CSISA, Pakistan is organizing training workshops

Workshop on Mass communication skills in agriculture 

Venue: Video conferencing room University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Date: October 04, 2011
Program of workshop:

Time	Topic	Method	Resource Person
09.00 – 09.30	Registration		Fahad Mirza
09.30 – 09.35	Recitation from Holy Quran		Naveed Ramzan
09.35 – 10.00	Well come address		Dr. M. Aqil Khan  CSISA, Pakistan
10.00 – 10.10	Chief Guest’s remarks		Dr. Iqrar Ahmad  Khan  VC, UAF
10.10 – 10.30	Challenges of technology transfer in Punjab Pakistan		Dr. M. Anjum Ali  DG, Extension DGA (Ext. & AR)
10.30 – 11.05	Introduction –Program Schedule; Objectives;     Ice-breaker: Tale of 4 toys (Vikram-Betaal       Folklore)     Introduction : Participants	Exercise in pairs	Facilitation Team
11.05 – 11.20	Tea/Coffee Break
11.20 – 11.45	Communication Skills : Requirements in team approach	Blindfold game	Ravikanth
11.45 – 12.20	Communication: ·      Overview ·      Pictures & Perspectives ·      Common Pitfalls in communication	Interactive session   With visual content	Ravikanth
12.20 – 13.05	Characteristics of a good communicator:   Video film	Small group exercise	Ravikanth
13.05 – 14.00	Lunch
14.00 – 15.00	Information gathering : Mind map method	Small group exercise	Ravikanth
15.00 – 15.45	Communication skills: Specific reference to… ·      Listening skills ·      Presentation/facilitation skills	Interactive session   With visual content	Ravikanth
15.45 – 16.00	Coffee/Tea Break
16.00 – 16.20	Conducting a farmers’ meeting : Simulation (Showcasing the learning)	Small Group exercise and presentation	Ravikanth
16.20 – 17.00	Course Valediction: -          Concluding remarks by the Chief Guest -          Certificate presentation	Interactive session   With visual content	Dr. Noor ul Islam DGA (Res.) AARI

Workshop on Hub Communication Platform 
Venue: Biotechnology Research Institute  

Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Date: October 05, 2011

Program of workshop:

Time	Topic	Resource Person
09.00 – 09.30	Registration	Fahad Mirza
09.30 – 09.35	Recitation from Holy Quran	Naveed Ramzan
09.35 – 10.00	Welcome address	Dr. M. Aqil Khan  CSISA, Pakistan
10.00 – 10.10	Chief Guest’s remarks	Dr. Noor ul Islam  DGA (Res.) AARI
10.10 –  10.30 ­	Introduction – Program Schedule   Introduction  of Participants	Facilitation Team
10.30 – 11.05	Preface about HCP	Dr. Neelam Chaudhary
11.05 – 11.20	Tea/Coffee Break
11.20 – 11.45	Online usage of HCP and its modules	Participatory
11.45 – 12.20	Online demo of adoption survey tool	Dr. Neelam Chaudhary
12.20 – 13.05	GPS training	Hub team/Dr.  Neelam       Chaudhary
13.05 – 14.00	Lunch
14.00 – 15.00	Important features about use of aWhere desktop	Dr. Neelam Chaudhary
15.00 – 15.45	Practical exercise of using aWhere desktop	Participatory
15.45 – 16.00	Coffee/Tea Break
16.00 – 16.20	Feedback from the participants	Dr. Neelam Chaudhary
16.20 – 17.00	Concluding remarks by the Chief Guest  Certificate presentation	Dr. Sohail Hameed  Director NIBGE

CSISA, Pakistan contributes to World Wheat Book II

Limagrain, Europe’s largest seed company, ten years after its first volume of World Wheat Book has published its II volume (available from Lavoisier Publishing, 11-rue Lavoisier F-75384 Paris cedex 08, France) which carries the wheat breeding improvement history in various countries. Dr. M. Aqil Khan of CSISA, Pakistan contributed a chapter on Pakistan – Wheat Improvement in Pakistan. It summarizes the wheat improvement in the country tracing back to preindependence British era and summes up various development phases in wheat improvement to its present point. Wheat culture in Indo-Pak subcontinent, before improvement efforts, comprised of a mix of various seed types (species and types) and colors. Under the market demand for white grains for bread the colonial British government undertook efforts to promote white wheat for English market. This was the beginning of wheat improvement Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. These efforts entailed survey of local wheats, establishing agriculture research and education institutions. After partition in 1947, dwindling food supplies drew in Ford Foundation support and ultimately CIMMYT involvement under Norman A. Borlaug. Pakistan ushered into green revolution which made significant impact on food availability in sixties and seventies of last century. The green revolution is short of its conclusions and social impact. Majority of small farmers fail to enjoy full benefit of green revolution. National yields are low and once again country faces uncertain food situation in the face of rapidly rising population and shrinking agricultural resources.

