Assessment of the adoption and adaptation of conservation agriculture and direct seeded rice in South and South-East Asia

Expected project outcomes

• Identifying and engage with the key stakeholders promoting and supporting the dissemination of both Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and non-puddled transplanting rice (NPTR) in different countries and determine the range of associated technologies being promoted and delivered to farmers.
• Understanding the motivation of stakeholders' efforts to scale the technologies including where and why adoption of CA and DSR/NPTR has occurred.
• Understanding what is motivating and enabling farmers to adopt and adapt the associated CA and DSR/NPTR practices and technologies, and the barriers impeding other farmers from adoption.
• Exploring potential issues associated with the adoption and adaptation of CA and DSR/NPTR with a particular emphasis on current best practice regarding alternative rice establishment methods.
• Providing information on biophysical changes being observed by farmers, researchers, extension agents and other stakeholders in rice-based farming systems where CA and DSR/NPTR are being promoted, adopted and adapted.
• Making recommendations to ACIAR on where future research related to CA and DSR/NPTR should focus including potential opportunities for South-South partnerships, information sharing and learning that could be supported in future research projects.