Burma (Myanmar) - Achievements

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Achievements

Key indicators and performance for 2008-09

Indicator: Introduced legume varieties and management practices showing increased yields in farmer and research station trials

Performance: More than 60 on-farm and research station trials have introduced a range of promising varieties of peanut, pigeonpea and chickpea. Use of legume inoculants and better crop management practices have significantly increased crop yields.

Achievements from the 2008-09 Annual Report

In the central dry zone of Burma a project led by ICRISAT is identifying and distributing high-yielding chickpea, peanut and pigeonpea suited to the zone. In the past year the project has substantially covered the prescribed milestones for these three legume crops in the Sagaing, Mandalay and Magway divisions of the zone. Farmers participated in varietal selection trials, finding pigeonpea varieties that conformed with their preferences, looking for highest yield but also drawn to one line with attractive seed colour. In chickpea most of the kabuli varieties had high incidence of dry root rot compared to the desi varieties, and the farmers expressed their desire for early maturing varieties with resistance to dry root rot. One chickpea variety stood out in the Sagaing division; farmers have already started seed production of this variety and it now grows on 100 ha. By growing this variety farmers have achieved 30–50% higher productivity and resistance to diseases.

Soil analysis from research stations and farmers’ fields revealed deficiencies of available iron, zinc, sulphur and organic matter at all project sites in the three divisions. Field experiments to determine the role of seed priming in enhancing crop productivity found that a 4-hour soaking of pigeonpea seed was optimum, resulting in good germination, plant establishment and growth. However, seed-priming trials in chickpea revealed no significant differences in terms of germination percentage or plant establishment.

Farmers across the three divisions have established village seedbanks to build up supplies of the new preferred varieties of chickpea and pigeonpea. As well, peanut farmers in a Magway township who had seen the performance of Sinpadetha 8 peanut variety during the rainy season are undertaking seed multiplication of their own. Ten farmers in this township have formed a Seed Committee to take up groundnut seed production activities for the coming seasons.

Inoculation with the root bacterium rhizobium has the capacity to lift production through the supply of nitrogen to the plant. New equipment has strengthened the capacity of the research unit at the Department of Agricultural Research, Yezin, to undertake rhizobium inoculation, and trials have successfully taken place at all project locations. Workshops in legume production and rhizobium inoculation technology have accompanied the trials.