News Stories
Promising rice varieties for the PNG highlands
by Seniorl Anzu (17/06/09)
Two cool tolerant rice varieties imported from overseas and screened for the PNG highlands are doing well in the Aiyura area of Eastern Highlands province. Research by NARI is showing promising results and farmers are already getting the seeds from NARI and cultivating the crop.
NARI Aiyura Research Programme Leader Dr Rakesh Kapila said that the two varieties can yield better under PNG conditions with an average of three tones per hectare. He said even on better soil conditions, they can yield up to six tones a hectare, which is better than international standards.
The two rice varieties (IRGC 77426 and IRGC 77427) were among 39 that were imported from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and were trialed at Aiyura. Among this research were other local highlands varieties such as Golden Mountain, Thai Big, MT APO and lowland variety TCS 10.
Dr Kapila said a handful of farmers are trying out the new varieties and interest is picking up. Among other parameters considered in the study, the two varieties have performed better in grain yield and pest and disease incidences.
Researcher Julie Sip said while on-farm trials are yet to be done, the introduced varieties have a clear yield advantage over the local varieties and local farmers can expect yield increase between 30-80% under marginal inputs if the varieties are fully adopted by farmers. She said this work has demonstrated the need to progressively introduce high yielding adaptable varieties for the highlands which would consequently result in the adoption of highly productive varieties and thereby improve the overall yield productivity and contribute to food security.
These better performing rice varieties identified under Aiyura condition could be adaptable to similar climatic zones in other parts of PNG.
Rice research by NARI in the lowlands had resulted in the release of four improved rice varieties for upland or non-irrigated production. The four varieties – NARI Rice 1 or NR 1, NR 9, NR 15 and NR 16 – were officially released to smallholder farmers. They have performed in all trials significantly better compared to the control varieties with respect to yield and yield stability across the various environments. Yield performance was further complemented by good eating qualities as tested in separate consumer preference studies.