Training on reducing postharvest losses conducted

Reposted from IRRI News 

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines— Extension professionals, researchers, and farmer leaders from seven Asian countries attended two weeks (4-15 April) of rigorous training (photo) conducted by the Rice Science Academy at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

In cooperation with IRRI's Postharvest Unit, the training course, Rice: Post-Production to Market, was designed for the participants to learn about different postharvest technologies that can help reduce grain losses and increase a crop's market quality.

“This training is about learning to do things,” said Joseph Rickman, a mechanization and production systems specialist at IRRI. “We gave the right information needed while, at the same time, participants had hands-on involvement in all the exercises.”

The course consisted of exercises and classroom discussions about assessing rice quality as well as actual manual and mechanical postharvest operations (harvesting, threshing, drying, milling, and storage).  The participants visited rice mills, farming communities, and government and private institutions to get a holistic understanding of postharvest processes and how they affect the quality and market value of rice.

Rice markets and business models were presented to reinforce an understanding of the rice value chain and help determine the opportunities to introduce suitable postharvest technologies in different farming communities.

A certification exam gauged the participants’ skills and knowledge acquired during course and to ensure that they can now make informed decisions in measuring losses and identifying appropriate postharvest technologies to reduce losses in their respective countries.

“Postharvest losses in Nepal are more than 15%,” said participant Santosh Tripathi, a rice breeder and agronomist in Nepal. “The practical exercises and lectures equipped me with new skills and knowledge that I can share with my fellow agricultural technicians back home to reduce postharvest losses.”  

Another participant, Mahargono Kobarshi, a researcher at Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture and an active partner in IRRI’sCORIGAP  project said, “I found the training very useful. Learning about new technologies such as the solar bubble dryerand visiting different rice institutions and farming communities gave me some direction on how I can help further improve the rice situation in Indonesia.” 

In addition to Nepal and Indonesia, participants came from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines to attend the course facilitated by Rickman and Martin Gummert, head of IRRI’s Postharvest Unit.

IRRI and German equipment company forge a win-win partnership

by Carlito Balingbing, Joseph Sandro, and Reianne Quilloy
Reposted from Rice Today online

In addition to water, fertilizer is also an important input in rice production on the irrigated lowlands of Asia. But, unlike water, which usually flows naturally for even distribution onto farmers’ fields, the uniform application of fertilizer is laborious and difficult.

Substituting fertilizer for salt and sand. In Europe, the POLARO is used to spread salt and sand for better road traction. In Asia, this lightweight machine can be attached to a four-wheel undercarriage for fertilizer and crop care application. (Photo: Isagani Serrano, IRRI)

Fertilizer boosts rice yield when applied in the right amount and at the right time. Applying it uniformly ensures an even distribution of nutrients to the rice crop. However, for years, uniform application has been a big obstacle for most rice farmers and even on the Zeigler Experiment Station of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. Although fertilizer spreaders are commonly available, they usually are designed for use in large fields pulled by big tractors.

In 2014, an informal meeting between Walter Zwick, IRRI collaborator in Cambodia, and Helmut Lehner, owner and managing director of Lehner Agrar GmbH in Germany, led to a consultation with Martin Gummert, IRRI’s postharvest expert. during which Mr. Lehner made an offer to the IRRI postharvest team to test POLARO, a battery-operated mechanical spreader developed by the German company for applying sand and salt onto highways, but it works just as well for fertilizer distribution on small rice farms. Mr. Lehner donated one unit to IRRI to assess its performance against manual fertilizer application.

“We thought that this mechanical spreader had tremendous potential to help smallholder farmers obtain a uniform spread of granular-based fertilizers in the field,” Engr. Gummert said.

IRRI’s postharvest team measured up to 9% yield increase using POLARO to apply urea and complete fertilizer. (Photo: Miriam Gummert, IRRI)

After three cropping seasons, the postharvest team measured up to a 9% yield increase, with urea (46-0-0) and complete fertilizer (14-14-14), when the POLARO spreader was used. It also took less time to apply the fertilizer using the mechanical spreader. Manual application took approximately 2 hours per hectare, whereas mechanical application using a tractor, running at 2 kilometers per hour, took 1.3 hours per hectare. Another field trial was done for one cropping season in Battambang, Cambodia. Compared with manual application, there was a 5–6% yield increase with the POLARO spreader.

