Los Banos, The Philippines
April 18,  2000

An international workshop, Productivity of Lowland Rice in Southeast Asia--Overcoming Environmental Constraints, will be hosted by the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) of Lao PDR, the Lao-IRRI Project, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The workshop will be held immediately after the international conference, Impact of Agricultural Research for Development in Southeast Asia, to be organized by CARDI (Cambodia Agricultural Research and Development Institute) and held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 24-26 October 2000. The CARDI Conference will be more general for agricultural research and development, whereas the Lao Workshop will focus on the constraints for rice
productivity. It is hoped that many people will attend both meetings, taking advantage of the two meetings held in the neighboring countries. There would be some activities of interest to the participants in both Cambodia and Lao PDR on 27-29 October between the two meetings.

The Lao workshop will coincide with the commencement of a new ACIAR rice project, Increased production of rice-based cropping systems in Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Australia, which will be run by the University of Queensland. The project will focus on development of plant breeding strategies for rainfed lowland rice (being threshed by Lao farmers in photo), but will also address other important issues that are associated with productivity of rice-based cropping systems in Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Australia. These issues include development of sound direct seeding technology, intensification of rice-based cropping systems, agroecological characterization of environments for increased crop production, and minimizing constraints for dry season irrigated rice production.

The main objective of the workshop is to exchange available information that would assist development of rice-based cropping systems in Southeast Asia, particularly in Lao PDR and Cambodia. The workshop will focus on 1) characterizing environmental factors that are constraints for rice production in the region and mapping the weather and soil related factors using GIS; 2) understanding the impact of environmental constraints and methods to minimize the constraints, particularly for drought in rainfed lowland rice and low temperature in dry season irrigated rice; and 3) developing rice breeding strategies for stress environments. Other topics will be also considered if they will fit the theme of development of rice-based cropping systems in Southeast Asia.

The workshop will also provide information of the new ACIAR project, and the project partners would appreciate feedback on the project from the workshop participants. There will be an opportunity to visit ACIAR, NAFRI, and Lao-IRRI experiments before or after the workshop.

The Workshop will consist of six sections in addition to the opening session, in which a description of the new ACIAR Rice Project in Lao PDR and Cambodia will be given. The opening session will also outline the objectives and set the scene for the workshop. 

Section 1: Rice production systems
This section will include papers on the current rice production systems in Laos and Cambodia. This section will highlight the present rice production systems including their limitations and environmental constraints. The problem of low soil fertility and fertilizer requirements may be included in this section. Examples from neighboring countries, Thailand and Vietnam may be included.

Section 2: Drought problems in rice production
This section examines the drought problems and technologies available to minimize the effect of
water shortage. This may include water management such as sorjan systems in Indonesia. The main emphasis in this section would be characterising the pattern of drought development in rainfed lowland rice and how drought resistant cultivars may be developed. How successful is the drought screening? 

Section 3: Temperature constraints in rice production
In this section, low temperature problems in rice will be examined. This would include review(s) of
the present understanding on the low temperature effect during establishment phase and during
reproductive phase on yield. Examples of experiences in minimizing the low temperature problem will be given. Genotypic variation in low temperature tolerance will be reviewed. Results of recent work in identifying low temperature problems in Laos may be presented. 

Section 4: Breeding strategies
Breeding strategies for sub-optimum conditions will be examined in this section, which will include presentations on the description of rice breeding programs in Laos and Cambodia, possibly including for irrigated conditions and the challenges for the future. Breeding strategies in rainfed lowland rice in Thailand may be included. Experimental work to examine genotype and environment interaction in rainfed lowland rice may be presented. 

Section 5: Characterization and modeling 
This last presentation section examines methods of integrating information using GIS and simulation models. Experience in Thailand and other countries may be presented. How successfully have these techniques been utilized in Laos and Cambodia?

Section 6: Discussion
This discussion section will be to apply the knowledge, experience and skills available to us to
minimize environmental constraints on production of rice based cropping systems in Laos, Cambodia and neighboring countries. This would be mostly a discussion session. Recommendations would be made to scientists in Laos and Cambodia on the future research activities.

Papers
There will be both invited papers and contributed papers. Abstract (less than 1 page) or expression of interest should be submitted to the organizing committee by email j.m.schiller@cgiar.org or by fax to the Lao-IRRI Project (856-21-414373) by 31 May 2000. The authors of selected papers will be informed early in June, and full papers are to be submitted by 30 September 2000. All papers will be reviewed by referees, and accepted papers will be presented orally at the workshop. Some of these papers may be published in the international journal Field Crops Research, but most papers are expected to be published in ACIAR Proceedings. Field Crops Research and ACIAR Proceedings are accessed by a large number of scientists and administrators.

Exchange of ideas
In addition to paper presentations, the workshop will provide a forum for exchange of ideas on
development of rice-based cropping systems in Lao PDR and Cambodia. Scientists with experience in these and nearby countries in Southeast Asia, and particularly with expertise in the fields of climatic and soil constraints, agronomic systems and breeding strategies including germplasm enhancement in rice are encouraged to write papers and/or participate in the discussions during the workshop.

Only limited funds are available for authors of papers to attend the workshop. Most participants are expected to finance themselves.

IRRI news release
N3309