BATTAMBANG: 11 December 2011 --
Cambodian rice
farmers are back on track to get flatter rice fields that
make water
management easier and can boost production thanks to a
renewed effort
to reintroduce laser levelling equipment into the country.
The ADB-IRRI (International Rice Research Institute)
Postharvest
Project from the Philippines teamed up with the Don Bosco
School in
Salabalath, Battambang, Cambodia, and held a seminar and
demonstration
of laser levelling technology last month.
More than 100 people attended, made up of farmers, students,
millers,
extension workers, representatives from the private sector,
and staff
from the Department of Agricultural Machinery (DAM) and
Department of
Agricultural Extension, Cambodia.
IRRI introduced laser levelling in Cambodia in 1997, when
more than 200
hectares of rice fields were levelled. Farmers did not adopt
the
technology then, however, due to the unavailability of laser
levelling
equipment..
Awareness of the importance of well-levelled fields as a
condition for
high yields and good quality paddy has increased in the
country and
several private sector partners have approached members of
the
Postharvest Project for levelling assistance. This prompted
the
Postharvest Project to revisit laser levelling in Cambodia.
IRRI
provided one set of laser levelling equipment for
demonstrations, and
then Pen Nov from DAM, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries,
constructed a drag bucket based on the IRRI design.
Today yields have increased, and a Cambodian government
policy aims to
export 1 million tons of good quality milled rice by 2015.
Other topics do with rice-growing and especially
post-harvest
management were tackled during the Seminar. Don Bosco
Mission, Bonn,
(Germany), consultant Walter Zwick shared the results of
their farm trials
on nutrient and pest management.
IRRI communications specialist Trina Mendoza conducted
interviews and
shot footage in Battambang (and in Bac Lieu and An Giang,
Vietnam), as
part of a promotional video on laser levelling which will be
released
early next year.
