Water workshop held in the Philippines

For the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), “Rice is Life.” But we all know that without water, there is no life. Rice farmers today struggle to produce enough rice for a growing population with less and less water available, so they need to use technologies designed to optimize the use of water. IRRC partners make sure that these technologies reach the farmers.

Participants in the Workshop on Adoption and Impact of Water Savings in Rice in the Philippines, held on 26-28 March 2008 at IRRI. (Photo by R. Panaligan)

This is precisely why experts on water-saving technologies convened on 26-28 March at IRRI. Entitled “Workshop on Adoption and Impact of Water Savings in the Philippines,” the 3-day event brought together partners of the Water-Saving Work Group of the IRRC in a discussion on the status of extension and adoption of water-saving technologies implemented in different areas all over the Philippines. Represented were Bulacan Agricultural State College, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Bureau of Soils and Water Management, National Irrigation Administration (including representatives from its offices in Quezon City, Bohol, Region VII-VIII, Bulacan, Tarlac, Tacloban City, UPRIIS-Cabanatuan City, and Ilocos Norte), Provincial Irrigation Administration-Bohol, Central Luzon State University, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, and the Casecnan Project in Nueva Ecija.

In the plenary session, participants presented the activities done on validation and dissemination of alternate wetting and drying (AWD), one of many important water-saving techniques. Research done on adoption and impact of water-saving technologies at some of the sites was also discussed. Delegates freely contributed to discussions on the cases presented, which revealed important insights into the different issues involved. The participants discussed how far the technologies have gone in terms of dissemination and adoption from participatory experimental plots to farm and irrigation system levels. The water-saving impact-pathway experiences that sprang from the discussions were documented, including local success stories.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Bas Bouman of the IRRC Water-Saving Work Group reminds the participants to take note of the bottlenecks in disseminating technologies, what works and what did not. He stresses a need for a web site where they can share the learning from workshops such as this. (Photo by T. Mendoza)

In the workshop, the delegates were grouped into teams to brainstorm and plan further actions. Their main concern is how to disseminate AWD to a wider reach of farmers. They also tackled questions on how to promote AWD at the policy level. They shared experiences on the extent of adoption of AWD in their areas. Research gaps were also identified, in the hope of refining the research process. Delegates also voiced suggestions on how to disseminate the technologies on a large scale.

The workshop was undertaken by the Water-Saving Work Group of the IRRC and the project “Developing a System of Temperate and Tropical Aerobic Rice (STAR) in Asia” under the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF).More about the workshop in RIPPLE’s July-September issue!

Lorelei Dela Cruz and Rica Joy Flor (r.flor@cgiar.org)

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