INSIDETECHNICAL CO-OPERATIONInternational Atomic Energy Agency

March 1996 Vol. 2, No. 1

CONTENTS:

Cattle killer meets 1

Barley climbs the Andes . . 1

Better feeds 2

Floating rice 3

Sterile Insect Technique . . . 4

The atom and food 5

In brief 7

Zimbabwe 8

Barleyclimbs theAndesAcross the high Andean plateau inPeru and Bolivia, the diets of theimpoverished peasant communi-ties remain inadequate. Staplefoodgrains cannot be grown be-cause of the oxygen-short condi-tions, the stress of dailytemperature variations and highultra violet exposure under cloud-less skys. An early barley, perhapsintroduced from Europe manycenturies ago, does manage to sur-vive. But it is poorly acclimatizedand its yields are extremely low.

The plateau is mostly a flat plain,3400-4000 metres above sea level.Local farmers cultivate protein-rich Amaranthus, Quinaoa,varie-ties of potatoes and faba bean

Cattle killer meets itsmatchCattle normally play a crucial rolein rural economies of developingcountries, providing crop manure,domestic fuel and hides, as well asmeat and milk, while the bullock isthe tractor in the field and the en-gine of transportation. But in awide belt across central and south-ern Africa and on Zanzibar's main

Blood sampling from cattle tomonitor disease transmission.(Credit: U. Feldmann)

island Unguja, livestock rearing isseriously hampered because thetsetse fly spreads disease to theanimals. Numerous costly effortsto eradicate tsetse - using traps,insecticides, and other conven-tional methods - have failed thusfar. Now it seems that eradicationis possible, at least on isolatedZanzibar.

Unguja and a few tiny satellite islandsmake up Zanzibar, 35 kilometres eastof continental Africa. It joined theUnited Republic of Tanzania in 1964.A lone fly species lives on Unguja.Apart from it, the island has ideal con-ditions for cattle - lush vegetation,gently undulating terrain, reliableand ample rainfall. Yet some 10,000live animals plus US$250,000 of milkproducts must be imported each yearto supplement the low per capita in-take of protein on Unguja.

Tsetse flies (Glossina species) liveonly on blood. Some species carrysleeping sickness to humans, oth-ers a similar disease, nagana, to ani-mals caused by single celled

continued on page 4

which can fix atmospheric nitro-gen and naturally fertilize the soil,much the same as the ancient Incasdid. Soon they may well have asuperior barley.

The IAEA has helped Peru de-velop its capability to apply nu-clear techniques and these are now

being used to breed new high-yielding grain varieties with built-in stress resistance. They could notonly increase the food security ofthe high Andes, but promote sus-tainable grain production on alarge scale as well. A mutant vari-

continued on page 6 1

Better feeds make bountiful breedsIncreasingly throughout rural ar-eas of central and western Java,small groups of people, mainlywomen, may be seen mixing whatappears to be large loads of un-lovely and smelly muck. In fact,they are doing something botheconomically and scientificallysound, making Urea-Molasses-Mulhnutnent Blocks (UMMBs) tofeed to their ruminant animals -buffalo, cattle, goats and sheep -and provide them with some es-sential nutrients they lack.

Shortages of quality feed for live-stock is common throughoutmuch of Asia, where there is littleland set aside as pasture and fewforage crops are grown. Most cat-tle are kept by small farmers inherds of 2 or 3, rarely more than adozen, in mixed-enterprises thatinclude crop cultivation. They for-age on what they can find, suchgrass and straw by roads andfields, and residues of agricultureand food production. Yields andquality of milk and meat are low.

Improving the quality of feed forruminants in a way that smallfarmers can afford in terms of cashand labour was the task taken upin the early 1980s by scientists ledby Ms.Cornelia Hendratno at theCentre for Application of Isotopesand Radiation, which is part of In-donesia's Atomic Energy Agency(BATAN). They had funds fromthe UN Development Programme(UNDP) and the infrastructureand skills developed over many

Cornelia Hendratno received special training innuclear and related techniques in animal pro-duction at the Agency's laboratory in Seibers-dorf, and led the BATAN research group thatdeveloped the supplemental feed block. She wasresponsible for the initial field trials that broughtexperimental ingredients to rural areas whereshe worked with villagers to knead bricks intoforms. When early results of the feeds were clear she encouraged theMinistry of Agriculture to take over an extension role. Ms. Hen-dratno was also a key link with the Agency, as technical coordinatorand then principal investigator in the IAEA projects. She now headsBATAN's Animal Nutrition Research Group.

years with help from the IAEA.The technique involves the use ofbenign tracer isotopes that revealthe fate of feed constituents in thedigestive system of ruminants.

The multinutrient block, a mixtureof feeds and vitamins, that Ms.Hendratno and her team devel-oped after years of lab researchand animal tests has been receivedenthusiastically by Java's villages.It has stimulated 30% increases inmilk yield and over 100% in-creases in growth rates of beef cat-tle, goats and sheep. Perhaps thekey to its appeal is that it uses lo-cally available feedstuffs - straw,rice stubble and bran, cottonseedcake, waste from fish processingand even poultry litter - mixedwith appropriate amounts of urea,molasses and various minerals.

The mixture is pressed intomoulds and dried to make brick-like blocks. A key feature of a block

is that it must have a consistencythat enables an animal to lick it butprevents it from eating it all atonce. This has been successfullyworked out for various formula-tions so that once the mixture isprepared by the villagers it is notnecessary to thumb-test eachbrick.

The urea provides nitrogen pro-teins for growth; the molassesgives the energy and sulphurhelps utilize the nitrogen andbuild up microbial protein thatprovides amino acids. Other min-erals, like calcium and phospho-rus essential for lactating animals,can also be added. Each block ismade large enough to avoid thelabour of too frequent replenish-ment and enabling adequatestocks to be made. The aim is thateach animal licks 500-700 grams ofit per day on average.

During earlier field trials to assessthe efficacy of various formula-tions in local animals, Ms. Hen-dratno and her team found thatcommunity women in particularwanted to be trained to mix andmake the blocks. Farming familiessoon joined in cooperatives to pro-duce and use them. In the past fewyears the Ministry of Agriculturehas taken on the task of extensionwork, promoting the technique,teaching villagers to make brickswith locally available materials,and encouraging local co-opera-tive schemes.

Under a Agency technical co-op-eration project launched in 1994,BATAN started training courses

Local women manufacture UMMB's in Indonesia. (Credit: C. Hendratno) Continued on page 8

Floating rice and soaring sorghumSmallholder agriculture is the back-bone of Mali's economy. But yields ofstaples - millet, sorghum, rice, maizeand fonio - have not kept up withpopulation growth, and the rising costof cereal imports now consumes 6.5%of GDP. Crop improvement has de-pended almost solely on seed selection byindividual fanners, while systematicplant breeding lias only recently arrived.Breeding more productive nee and sor-ghum is the principal dwllenge.

Malian scientists have now producedrice and sorghum mutants that couldbenefit smallholders and the nationaleconomy if widely grown. But untilrecently strains remained in the labo-ratory. Now, with new initiatives inAgency technical co-operation, thenew mutant varieties will be taken tothe farmers through a government ex-tension programme that involves com-munity participation.

In the expansive floodplains of theNiger River in Mali farmers havegrown rice for many centuries.This peculiar "African rice", orOryza glaberrima, evolved here be-fore the arrival of humans. Itsmake-up includes genetic traits es-sential for survival. Its stalk growsin pace with the rising water, keep-ing its panicle (seed head) afloat; itcan cope with dehydration stressafter the waters recede; and it shat-ters seed when mature.

Mali's native sorghum relies ex-clusively on rainfall and has traitsthat give it resistance to drought.Farmers grow varieties that are ex-tremely tall, sometimes 3 1/2 me-tres because the stalk has manyeconomically important uses - ascattle feed and roof thatch, formaking mats and even the smallhuts in which grain is stored.

The challenge for plant breeders isto improve productivity of thesecrops, while conserving their es-sential traits. Malian scientistsFousseyni Cisse and Al HousseniBretaudeau led research teams tofind mutant varieties of rice andsorghum at the lnstitut d'EconomieRural and lnstitut Poll/technique Ru-ral, respectively. Under a recentlycompleted FAO/IAEA Coordi-nated Research Programme (CRP)funded by Italy and designed tohelp improve local and basic food

Unusually long seed head ofsorghum displayed by Malitechnician. (Credit: B. Ahloozvalia)

crops of Africa they irradiated tra-ditional varieties with gamma raysaccording to the prescribed proce-dures. IAEA technical co-opera-tion had already provided trainingand equipment to enable the twonational scientific institutions tohave the capacity to apply nucleartechniques such as mutationbreeding, to improve yields andother enhanced characteristics oftraditional food crops.

During the five years of the CRP,Cisse's rice team was not able toidentify a non-shattering variety,which was its aim, but it did de-velop some new types with whitecolor characteristics and highyields. White rice in Africa fetchesdouble the price of red; so for farm-ers the colour alone means an in-come hike, with high yield abonus. Bretaudeau's team ob-tained sorghum mutants thatgrow tall but do not lodge, andsome with increased seed; onewith 50 cm panicles, twice as longas usual (see photo).

These preliminary successesprompted the Agency to launch aTechnical Co-operation ModelProject to continue the mutationbreeding activities, to carry theachievements of the scientists outinto field trials that could eventu-ally benefit farmers and to expandrelated research and developmentcapability in plant tissue cultureby setting up a dedicated labora-tory along with top level trainingin these techniques.

Within the multi-purpose ModelProject, field performance trials onmutants of both rice and sorghumcrops have already started. Sohave some soil trials, using stablenitrogen (N ^ isotope techniquesdeveloped by the FAO/ IAEAJoint Division, mainly to deter-mine optimal use of fertilizer be-cause every new genotype has itsown nutritional requirements.Further soil/plant density trialswill establish other parameterssuch as how many plants shouldbe grown in different areas.

This effort reflects an impressivearray of high technology and so-phisticated training, but can it re-ally help the poor local farmerwho probably can't read? The ex-perts think so, and the Model Pro-ject approach is intended to focustechnology and its benefits on theend-user. Initial field tests showincreases of 10"̂ in sorghum pro-duction and 15% in rice, and thedemonstration phase is being ex-panded significantly this year andnext. New plant breeding tech-niques that merge conventionalbreeding with new bio-technicalapproaches and mutation tech-niques are improving the oddsthat the new varieties can success-fully compete with native breeds.A comprehensive "package"of ag-ronomic practices will help guidefarmers to higher yields using fer-tilizer management techniques re-sulting from soil trials using stablenitrogen (N "") isotope techniques.One such practice would incorpo-rate nitrogen fixing legumes (seerelated story on Biofertilizer inZimbabwe) in the cropping sys-tem tor a low-cost, or no-cost alter-native nitrogen fertilizer

The extension services of the Min-istry of Agriculture will take these"best" practices to the farmers totrain and demonstrate their bene-fits. With the World Bank nowsupporting a national facility to re-produce seeds on a commercialscale, Mali's farmers could soonbegin to realize the dream of tworesearch scientists who were in-spired to push back the limitationsof native cultivars and make animportant contribution to the foodsecurity of their countrymen.

Cattle killer meets its match (from page 1)

ganisms called trypanosomes. Thesingle species (G. austeni) on theisland attacks only animals. Na-gana, first reported in Ungujaearly this century, has restrictedand ravaged the 1,650 square kilo-metre island's herds and until re-cently up to 80% of the remainingcattle were infected.

Initial efforts to eradicate the fly-using environmentally friendlymethods-began over 20 years agowith a research programme inmainland Tanzania funded by theUS Agency for International De-velopment. A laboratory and fa-

The Sterile Insect TechniqueSIT involves rearing, sterilizing,and releasing male flies of thetarget species so that they vastlyoutnumber wild males in thearea. The wild females they matewith will not be able to lay fertileeggs. Over time the reproduc-tion of the wild populationdwindles and eventually diesout. One common problem is re-infestation from outside the tar-get area.

