Sub sections:
Increasing food security and farmer livelihoods through enhanced legume cultivation in the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar
Project leader: Professor David Herridge
This 4-year project (2007–10), funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), aims to improve production of groundnut, pigeonpea and chickpea in the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar through varietal improvement and supply of high-quality rhizobial inoculants.
Legumes are major crops in Myanmar with about 3–4 million t grain produced annually from 3–4 million ha. Principal species are pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), green gram (Vigna radiata), black gram (Vigna mungo), chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea). The crops are primarily grown by small-holder farmers with minimal inputs of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. Yields are low because of the lack of nutrient inputs, improved high-yielding varieties and limited options for pest and disease management. Experimental and anecdotal evidence suggests also that productivity and yield may be further diminished because of poor nodulation resulting in crop nitrogen (N) deficiencies. In the past, Myanmar farmers routinely used rhizobial inoculants when sowing legumes, but the practice is currently not widespread. The Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Yezin, is responsible for producing inoculants in Myanmar. Production peaked during the 1980s at 600–700,000 packets annually. Current production is <30,000 packets, due to limitations in the whole supply chain from production and quality assurance (QA) to distribution to demand. Myanmar farmers use nitrogenous (N) fertilisers sparingly, particularly on legume crops. Thus, N deficiencies of the legumes induced by low nodulation are not remedied by inputs of fertiliser N and the value of lost production could exceed $100 million annually.
During 2009, substantial progress was made to improve the quality of inoculants produced by DAR through training (post-graduate and short-term), infrastructure development (laboratory equipment, plant-growth facility, building and laboratory maintenance) and laboratory procedural changes (e.g. broth dilution and solid-state fermentation, plant-infection most-probable number counting). Daw Maw Maw Than from the DAR inoculant production unit, Yezin, submitted her PhD thesis on chickpea rhizobia to the Yezin Agricultural University, following completion of a 4-month ‘sandwich program’ at the Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand, during the latter part of 2008. Also in late 2008, Daw Thi Thi Aung, inoculant production unit, Yezin, commenced her 3-year full-time PhD program on co-inoculants for soybean at the Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand.