STRASA Economic Brief 1: Stress-Tolerant Rice in Eastern India: Development and Distribution

7/30/2019 STRASA Economic Brief 1: Stress-Tolerant Rice in Eastern India: Development and Distribution

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Stress-Tolerant Rice in Eastern India:

Development and Distribution

T. Yamano, M. Malabayabas, and M. Dar

T. Yamano is a senior scientist, M. Malabayabas is an assistant scientist, and M. Dar is a seniorassociate scientist at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

STRASA Economic Briefs, No. 1 (March 2013)

1. Introduction

Approximately 80% of the rice-growing area in eastern India is rainfed and exposed to

abiotic stresses, such as drought and flooding. These conditions partly explain why

eastern India generates less than half of the national rice production, despite accounting

for more than 60% of the total rice cropped area in the country. Droughts and floods are

examples of the most severe abiotic stresses for rice crops across India. In 2002, a severe

drought affected 56% of the geographic area and the livelihood of 300 million people in

18 states. Although this is not documented, farmers are affected every year by droughts in

local regions. Eastern India has the largest rainfed lowland area in the world and is prone

to floods. According to the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT), approximately 20

million people in India were affected by floods annually between 2001 and 2011. Because

farmers in rainfed areas are mostly poor, crop losses caused by abiotic stresses can have a

devastating impact, potentially exacerbating poverty in the region.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its collaborators have developed rice

varieties that are tolerant of various abiotic stresses. Recent advances in conventional and

molecular breeding techniques have facilitated the breeding of rice varieties with

desirable traits in a relatively short period. Since 2008, the Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa

and South Asia (STRASA) project has introduced such rice varieties to India. In 2010,

seed distribution expanded significantly when the National Food Security Mission

(NFSM) included stress-tolerant rice varieties in its eastern India programs.

In this brief, we describe (A) stress-prone areas in South Asia and (B) the development

and distribution of stress-tolerant rice varieties in eastern India. We conclude by outlining

recommendations for the dissemination of stress-tolerant rice varieties to help farmersmitigate crop losses caused by abiotic stresses in this region of India.

2. Stress-prone areas in South Asia

Figure 1 presents a map of stress-prone areas in South Asia. The map was generated by

using remote-sensing techniques. The areas with red dots are drought-prone areas,

whereas the areas with blue dots are submergence-prone areas. In Uttar Pradesh,

approximately 8% of the rice area is prone to submergence from floods, whereas a further

21.8% is drought prone. In Bihar and West Bengal, more than 40% of the total rice

cultivation area is prone to submergence, whereas 29% and 17% is drought prone in thetwo areas, respectively. In Odisha, 27% of the total rice-growing area is prone to

STRASA has beenestablished by IRRIand Africa Ricewith a view toreduce povertyand to stabilizerice production indrought- andflood-pronerainfedecosystems withpoor soil in SouthAsia and Africathrough the use ofmoderntechnology.

STRASA is fundedby the Bill &

Melinda GatesFoundation.

http://strasa.org/

STRESS-TOLERANT RICE

FOR AFRICA AND SOUTH

ASIA


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Fig. 1. Map of stress-prone areas in South Asia.

submergence and 19% is prone to drought. Figure 1 clearly shows that submergence-

prone areas are concentrated along rivers, whereas drought-prone areas are scattered

across regions. Rice farmers in drought-prone areas are mostly poor, with limited

income-generating opportunities outside of farming, and thus they are vulnerable to

disasters. In addition, because of climate change, the amount of rainfall is expected to

decline and become more erratic in the future. Therefore, the need to plant stress-tolerant

rice varieties is very high in this region.

3. Development of stress-tolerant rice varieties

Rice plants respond to flooding through two mechanisms: (A) the ability for plants to

elongate, which prevents them from becoming completely submerged beneath rising

floodwater, and (B) submergence tolerance, whereby certain rice varieties survive

submergence in shallow water through the adjustment of metabolic processes. As late as

the 1980s, rice scientists failed to successfully combine submergence tolerance (i.e.,

mechanism b) and high grain yield through conventional breeding. However, in the

1990s, rice scientists found that, in certain rice varieties, submergence tolerance is

controlled by a single major quantitative trait locus (QTL), which was termedSUB1 (Xuand Mackill 1996). In early 2002, through marker-assisted backcrossing (MAB), the

SUB1 QTL was successfully introgressed, that is, a hybridization technique in which one

gene is transferred from one plant to another through breeding, not through genetic

modification, into a popular Indian rice variety, called Swarna. Swarna was selected

because it is one of the most popular rice varieties in the region and, as a consequence,

farmers might be more inclined to adopt Swarna-Sub1.

Under normal conditions, previous studies found no significant differences in agronomic

performance, grain yield, and grain quality between Swarna and Swarna-Sub1.

However, after submergence, Swarna-Sub1 exhibited a yield advantage over Swarna.

For more information, please visit www.irri.org and http://strasa.org


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Table 1. Major stress-tolerant rice varieties released recently in India.