A unique challenge with tsetseflies is that they must be fed withblood. It is not possible to main-tain large enough breeding colo-nies fed on living animals, andthe flies normally do not feed onblood any way but through skin.Scientists at the IAEA lab inSeibersdorf solved the twinproblem in the early 1980s witha technique that can maintain in-sects on a factory scale by givingthem bloodmeals through an ar-tificial membrane, thus foolingthe flies into thinking they arefeeding on live animals.

On the horizon is an automatedcomputer controlled system thateliminates the labour intensivesteps of chilling newly hatchedflies, manually separating malesand females, and then thawingthem again. This procedure cur-rently takes over 40% of the timenecessary to produce sterilemales. Chilling weakens bothsexes. Overchilling can kill or

render females sterile. Physicalhandling can damage individu-als. The new system will sex theflies in flight, as they emergefrom hatching or mating areas,and guide them into separatecages. It could be ready for usewithin three years. It would im-prove fly quality and cut timeand effort from the four skilledpeople now needed to breed100,000 flies, to half a person tobreed a million.

Further ahead is the prospect ofgenetic manipulation of tsetse sothat colony females would pro-duce only males, or the two gen-ders would react differently totemperature in the pupal stageand one or other could be killedby simple warming or cooling.Fewer females could producemore males.

cilities for mass-rearing of tsetseswere introduced at Tanga. Signifi-cant experience was gained in thiseffort but it eventually proved un-sustainable. Since then a series ofactivities on Zanzibar involvingbilateral and multilateral assis-tance have used conventionalmethods to substantially reducefly numbers and contain theirmovement.

Conditions thus seemed promis-ing for eradication when the IAEAModel Project was launched in1994. Fly density had been drasti-cally reduced, in some areas to lev-els below detectability by trapsurveys. Re-infestation was un-likely because it is far from themainland. The tsetse fly reservoirsin Unguja were mainly in threeforests in the south; and a broadenough belt of mainly rice paddiesseparated these from the north ofthe island. New techniques devel-oped in projects against other pestinsects, such as aerial release,could be introduced on Zanzibar.

The IAEA Model Project is relyingon SIT, the Sterile Insect Tech-nique, to mass-rear and releasesterilized male flies in sufficientnumbers to challenge the fertilewild males as mates for the wildfemales. SIT is well advanced andhas been effectively used againstfruitflies in both North and SouthAmerica. But its applicationagainst other insects, such as thetsetse, is an innovation being fos-tered in the Technical Co-opera-tion Programme with the supportof the Joint FAO/IAEA Division.

After just two years of sterile malereleases, females routinely caughtin the wild already show a highratio of infertility, expected toreach 65% in the first quarter ofthis year. Major advances are be-ing made (see box) in rearing andsex identification systems. To pro-mote the approach the IAEA con-vened a four-week SIT trainingcourse/seminar in Unguja late in1995 for scientists from other Afri-can countries affected by tsetse.

The Agency first got involved inhelping Zanzibar back in 1983with the training of Tanzanian sci-entists at IAEA's Seibersdorf labo-ratory in mass rearing the Unguja

tsetse species, using a membranefeeding technique developedthere. Facilities in Tanga were sys-tematically improved and ex-tended so that by the end of 1995,with a colony of 400,000 females, ithoused the world's largest tsetseproduction system. The colony willsoon be 500,000, allowing for therelease of 50,000 (60,000 with back-up from Seibersdorf) sterile maleseach week. Thanks to the supportof several donors, the project iswell on its way toward a successfulconclusion.

To rebuild Zanzibar's herds ofmixed livestock, family basedfarming is now being expanded.Farmers in areas that were untilrecently infested now have the op-portunity to obtain cattle through agovernment programme offeringvery attractive loans. Governmentinitiatives to inspire family-basedherds, in a sustainable and envi-ronmental friendly manner, arebased on the very real prospect ofthe tsetse being eradicated by theend of the IAEA Model Project in1997.

