharvest Learning Alliance is to host a multi-stakeholder meeting in November where farmer groups, microfinance institutions, rural credit cooperatives, and other groups can learn more about postharvest enterprise opportunities.

Philippines: IRRI and partners install community dryer in Bukidnon

Up in the mountain ranges of Impasugong, Bukidnon, rice farming is a challenge. Farmers deal with rainy weather all throughout the year, making grain drying a difficult task. To ease their problem, nongovernment organizations Kaanib Foundation, Inc. and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) worked with the Asian Development Bank-funded IRRI Postharvest Project and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), and helped install a reversible airflow flatbed dryer for the community. 

On 20 June 2012, a turnover ceremony was held in Kalabugao Village and was attended by local government representatives, CRS program manager Terry Tuason, and marketing project coordinator, Lionel Mendoza, PhilRice engineer Dexter Ona, Kaanib Foundation director Imelda Esteban, and IRRI communication specialist Trina Mendoza.

The construction of the facility was completed in May and is now ready for use in time for the June-July rice harvest season in the uplands of Bukidnon. Engineer Ona demonstrated the operation of the dryer, and trained some members of the community on the operation and maintenance of the dryer. 

“With the installation of the dryer, the quality of their rice will increase, and they can therefore ask for a higher price in the market,” says Anthony Hendrix, municipal agro-enterprise facilitator of Kaanib. 

IRRI funded the manufacturing cost of the dryer blower and assisted CRS and their local NGO partner in establishing a new business model using a business plan for the dryer. This assistance was provided by the ADB-funded IRRI Postharvest Project that brings multistakeholder partners for introducing improved technologies and business models for reduced postharvest losses and increased farmers’ income.

Philippines: IRRI postharvest staff participate in farmcasters meeting in Agusan Province

Curbing postharvest losses through information is in the front line of the IRRI-ADB project, Addressing the Pre-and Postharvest Challenges in the Rice Supply Chain.
Information officers, farmcasters, regional agricultural engineers, and staff members of some local government units were introduced to advocacy efforts of the project made through various activities, technologies, and adaptive research in project sites in the Philippines and Asia.

Members of the project team from IRRI and PhilRice served as resource speakers during the 3rd Quarter Meeting of Regional and Provincial Information Officers and Farmcasters at Patin-ay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, on 19-20 July 2011.
Caesar Tado, IRRI-ADB project country coordinator, and Trina Mendoza and Reianne Quilloy, communication specialists at IRRI, took turns elaborating on the objectives and activities of the project.

Danilo Unson, on behalf of the provincial agriculturist, said that reducing postharvest losses could be an important driver of the Philippines’ goal to achieve rice self-sufficiency in 2013.

Vietnam: Workshop held on paddy storage for the Mekong Delta

A  workshop on paddy storage was conducted in Can Tho, Vietnam, on 30 June-1 July to raise the quality of Vietnam export rice through an updated postharvest system.
Vietnam is a major rice-producing country and the second largest exporter with milled rice exports reaching 6.8 million tons in 2010. However, due to lack of dryers and insufficient storage facilities, physical postharvest losses average 13.7%.

Prof. Werner Mühlbauer, a renowned postharvest expert, presented state-of-the-art warehouse storage and silo technology, and shared his experiences on grain storage in Europe and the US, and paddy storage in tropical countries like Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines.

The IRRI team, led by Martin Gummert, visited processing and storage plants to further evaluate the problems in quality of milled rice and storage systems.

The participants actively shared their observations and views on how to improve the postharvest system in their country.

One participant mentioned that introducing good agricultural practice can aid stakeholders to provide market incentives to enable producers come up with better rice quality.

The outcome of the events will become recommendations for strategies to improve postharvest processing and storage for minimized losses contributing to food security and increased quality for local consumption and exports.

The seminar was conducted through the Vietnam Postharvest Learning Alliance, which is funded through IRRI by the Asian Development Bank with co-funding form the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. It was coordinated by the Vietnamese collaborators spearheaded by the Nong Lam University.