Variety Tolerant ofRelease

yearNotes

Swarna-Sub1 Submergence 2009 Survives up to 14 days of submergence

Sahbhagi Dhan Drought 2010 1 ton/ha yield advantage under drought

CSR 43 Salinity 2012 Developed by CSSRI and IRRI

CR Dhan 405 Salinity 2012 Developed by CRRI and IRRI

Indeed, a recent household survey found that, when farmers in Odisha experienced 7 to

15 days of submergence, the average yield of Swarna-Sub1 was 2.7 tons/ha, whereas

Swarna yielded just 1.4 tons/ha (Yamano et al 2013).

Unlike Swarna-Sub1, the most successful drought-tolerant variety in India is a product

of conventional breeding. It is called Sahbhagi Dhan, which means rice developed

through collaboration in Hindi (Reyes 2009). This name was given to it because thevariety was tested under a collaborative project between IRRI and many Indian

organizations. Sahbhagi Dhan has shown a yield advantage of 0.8 to 1 ton/ha over other

varieties under drought conditions.

4. Distribution of stress-tolerant rice varieties in India

The STRASA project has been multiplying stress-tolerant rice variety seeds and

distributing them with help from several Indian organizations, including NGOs,

agricultural universities, and governmental agencies. When the project began in India in

2008, there were 21 collaborating organizations, with the project distributing 3 tons ofstress-tolerant rice (mostly Swarna-Sub1) to 117 farmers (Fig. 2). Seed distribution

started in collaboration with a few NGOs in Uttar Pradesh in 2008. Since then, many

additional NGOs have joined the distribution efforts in Odisha and other states. In 2010,

seed distribution expanded significantly when the NFSM began distributing Swarna-

Sub1 seeds within the framework of its projects. The NFSM distributed approximately

1,000 tons of Swarna-Sub1 seeds to more than 60,000 farmers (approx. 6 kg per farmer)

in six states during 2010. This quantity increased to 9,800 and 38,000 tons in 2011 and

2012, respectively. The number of farmers reached through the NFSM programs was

estimated to be 1.3 and 3.0 million in 2011 and 2012, respectively. For instance, in 2011,

269 block demonstrations on approximately 269,000 ha were implemented in fiveagroecological regions. The large-scale viability of Swarna-Sub1 was demonstrated in

lowland and medium lowland areas, while Sahbhagi Dhan was introduced to drought-

prone lowlands and to upland areas on a small scale. A significant increase in the

quantity of Sahbhagi Dhan seed distribution is scheduled in 2013.

5. Concluding remarks

Since its initiation in 2008, the STRASA project has successfully multiplied and

distributed stress-tolerant rice varieties, particularly Swarna-Sub1, throughout India. The

success of this project was made possible by strong collaboration with localcounterparts. However, to extend its successful distribution in the future, the project



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INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines DAPO Box 7777 Metro Manila

For more information please visit www.irri.org ; http://strasa.org

INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Los Baos, Laguna, Philippines DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila


Copyright International Rice Research Institute 2013. This material is copyrighted by the International Rice Research Institute and is

licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License (Unported).

Year

Fig. 2. Quantity of stress-tolerant rice seeds distributed in eastern India.

The following are key issues.

First, the distribution of stress-tolerant rice variety seeds will remain proportional to

public support until farmers begin exchanging the seeds among themselves. Oncefarmers begin exchanging seeds, seed distribution will increase exponentially. Farmer-

to-farmer seed exchange requires investigation and support if necessary.

Second, seed quality must be maintained. It is relatively easy to monitor and control the

quality of certified seeds that are multiplied by formal organizations. However, it is

difficult to monitor the quality of seeds farmers produce. Once poor-quality seeds are

circulated among farmers, these seeds will fail to mitigate the losses caused by abiotic

stresses. It would be difficult to reverse the opinion of farmers about the seeds if their

perceptions become negative. Farmers may need to be trained on how to store and

prepare their own seeds properly.Finally, the quantity of Sahbhagi Dhan and other stress-tolerant varieties remains small

at the pilot level. However, because the land of a large number of rice farmers is subject

to drought and high salinity every year, the success of Swarna-Sub1 should be extended

to Sahbhagi Dhan and other salt-tolerant rice varieties. Indeed, the potential benefit of

Sahbhagi Dhan is expected to be larger than that of Swarna-Sub1 because drought

affects more farmers than floods. However, drought-prone areas are scattered across

regions (Fig. 1); therefore, it is necessary to disseminate seeds through multiple

channels, in addition to encouraging farmers to exchange seeds among themselves, while

maintaining seed quality.

References

Reyes LC. 2009. Making rice less thirsty. Rice Today8:12-15.

Xu K, Mackill DJ. 1996. A major locus for submergence tolerance mapped on rice chromosome.

Mol. Breed. 2:219-224.

Yamano T, Malayabas M, Dar M, Gumma MK. 2013. Diffusion of submergence tolerant rice in

eastern India: preliminary report. In mimeo. International Rice Research Institute, Los

Baos, Philippines.

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Quantity (tons)

STRASA Economic Brief 1: Stress-Tolerant Rice in Eastern India: Development and Distribution

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