SIT will be deployed throughoutUnguja. But the early focus hasbeen on the southern forest pockets- Jozani, Central Muyuni andCoastal Muyuni - which are inac-cessible to other techniques. There-fore, since September 1994 sterilemale releases have been exclu-sively by air. Experience, in Zim-babwe and elsewhere, showsinsecticide spraying by air is oftenineffective and hazardous. But the30 milligram flies are not blownoff-target by light winds and ther-mal currents, so the aircraft can flyat a safe height above the forestcanopy, and effective air drops canbe made throughout the day in-stead of only at night when theground gets cool.

National authorities have pro-vided scientists, technicians, infra-structure, as well as cash to theproject; they also integrated it withnational development plans so thatits benefits reach those who willuse the tsetse-free land. TheZanzibar programme is develop-ing an integrated smallholder farmsystem, with help from the Interna-tional Fund for Agricultural Devel-opment (IFAD), to ensure that farmfamilies are the principal benefici-aries and that freed land is usedsustainablv

The atom and food productionDespite major advances and"revolutions" in agricultural pro-duction, many countries still faceenormous obstacles in meetingtheir current demand for food. InAfrica for example, projected de-mand will require a tripling ofthe current agricultural output inthe next 30 years. A country'scapacity to produce surplus foodremains a basic distinction be-tween developed and develop-ing countries. As the scramblefor control of global resources in-tensifies, the gap grows wider.

How will the developing world'sfanners meet these staggeringrequirements for more food?What improvements in agricul-tural systems will permit dou-bling let alone a tripling ofoutput?

These increases will only occur ifagricultural resources are ex-panded or more productive re-sources become available inagricultural systems. Such "re-sources" include land, water, thehuman knowledge base, tech-nology and institutional support.The food and agricultural pro-gramme of the IAEA is operatedjointly with FAO to assist Mem-ber States in using nuclear tech-

niques to improve both the qual-ity and quantity of agricultural re-sources. The availability ofagricultural land and water arebeing expanded through envi-ronmentally sustainable ap-proaches that include SITtechnology to biologically eradi-cate pests like the Tsetse fly thatseverely limits animal produc-tion across vast areas of Africa;and isotopic techniques to study,irrigation and ground water dy-namics. The quality of agricul-tural resources is beingenhanced through the introduc-tion of more productive tech-nologies: mutation breeding is atechnique to create new plantcharacteristics such as droughtresistance or higher yield. Im-proved farming practices such asthe use of rhizobia to inoculatecrops and improve soil fertility isan environmentally safe and eco-nomical alternative to conven-tional fertilizers. Soil moistureand nutrient management arefostered by agro-chemical tech-niques that improve crop yieldand food quality. In the areas ofanimal production and health, nu-clear techniques have unlockedmany secrets of the biologicalprocesses responsible for growth,health and reproduction of farm

animals. The growingimportance of foodpreservation techniquessuch as irradiation is re-inforced by the loss ofone quarter of world'sfood production afterharvest.

The IAEA's TechnicalCo-operation activitiesin agriculture play asmall but increasinglycatalytic role in sus-tainable agriculturaldevelopment. This edi-tion of Inside TC illus-trates how a newpartnership is beingforged between scien-tists and developmentmanagers to empowerfarmers through a vari-ety of specializedtechniques, improvedpractices and agricul-tural knowledge sys-tems.

Barley climbs the Andes (from page 1)

ety of barley, UNA-La Molina 95,began field testing last May and isnow being multiplied at severalsites in the Peruvian highlands.

Plant breeding is exacting. It re-quires persistence and care and,most of all, time. Irradiation ofseeds with gamma rays can help toaccelerate the process and leads tochanges in the genetic traits of theplants which are inherited. Thestory of the new barley mutantgoes back more than 15 years towhen plant breeder MarinoRomero Loli became head of thecereals department of the nationalagriculture university in LaMolina. A son of the high plateauhimself, Romero Loli set course toproduce, by mutation, new varie-ties of barley and wheat thatwould be viable in the highlands.

His initial aim was to improve thediet, health and economy of thehighland communities. But withsome three million hectares of theplateau (in Peru and Bolivia) con-sidered arable, the longer termprospect of intensive commercialcultivation was inviting too. Thetask may have seemed whimsicalbecause the first essential ingredi-ent to produce a mutant, local par-ent material, was missing - nowheat or oats at all and the unac-climatized barley was clearly un-suitable. But there was earlysupport from outside and the

FAO/IAEA Joint Division becameinvolved shortly thereafter.

