Survey of postharvest losses of rice and identification of causes of quality change. Analysis of annual incidence of major stored-products insects, and mechanisms of damage and possible prevention. Development of low-input drying technology and biological control of stored-products insects using natural enemies and products. Development of environment-safe technologies for reducing postharvest losses of staples.
The partnership: JIRCAS /Embrapa Soybean; Current status and future perspectives on soybean production in Argentina; Molecular analysis of abiotic stress: tolerant mechanisms in soybean and its application to breeding; Development of transgenic soybean tolerant to drought stresse; Physiological evaluation of drought tolerance in brazilian soybean cultivars: water use efficiency and carbon isotope discrimination; Epidemiological studies of soybean rust in South America: host susceptibility and pathogenic races; Application of DNA markers for identifying genes for resistance to soybean diseases in South America and for evaluating genectic relationship among soybean gene pools; The soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines Ichinohe in Paraguay: its distribution, ecology, vanation in pathogenicity and damage on soybean; Evaluation of effects of an agro-pastoral system on soybean production and soil properties; Effects of agro-pastoral systems on nitrogen balance in soil in Colónia Yguazu, Alto Paraná, Paraguay; Effect of introduction of the agro-pastoral system in South America on farm management and its current status: a comparison of management conditions betwccn soybean monoculture and the agro-pastoral system inBrazil and Paraguay; Use of agricultural by-products for cattle feed in South America: case .Argentina; Charactcrization of biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) capacity in Brachiaria humidicola; Field validation of the phenomenon of nitrification inhibition by Brachiaria humidicola and other tropical grasses.
Changes in farm management and production systems: response to shrimp culture problems in the Philippines; Changes of brackish waer culture along with the decrease of monodon/banana production in Thailand.
Southeast Asia made considerable progress in building and strengthening its agricultural R&D capacity during 2000–2017. All of the region’s countries reported higher numbers of agricultural researchers, improvements in their average qualification levels, and higher shares of women participating in agricultural R&D. In contrast, regional agricultural research spending remained stagnant, despite considerable growth in agricultural output over time. As a result, Southeast Asia’s agricultural research intensity—that is, agricultural research spending as a share of agricultural GDP—steadily declined from 0.50 percent in 2000 to just 0.33 percent in 2017. Although the extent of underinvestment in agricultural research differs across countries, all Southeast Asian countries invested below the levels deemed attainable based on the analysis summarized in this report. The region will need to increase its agricultural research investment substantially in order to address future agricultural production challenges more effectively and ensure productivity growth. Southeast Asia’s least developed agricultural research systems (Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar) are characterized by low scientific output and researcher productivity as a direct consequence of severe underfunding and lack of sufficient well-qualified research staff. While Malaysia and Thailand have significantly more developed agricultural research systems, they still report key inefficiencies and resource constraints that require attention. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam occupy intermediate positions between these two groups of high- and low-performing agricultural research systems. Growing national economies, higher disposable incomes, and changing consumption patterns will prompt considerable shifts in levels of agricultural production, consumption, imports, and exports across Southeast Asia over the next 20 to 30 years. The resource-allocation decisions that governments make today will affect agricultural productivity for decades to come. Governments therefore need to ensure the research they undertake is responsive to future challenges and opportunities, and aligned with strategic development and agricultural sector plans. ASTI’s projections reveal that prioritizing investment in staple crops will still trigger fastest agricultural productivity growth in Laos. However, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam could achieve faster growth over the next 30 years by prioritizing investment in research focused on fruit, vegetables, livestock, and aquaculture. In Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand, the choice between focusing on staple crops versus high-value commodities was less pronounced, but projections did indicate that prioritizing investments in oil crop research would trigger significantly lower growth in agricultural productivity.