Sealing a win-win collaboration

Armed with the field results and suggestions for machine modifications, the IRRI postharvest team organized a roundtable discussion with Mr. Lehner and his team to tackle collaboration strategies. This led to Mr. Lehner’s commitment to improve the design to make the spreader more compatible for use by smallholder farmers. He also provided IRRI with funding for further adaptive testing of the new version of the POLARO spreader in the field.

Realizing that the utility of the machine could be further maximized, Mr. Lehner’s team developed an additional sprayer applicator for pesticides (herbicides and insecticides), which consisted of a spraying boom, a tank, and a pump that fits the modified frame of the POLARO. As with fertilizer application, the spraying of pesticides in Asia is mostly done manually, with very uneven distribution. This can lead to potential negative effects on the environment and the health of the operators.

Mr. Lehner then sent IRRI a free unit of the new spreader/sprayer, that is, a two-in-one system of a fertilizer spreader and pesticide applicator. This new version is being tested and will be used in field trials in 2016.

Precision farming for sustainability in Southeast Asia

Improved fertilizer and pesticide application reduces waste, emission, and pollution and protects the health of operators and consumers. These benefits are key to IRRI’s quest to develop rice production practices that are more environmentally sustainable than the current practices.

Collaborators in the Closing rice yield gaps in Asia with reduced environmental footprints project (CORIGAP) in Vietnam and Thailand quickly realized the tremendous potential of the fertilizer/pesticide spreader when briefed on the results from the IRRI farm. CORIGAP aims to close rice yield gaps through environmentally sustainable means.

“For the 2016 rainy season, we want to use the POLARO fertilizer spreader in our treatment fields and compare it with farmers’ fields that employ manual fertilizer application, and then observe its effect on yield and farmers’ income,” said Ladda Viriyangkura, expert on rice inspection and certification from the Thailand Rice Department. “We are also interested in its added use to improve herbicide application,” she continued.

Additional free units donated by Lehner GmbH to IRRI’s partners in these countries will enable further testing of the spreaders under smallholder farm conditions.

Partnership for sustainable rice production

The partnership between IRRI and Lehner GmbH also benefits IRRI’s partners, who are now able to verify another technology for mechanized rice production with their clients and other rice consumers through more sustainably produced rice.


Engr. Balingbing is a senior associate scientist, Ms. Quilloy is a communication specialist and facilitator of the Learning Alliance, and Engr. Sandro is an assistant scientist at IRRI.

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.

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.

Super Bags to thwart rice wastage now available to Filipino farmers

An airtight, reusable plastic bag that protects stored rice from moisture, pests, and rats, and keeps rice seeds viable, is now available to Filipino farmers in selected retails stores.
IRRI Super Bags reduce losses incurred after harvest that usually stem from poor storage conditions – helping prevent physical postharvest losses that can be around 15%. On top of these losses, farmers also experience loss in quality.

Farmers' investment is protected by keeping stored rice grains viable, and kept away from destructive pests and other causes of physical losses like moisture.

Developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)’s postharvest experts in collaboration with GrainPro Inc., the IRRI Super Bag is meant for small-scale rice farmers to protect the viability and quality of rice stored in their homes.
The IRRI Super Bag is manufactured by GrainPro Inc. and is marketed as SuperGrainbag™. IRRI, through its national partnerships, has verified the benefits of the IRRI Super Bag with tens of thousands of farmers throughout Asia, but acknowledges it is a challenge to bring the bags to millions of farmers in a commercial way.

Philippine farmer Manuel Luzentales Jr. has always wondered how to deal with rats and weevils gnawing their way into his paddy (unmilled rice) stored in ordinary sacks in his house.
After attending a seminar in a nearby town introducing the IRRI Super Bags to farmers in the Philippine Bicol region, he decided to test them.

Mr. Manuel Luzentales shares his Superbag story

"Before, a 7-month storage caused my rice grains to break from moisture and pest infestations," Luzentales recalls. "I tested the IRRI Super Bags on my harvest for the second planting season of 2010. After keeping my harvest in the IRRI Super Bags for 10 months, the seeds were 100% viable, and none were wasted."
Engr. Martin Gummert, head of the IRRI postharvest unit, said that the rolling out of economically viable rice postharvest technologies in the Philippines and Southeast Asia involves partners in the public and private sectors. “The IRRI Super Bag is one of the technologies in the front line of this effort,” he explains.
For this purpose, IRRI has initiated and is facilitating national Postharvest Learning Alliances that embrace public and private stakeholders who have an interest in and mandate to establish local supply chains for technologies. Through this Postharvest Learning Alliance, IRRI is assisting in setting up and training local distributors for technologies such as the IRRI Super Bag.

