Increasing food security and farmer livelihoods through enhanced legume cultivation in the central dry zone of Myanmar

Published on 24 April 2011

Research Areas

Crops, Seed Systems

Countries

Myanmar

Timeline

Start Date: 1 January 2007 | End Date: 31 May 2011

Overview

The aim of the project is to improve the food security, nutritional health and livelihood needs of the poor farmers and communities in Myanmar by increasing productivity of pulse and oilseed legumes. Legumes are the second most important group of crops in Myanmar behind rice and are currently grown on 3.3 million ha. Projections are for at least 4.5 million ha by 2010. Legumes are primarily grown by small-holder farmers with minimal inputs of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Yields are low at about 1.0 t/ha. Apart from the lack of inputs, availability to pest- and disease ­resistant, high-yielding varieties remains a major constraint to legume yield. Limited experimental and anecdotal evidence suggests also that productivity and yield may be further diminished because of poor nodulation. It follows that introduction of adapted high-yielding legume cultivars into the cropping systems of Myanmar, coupled with high-quality, locally ­produced rhizobial inoculants to address the nodulation problem, should improve legume and system productivity and profitability.

The specific objectives to achieve the above aim are to:

1. Identify and distribute high-yielding chickpea, groundnut and pigeonpea cultivars adapted to the relevant cropping systems ofthe Central Dry Zone of Myanmar, using farmer participatory varietal selection
2. Increase production of high-quality rhizobial inoculants in Myanmar through application of a cost-effective strategy involving equipment and procedural changes, quality assurance, R&D and training
3. Conduct training and extension programs on legume improvement and inoculant technology in order to enhance capacity for research and extension in these disciplines in Myanmar and to facilitate uptake of project outputs.

Research Partners

• Government
• Myanmar Agricultural Services (MAS)
• New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), Sydney
• NARI - National Agricultural Research Institute
• Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Myanmar

Tags

inoculant technology, legume improvement