The breeding strategy began withfield testing a wide collection ofwheat, barley and oat germplasm.Over the years some 10,000 varie-ties provided by international andnational centres all over the worldwere grown in tiny beds to seewhich did best in the inhospitableclimate. From those that showedmost promise Romero Loli's teamproduced a new barley variety us-ing conventional breeding meth-ods. It went through the requiredfield growing and selecting foreight generations, and was re-leased in 1990 under the nameBuena Vista.

The scene was set for mutationbreeding using radiation. Peru'snuclear infrastructure, equip-ment and mutation breedingskills had already been system-atically improved through IAEAtechnical assistance for morethan a decade. A US donation of$1.5 million for the region en-abled the Agency to help Perubeyond mere equipment andtraining. Plant breeding at LaMolina was co-ordinated withwork in other FAO/IAEA activi-ties including a regional pro-gramme for Improvement ofCereals through Mutation Breed-ing in Latin America, and a relatedCoordinated Research Programme.

Inspecting a barley field near Huancayo. From left to right: C. Ampuero(IPEN); B. Radischat(IAEA); L. Gamara (IPEN); and M. Romero Loli(Agricultural Univeristy, La Molina). (Credit: M. Maluszynski)

The La Molina team irradiatedBuena Vista seeds and obtainedthe mutant variety UNA-LaMolina 95. The mutant has threemain advantages over the parent.It matures some three weeks ear-lier - which will enable it to reachthe seed ripening stage when thedry season arrives. It is shorter - aprotection against being flattenedby wind or hail. It produces a na-ked (huskless) grain with higherprotein content which is easier toboth cook and feed to animals.

The three new traits make the mu-tant very promising. But the proofof viability is in the growing.When the ongoing multiplicationphase produces two to three tonsof barley seeds (expected this year)they will be delivered to demon-stration plots of selected farmerswho have a good reputation in vil-lages. They will grow it togetherwith the previous (parent) variety.Only then can the quality of themutant be gauged. It will takelonger, 2-3 years, to demonstratetrue success - after farmers havegrown it on many thousands ofhectares. But chances look goodthat the 21st Century may beginwith the first cultivable Andeangrain and new opportunities foragricultural development.

Meanwhile the private sector hasalso recognized the promise ofmutation breeding. A Peruvianbrewery company Malteria LimaSA is providing funds and mana-gerial help to the agricultural uni-versity at La Molina to multiplythe seeds of the mutant variety ofbarley it has developed and to dis-tribute them to the selected farm-ers in the high plateau eventhough it has different charac-teristics from the barley used forbeer. UNA-La Molina 95 is husk-less and has a high protein content.Brewers seek barley with proteincontent as low as possible, andtherefore always with husks. Mal-teria's reasoning is that the othertraits - early maturation and shortstature - promise intensive high-input cultivation at high altitude.If the '95' variety is successful3000-plus metres above sea leveland in other hostile conditions,then yet another variety (huskedand low protein) could well befound in the same way.

In Brief: Updates of stories and news events

AGFAX: ReachingZimbabwe Farmers

"The interview on SIT and Tsetse wasa very useful eye-opener, especiallyconsidering that in Zimbabwe, thetsetse flies are very troublesome. Thisinterview was translated into a ver-nacular programme broadcast on Ra-dio 2." — Statement by ZimbabweBroadcasting Corporation

The use of technology for develop-ment depends on attitudes andthese are influenced by informa-tion and education. The Depart-ment of Technical Co-operation(TC) is increasing public aware-ness of its Model Projects activitiesthrough a series of contributions tothe AGFAX media service. Arti-cles for the press and interviewswith IAEA staff on key agricul-tural issues are recorded and dis-tributed on a monthly basis toleading radio stations and news-papers in anglophone Africa andto major European and NorthAmerican organizations broad-casting worldwide. The Sterile In-sect Technique (SIT) to eradicatetsetse flies, the improvement of af-rican rice by mutation breedingand nuclear techniques analysis ofnitrogen in crops are among therange of topics covered.