Farmers' investment is protected by keeping stored rice grains viable, and kept away from destructive pests and other causes of physical losses like moisture.
Farmers' investment is protected by keeping stored rice grains viable, and kept away from destructive pests and other causes of physical losses like moisture.

“The rollout of the IRRI Super Bag would have been difficult without the help of the Philippines Postharvest Learning Alliance,” explains Engr. Gummert. “These alliances allow cross-sector actors to share information, foster learning, and better address a range of technical and market support needs.”
IRRI has established national Postharvest Learning Alliances in Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The IRRI Super Bag works by blocking the flow of both oxygen and water vapor from the outside to the grain. When the bag is properly sealed, farmers can safely store their seeds for 9–12 months without reducing germination rates. IRRI Super Bags also keep away insects and rats without using chemicals and improve the percentage of whole rice grains recovered after milling by around 10%.

Tom de Bruin, GrainPro’s president and CEO, said that a national retail network with close to 200 outlets will be involved to enable availability of the bags to farmers. “The SuperGrainbag™ is already selling widely used in three continents and is used for storage in an array of other commodities.”

In the Philippines, the key partners are Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice)and other Postharvest Learning Alliance members,Catholic Relief Services with its local NGO partners, and the Department of Agriculture’s regional offices in Agusan, Bicol, and Bohol provinces. Other members are local government units in the three provinces, farmer cooperatives, and other NGO partners.

This work is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)-funded Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC).

The Super Bags can be bought in Pacifica Agrivet branches nationwide.

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: Business case writeshop takes off in Butuan City

A Business Case Writeshop for Learning Alliance Partners was conducted last March 27-28, 2012 at Butuan city, Agusan del Norte, Philippines. The event was attended by partners from various villages of Bututan City who participated in the hermetic storage trial.

The group was able to write one business case from the a completed, six-month trial of Ms. Marilyn Aranas, the Chairperson of Sto. Niño Multi Purpose Cooperative.

To view the report and highlights of the event, you may access the report here.

Philippines: More Learning Alliance activities rolled out in Butuan

by Reianne Quilloy, Trina Mendoza, and Rica Flor

The Postharvest Learning Alliance (LA) members in Butuan, Agusan del Norte met and conducted more activities in time for the town's harvesting season. Typhoon Ramon left the participants unfazed as about 40 people signed up for the Training on Reversible Airflow Flatbed Dryers and Hermetic Storage Systems in PhilRice RTR, Agusan del Norte last October 11 and 12. The project team from IRRI and PhilRice took turns to orient the Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs), farmer-leaders, and farmers' group cooperative members about the latest postharvest initiatives in the Philippines. Farmer participants lauded this effort wherein these new technologies can benefit big and small holder farmers in Agusan.

Engr. John Eric Abon of PhilRice conducts lecture on Reversible Airlow Flatbed Dryer

Shortly after the training, the LA technical working group (TWG) held its quarterly meeting at Amontay Beach Resort, Nasipit, Agusan del Norte last October 13, 2011. Partners who attend this meeting are those who have direct interest on hermetic storage. Rica Flor, the Project’s impact specialist facilitated the discussion between PhilRice, GrainPro, IRRI, DA-RFU, Caraga State University and Santo Niño Multipurpose Cooperative (SNMPC). Case study write-up, including trial protocols and data collection tools was introduced. One of the outputs of this meeting was a draft business case study for Super bags and cocoons which successfully demonstrated an increase in profit of a farmer-user.

The last activity was the Video Production Training for Learning Alliance Partners which was held on October 14. For this activity, project communication specialists Trina Mendoza and Reianne Quilloy took turns into facilitating the session with 40 information officers and staff from the CARAGA Region, Davao City, and DA- RFU 13. Reianne presented the importance of making videos and basic information, while Trina presented the basic principles of scriptwriting and Digital Green.

In the afternoon, the participants conducted a hands-on exercise in Digital Green. The participants were able to successfully follow the process of creating storyboards and produced short edited videos that showcased their creativity, innovativeness, and sense of humor.

Ms. Rebecca Atega of DA-RFU 13 and one of the learning alliance partners in Agusan, took the initiative to organize the three activities. The efforts are part of the outputs of the ADB-IRRI Posthavest project to address the postharvest challenges in Asia, including the Philippines. More learning alliance activities are expected to pour into the CARAGA region, as the project’s efforts in reducing postharvest losses through technology innovations, best management practices, and intensive information dissemination are slowly coming to fruition.

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.

