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Tuesday, Nov 09, 2004

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Award for Rice-Wheat Consortium

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 8. The Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains and its partners, including the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), have been awarded the King Baudouin Award by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The $10,000 cash prize and citation were received by the ICAR Director-General, Mangla Rai, in Mexico City last week.

The biennial award is given for initiatives that benefit poor farmers and foster sustainable agriculture. The CGIAR is an alliance of countries and international organisations that supports research and initiatives for agricultural growth, reducing poverty and protecting the environment in the developing countries.

Zero-till farming

The award has been given for promoting environment-friendly farming practises which have benefited lakhs of farmers in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. One such practice, zero-till farming (sowing wheat seeds in rice fields after harvesting paddy, without ploughing) is being done on about 1.2 million hectares. This has enabled a saving of $100 million in land preparation costs for one season alone. It is estimated that about 75 million litres of diesel is saved in one season by not tilling the land.

Great promise

Zero-till farming holds great promise as traditional farming systems require intensive ploughing, irrigation and resources. These systems have led to lowering of the water table and degrading of soils because of intensive irrigation and use of fertilizers.

The Rice-Wheat Consortium is a consortium of South Asian national agricultural research systems, international organisations such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and the International Rice Research Institute, advanced research institutions, NGOs, private entrepreneurs and farmers' groups.

It was set up in 1994 and has since been addressing sustainability concerns arising out of the intensive farming of rice and wheat in the four South Asian countries irrigated by the Indo-Gangetic river systems.

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