You or your colleagues could helpus reach broader audiences. Uponrequest recorded copies and fulltranscripts of these interviews areavailable for use by national broad-casters free of charge. Each audiocassette comprising a five minutefeature is edited and ready to broad-cast. For more information, contactthe IAEA TC Programme Co-ordi-nation Section.

AGFAX is produced by World Ra-dio for Environment (WREN), a me-dia organization based in the UK.

Mutated Rice GainsGround in Asia

Nine varieties of early season rice,obtained by induced mutation oflocally grown varieties, were offi-cially released and cultivated on598,100 hectares in five provincesalong the Yangtze River in Chinalast year. The mutant varieties

Increasing rice yields is a key objective(Credit: M. Maluszynski)

now cover about 11% of the total5.5 million hectares of rice grow-ing area in these provinces. Theperformance of each mutant vari-ety varied depending on the agro-climatic conditions in particularprovinces. According to data col-lected during the multilocationtrial, yield increases per hectare forthe nine mutant varieties was onaverage 440 kg higher than for thecontrol varieties.

The Chinese National Rice Re-search Institute estimates a totalyield increase of 263,000 tonnes inthe cultivated area. At a marketprice of US $200 per tonne the gainto farmers could reach over US$ 50million. The extension process wasactively supported by seed com-panies at the provincial, municipaland county level. Because the seedmultiplication programme hasbeen so successfully implemented,an extension area of 990,000 hec-tares is planned for 1996.

In Myanmar, according to recentinformation received from theMinistry of Agriculture, the ricemutant Shwewartun showed im-proved yield, grain quality andearliness compared to its parentvariety. Over the period 1990 to1993 the mutant variety wasgrown in over 2 million acres or17% of the total rice area sown.

Close collaboration - with nationalinstitutes in both China and Myan-mar made possible through co-or-dinated research programmes andtechnical assistance projects - con-tributed to the development ofthese successful mutant varieties.The experience gained from theseprojects is contributing to similarmutation breeding in other re-

throughout Asia.

gions (see related story "FloatingRice and Soaring Sorghum").

RCA Recognized forExcellence

Late last year the Joint InspectionUnit, an independent investiga-tory body of the UN, comparedfield level impacts and results of10 U.N. sponsored intercountryprojects in the Asia and Pacific Re-gion. One of those selected was theRCA project to increase the use ofnuclear technology in regional in-dustries and encourage regionalindustrial competitiveness (see"Pioneers of regional cooperation"- Inside TC, December 1995). ThisIAEA-supported project was ratednumber one in the evaluation witha score of 96 out of 100 points, oneof the best reviews ever made fora project in the field of science andtechnology. The strong commit-ment of national counterparts andthe readiness of participating gov-ernments to collaborate activelywith the private sector were iden-tified as particular strengths of theproject, and the RCA network ofcooperating member states wasviewed as a model for TechnicalCooperation among DevelopingCountries (TCDC). This pro-ject was cofinanced with theUnited Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP) and contributionsfrom Australia, China, Indonesia,Japan, Philippines, Korea, Malay-sia, New Zealand and Thailand.RCA Members are now preparinga third generation project for sub-mission to the Agency and UNDPthat will employ isotope and ra-diation technologies for bettermanagement of the environment,natural resources and further pro-motion of industrial growth.

Zimbabwe's smallholders to benefitfrom biofertilizerMany developing countries havethe capability to use selectedstrains of legume root-nodule bac-teria to produce nitrogen, the mostimportant plant nutrient. But inmost, the benefits have beenreaped by larger farms growingcash crops such as soybean. Sub-sistence growers, who might gainmost from the technology, havelargely missed out. But now up tohalf a million smallholders in Zim-babwe will gain access to the tech-nology through an Agencytechnical co-operation Model Pro-ject set to begin in 1997.