LA Story: Echo seminar from Mariphil Foundation

Ms Grace Cabaguing of Mariphil Foundation shared the latest activity, an "Echo Seminar on Postharvest" conducted last March 3, 2011. The seminar included demonstration on the use of Superbags. She also intends to assess the performance of the stored palay in the coop’s rice mill building using the IRRI Moisture Meter. Ms. Grace Cabaguing is one of the LA members who were trained on postharvest technologies. 

Enhancing learning alliances through participatory message design and materials development

Another learning alliance activity held on 13-14 July brought partners together to brainstorm about effective ways to communicate hermetic storage in a Message Design and Materials Development Workshop. About 20 participants from NGOs, local government, International Rice Research Institute, and the Philippine Rice Research Institute were present for this activity.

 The workshop aimed to develop unified key messages on hermetic storage, one of the main postharvest technologies of the learning alliance. More importantly, from feedback during the 3rd learning alliance meeting, the need to unify postharvest messages amidst the emerging rice-based projects like the Philippine Rice Self-sufficiency Plan (PRSSP) was highly recognized; hence, the workshop was conceptualized.

 Trina Mendoza, a senior communication specialist, facilitated the activity. Participatory approaches were used in consultation with anthropologist Rica Flor to elicit the crucial elements in materials designing—communication objectives, key messages, and target audiences. In order to do that, information leveling was done by briefing the participants on the key hermetic storage principles and the importance of linking the workshop output to the PRSSP.

A flyer enumerating the benefits of a Superbag was one of the outputs of the activity. This material was translated to Bisaya 

 Outputs of the event were two draft flyers (in English and Visayan language) and a flipchart. Everyone had an opportunity to critique and revise the materials according to the gathered comments.  A week after, a pretesting activity with farmers in Calauan, Laguna, was done to fine-tune the materials.

 This workshop shows how partners in a learning alliance can do more through synergy and learning from feedback. Now that partners have addressed this need for a template, many of them plan to echo what happened to others in the alliance. The materials produced would be a template which partners with the mandate for extension can surely use. In addition to the series of hermetic storage training done this year, here is another activity wherein the project partners can take as a jump-off point for another learning cycle in the process of effectively bringing out hermetic storage technologies.

View the workshop report here 

ADB-IRRI Postharvest Project Planning Meeting conducted

by Trina Leah Mendoza

Partners of the IRRI-ADB Philippine Postharvest Project from different provinces in the Philippines and the Philippine Rice Research Institute, as a key project partner, recently conducted the ADB-IRRI Postharvest Project Planning Meeting last June 1 and 2, 2010 at the Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte.
The 2-day meeting aimed to update partners on the project’s current activities at IRRI and in pilot provinces, plan and agree on activities targeted for the next 18 months, brief partners on steps to creating a business model, and introduce adaptive research and pilot study protocols to partners.

Fifteen partners from key institutions in the three pilot sites of Camarines Sur, Bohol, and Agusan del Norte attended and reported on their progress on participatory hermetic storage verification.

Updates on the activities on hermetic storage were presented. Wilson Orino, program officer of Caritas Diocese of Libmanan, Camarines Sur also provided the results of their adaptive trials. Dr. Caesar Tado, co-project leader from PhilRice, reported on the adaption of mechanical dryers, particularly the new reversible dryers. IRRI anthropologist Rica Flor discussed updates on what the postharvest learning alliance in the Philippines has done. 


A lecture on Business models development was also done with group exercises facilitated by Alfred Schmidley and Rica Flor. The meeting concluded with each pilot site having their set of work plans which will be a jump off point for the 2011 project implementation strategies.

Hermetic Storage and Flatbed Dryers Training series pilots in three PH provinces

Hermetic storage and flatbed dryers training were conducted at the Bohol, Agusan, and Camarines Sur for the month of April. Participants from the local government, seeds growers, producers and NGOs graced the events.

Lively discussions through open forum and hands-on exercises were conducted to be able to identify actual field problems and concerns were discussed with the help of Dr. Caesar Tado and Engr. John Eric Abon of PhilRice.

Basic principles on hermetic storage were also discussed by Engr. Carlito Balingbing of IRRI. Further, Alfred Schmidley facilitated a discussion on developing business models for hermetic storage which perked the interests of some participants and expressed their interest into piloting their respective business models for hermetic storage system.  In terms of facilitating adaptive research in the same area, the protocol was discussed together with the efficient monitoring and sharing of information that will be generated from the research results. At the end of the training, key farmers and seed growers gave their commitment to facilitate and coordinate with their group members in gathering relevant information and data that will be shared with the postharvest Learning Alliance.
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