Expanding the area for Rabi-season cropping in southern Bangladesh

Excellent wheat yields achieved in successful project-sponsored farmer trials during the 2007/08 season, combined with current high demand and record prices for wheat grain in local markets, have created exactly the right ingredients for achieving the project objective of expanding rabi cropping in southern Bangladesh. With the project providing targeted technical and resource support to motivated local change agents (Proshika, WRC and DAE staff) at this time of high interest in wheat by farmers, the prospect of significant impacts from continued project investment is enticingly high. Confidence in benchmarking, recording and quantifying such impact is greatly enhanced by the associated efforts in livelihood analysis supported by the project, All in all, this project is well on track to surpassing its initial expectations.
Farmers averaged nearly 4 t/ha in the large field-scale trials at Barisal and over 3.5 t/ha on Bhola island. In Noakhali, farmer yields averaged 2.3 t/ha across sites impacted by varying levels of salinity. Preliminary analysis indicates agronomic practices and released varieties, as recommended by WRC, are appropriate but that very late planting (late December) may reduce yields. In the more saline areas of Noakhali, varietal screening trials identified germplasm with consistent yield prospects for this region. While these results were influenced by the soft season finish of relatively cool temperatures and helpful rainfall during the 2007/08 season, this is the fourth consecutive season of acceptable wheat yields and so it is reasonable to reflect some confidence in achieving consistent crop yields in the regions of southern Bangladesh.
Detailed interpretation of the 2007/08 experimental results is yet to be completed and is dependent on soil chemical and physical data which are currently being analysed. Once available, these trial data will be used to test the APSIM model.
A remaining challenge to the project is to identify and spatially map land types with (i) current shallow tube well irrigation infrastructure, (ii) no salinity and surface storages of monsoon rainwater suitable for supplementary irrigation, (iii) near-surface water tables or high soil water holding capacity sufficient for dryland cropping or (iv) poor quality ground water but high quality surface water sufficient for irrigations. Some progress has been made in using satellite imagery to estimate surface water storage. Preliminary analyses, for example, indicate that for a 300ha region centred on Hazirhat, in the Noakhali region, there are 9.7ha of water bodies identifiable. This equates to 194ML (assuming 2m depth of water bodies) which is sufficient to potentially irrigate 100ha of wheat, assuming half this water is accessible for irrigation. Concentrated effort to progress such spatial mapping will occur during June 2008 when Perry Poulton visits Bangladesh with this specific purpose in mind.
Clearly impressive in the project is the collaboration evident between WRC and Proshika, such that it was not possible for Australian collaborators to discern which individuals were employed by each organisation. The project employed two scientific officers, one in each organisation, in each region (Barisal, Bhola, Noakhali) and they appeared to really work as a team. This was also reflected in the attitude and voiced views of the respective organisational leaders. The results were apparent in very well run on-farm trials and field days. While the Australian collaborators may be vocal in designing the field program, its implementation is largely up to the local team and they have exceeded expectations.
Given the excellent results to date, the project is well on course to ramp up extension and training activities for farmers in the upcoming 2008/09 season.