Bacteria of the rhizobiurn "family"have been called Nature's gift to sus-tainable agriculture They form nod-ules in the roots of legumes andconvert nitrogen from the air into theform usable by plants in a processcalled "nitrogen fixation". It is a simi-lar process to the chemical one used byindustry to manufacture urea fertil-izer, but root-nodules do it for free.Though nodulation occurs only insymbiotic relationship with legumeplants, the nitrogen they 'fix' is suffi-cient to nourish a subsequent non-le-guminous crop. In recent years thetechnology to mass produce specific 'in-oculants of rhizobia strains has ma-tured. Indeed the biological route nowprovides more than a third of all nitro-gen used in world agriculture, butnearly all of that is consumed either mdeveloped countries or large commer-cial farms in the developing world.

Nearly 25 to 30 Agency agriculturalprojects around the world now havea rhizobial component. The firstModel Project dedicated to it waslaunched last year m Bangladesh(see Inside TC, September 1995). It isdeveloping commercial scale pro-duction of moculant. Assisted byIAEA pro|ects since 1988, and us-ing the stable isotope N ' tech-nique largely developed by theJoint FAO/ IAEA Division, theBangladesh Institute of Nuclear Ag-riculture (BINA) has identified rhi-zobial strains and matching varietiesof legumes that together would bestfix nitrogen in local soils.

The new project, proposed for8 1997/98, in Zimbabwe will use the

Pioneered bythe Joint Di-vision of theFAO and theIAEA, the N15

technique hasproven to be a unique tool inassessing the amounts of nitro-gen derived from air, soil andadded fertilizer. It is relativelysimple and requires growingthe nitrogen-fixing crop to-gether with a non-fixing crop.The major advantage is that itprovides a quantitative and in-tegrated measure of the nitro-gen fixed - during differentperiods, conditions and soiltypes. It is preferred to non-iso-topic methods because it givesdetailed understanding of fac-tors that influence the fixationin various legumes, and there-fore the "yield", particularly theeffects of inoculation with anelite strain of rhizobia.

N " technique to screen and selectefficient rhizobia to maximizeyields of important legume varie-ties grown locally, and possiblyalso obtain new varieties using ra-diation mutation breeding tech-niques. Zimbabwe already has alarge factory to multiply rhizobiaand put them in medium for dis-tribution to commercial farmers,and its production could be ex-panded to meet the needs of small-scale farmers for inoculants.

Zimbabwe's Country ProgrammeFramework (CPF), drawn up bythe IAEA and the Government, isfocussed on a limited number oftechnical co-operation priority ac-tivities where the technologieshave demonstrable value and thegovernment is committed to de-veloping essential infrastructure.Development of biological nitro-gen fixation for subsistence farm-ers in the communal areas is one

such activity. Levels of crop pro-duction in the small-scale farmingsector of Zimbabwe are very low,mainly due to low soil fertility -particularly nitrogen and phos-phorus. The CPF confirmed thatthe technical capability and coun-terpart structure to undertake thisactivity is strong and that previoustechnical co-operation work hasdeveloped data on nitrogen fixa-tion using three locally grown leg-umes. A multidisciplinary researchteam has already been trained andprepared to undertake the task.

Given these promising conditionsand drawing upon the ongoing ex-perience in Bangladesh, the TCDepartment is confident that theproject being formulated will makea significant contribution to foodproduction and small farm prosper-ity in rural Zimbabwe.

Better feeds (from page 2)

last year in three islands (East Java,South Sulawesi and West Suma-tra,) and field-testing of blockswith feed materials available ineach region.

Meanwhile in West and CentralJava, the Ministry has now takenthe technology to villages acrossall districts. In addition to such ex-tension activities, several hands-on training courses have beenconducted for leaders of farmersgroups One in West Java in 1995brought together 236 farmers forthree months. This course evalu-ated 395 dairy cows, 80 beef cattle,and 100 sheep. A similar one wascompleted in Central Java late lastyear and involves analysis of 180animals. Cumulative results offield trials indicates that UMMBsupplementation could increasemonthly net income by 200% fordairy and beef cattle farmers and100% for sheep farmers.

INSIDE Technical Co-operation is produced for the IAEA byMaximedia. The stories may be freely reproduced. For moreinformation contact: IAEA TC Programme Co-ordination Section,P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Tel: +431 2060 26005 Fax: +431 2060 29633 e-mail:foucharp@tcpol.iaea.or.at