Agriculture as a whole needs review to set new priorities and wheat improvement work needs strengthening and regulation to meet the needs of rapidly increasing population. Wheat is occupying more area than a healthy agriculture can afford. This imbalance should be corrected by improving yield and reducing area. This requires strong action policy base.

CA gets official support

A meeting was held in the office of Director General Agriculture Department, Extension wing, Lahore on 10^th August, 2011. It was attended by many key functionaries including DG Research, Director Wheat, Director Agronomy and Director Soil Fertility. Dr. Muhammad Aqil Khan CSISA, Pakistan staff also attended the meeting on the invitation of DG Agri. Extension. Agenda included consideration of relay wheat planting in cotton and preparation of a brochure on the subject for farmer use. The relay wheat gained recognition by Agriculture Department for its role in timely wheat planting and cutting cost of crop cultivation. This development would be conducive in acceleration and promotion of timely wheat planting. It may be recalled that almost 45 % wheat in Pak-Punjab is planted after cotton which often stays in field up to the end of December thus delaying wheat planting. Delay planting of wheat is one reason of low yield of wheat. CSISA, Pakistan is already working with Cotton Research Institute for relay wheat planting and 0-til cotton planting. Hopefully, this initiative would result in increased food availability and farm families’ prosperity.

Growing cotton and wheat zero-til (ZT) in wheat-cotton system

About 45 % wheat is produced in cotton belt of Pak-Punjab province, so wheat-cotton is the major cropping pattern here. Wheat is often delay planted after cotton, sometimes as late as late December or early January. Yields are, therefore, low. So relay planting of wheat was undertaken jointly with Dir/cotton in Cotton Res. area. Wheat was broadcast sown in standing cotton in November in submerged cotton beds. Relay wheat yielded higher than the TP wheat by a .4t/ha margin. Wheat was followed by 0-til cotton in May on previous cotton crop beds after reshaping to test the possibility of 0-til cotton planting. Germination was good (see pic. below) despite odds proving possibility of cotton planting through 0-til method. Parallel with this cotton was also planted 0-til in cotton-cotton system. Feb/March planting of cotton is gaining ground due to its high yield and rising cotton international prices. March planted 0-til cotton was a success too. 

ZT cotton in cotton mono cropping system

ZT cotton in wheat-cotton cropping system

Dir/Cotton is very satisfied with the results despite their initial hesitation (See the pic above) and is a forceful advocate of 0-til planting in cotton now. There are certain hick ups in the way to materialize it, however. Cotton is hill planted manually on beds and relay wheat planting in cotton on beds require machinery. Availability and acceptance of machinery are both a stumbling block in Pakistan situation. So CSISA, Pakistan is working on a two pronged strategy; machinery based and manual. Starting next wheat season we are planning to try 0-til wheat sowing by broadcast after rice to enable 0-til benefits to vast majority of farmers who don’t own 0-til drills. Broadcast DSR is already more popular than drill planted. Handling drills and their calibrations are something farmers don’t relish. So a cheap alternative seems necessary for the interim period until drills availability and use become popular.

Expanding reach of DSR in Pakistan-Punjab

Vachhoki is a typical Punjabi village located about 100 km North West of Lahore in the heart of rice growing tract. The major cropping pattern is rice-wheat. Mostly scented basmati rice is grown in the village. The village comprises of 4000 acres. Last year two enterprising farmers, Mr. Rana Gulzar Ahmad and Mr. Rana Ihsan-ul-Haq, undertook DSR on a 7 acre area. They harvested 5.5 t/ha from DSR compared to 5 t/ha from traditional puddled transplanted rice. Happy with the results they have jointly planted 40 acres rice this season. Also, 10 other farmers have joined the bandwagon and undertook DSR planting on another 30 acres. So the DSR has increased both in number of farmers and area cultivated. 

  For details click the link below

https://sites.google.com/site/csisaportal/Home/announcements/expandingreachofdsrinpakistan-punjab