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The Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (RWC) and its partners including the ICAR have been awarded this year’s Kind Baudouin Award by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The $10,00 cash prize and citation were received by DG, ICAR, Dr. Mangla Rai in Mexico City last week. The biennial award is given by CGIAR for initiatives that benefit poor farmers and foster sustainable agriculture. CGIAR is an alliance of countries and international organizations to support research and initiatives for agricultural growth, reducing poverty and protecting the environment in developing countries.
The award has been given to RWC for promoting environment-friendly farming practices which have benefited lakhs of farmers in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. One such practice, zero-till (sowing wheat seed directly into rice fields after rice harvest, without ploughing at all) is being used on nearly 1.2 million hectare following its promotion by the Consortium and its partners. This has resulted in a saving of $100 million in land preparation costs in one season alone. It is estimated that about 75 million litres of diesel is saved in one season alone by not tilling the land.
Zero-till farming holds great promise as traditional farming systems require intensive ploughing, irrigation and resources. These systems have led to the dropping of water table and degrading of soils because of intensive irrigation and fertilizer use.
RWC is a consortium of South Asian national agricultural research systems, international organizations such as ICRISAT and IRRI, advanced research institutions, NGOs, private entrepreneurs and farmer groups. It was set up in 1994 and has since been addressing sustainability concerns arising out of intensive farming of rice and wheat in the four South Asian countries irrigated by the Indo-Gangetic river systems.
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