CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food Ganges Basin Development Challenge Research for Development Program Increasing

the Resilience of Agricultural and Aquaculture Systems in the Coastal Areas of the Ganges Delta

Launching Workshop 1 June minutes

Day 1: Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Auditorium (2nd Floor), Farmgate, Dhaka Day 2: Hotel Lake Castle, House 1A, Road 68/A, Gulshan-2, Dhaka 1. Introduce CPWF, GBDC to major stakeholders 2. Finalize Year 1 - G 1-5 Plans: Work plans-Milestones 3. Introduce programs with whom CPWF will work 4. Discussion how we will coordinate M&E 5. Discussion how we will coordinate Communications

Day 1:
Introductions of Chief Guest, Special Guests, Chair Dr. Wais Kabir, Dr. Boru, Dr. Miah and William J. Collis Recitation from the Holy Quran Dr. M.A. Hamid Miah, Liaison Scientist, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Welcome address: Points out that the Southern districts are favorable for growing saline tolerant boro rice during winter. Emphasizes that the technologies present in the South are not comprehensive enough. With the presence of three ministries, he seeks their support to do something to improve production in the southern districts where rice and fish are very feasible. Dr. Boru Douthwaite, Innovation and Impact Director, CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food Presentation on the CPWF:

Dr. Boru presents on the CPWF and starts with a focus on how it is different, where it is coming from and where it is going. He starts with the CGIAR reform system as a part of which from 2002-03, it launched the challenge programs ( 4 were launched). The challenge programs were launched as a space to experiment new ways to do research and development

Lots of innovations, very good Research for Development (R4D) was done. Uses the expression: 1000 flowers bloomed It was a Competitive process which emerged rather than being designed in Currently, Phase 2 is based on learning from Phase 1 and emphasizes on basin development challenges that will give research a focus Phase 3: 2014 and beyond: CG going through another reform cycle right now: future is now the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) which will be phase 3. Fantastic opportunity for CPWF to influence a global R4D agenda. With their gathered experience, they have something to offer the CRPs. He goes on to explain the 6 basin challenges. He uses the analogy of 6 BDC Bus Trips which are the 6 challenges. Motivates people to get on board the BDC bus, to get together to engage by also building on phase 1 success. It involves Stakeholder consultation for which Boru was here in Sept 2009 with Larry Harrington for which they convened an expert panel to design followed by a proposal development workshop at the beginning of this year Designed the bus and put it together, now ready to start the journey. Periodically everyone will get off the bus, will remap, question whether doing the right thing and get more people on board. The more people engaged the better. Tremendous opportunity to learn from the other basins, all have 5 projects and 1 is the G5 involving cross basin learning, forum, topic working groups, delegates from the basins. Need to Build on Phase 1 success and provides an example of 1 project, PN10: Vietnam and Bangladesh What this project realized is that its not enough to just work on farm level to improve technology, to use the technology one needs a resource, a pathway to improved water control in polders. By storing water in irrigation infrastructure, this water was made available for adoption of on farm technology, creating an enabling environment to scale up. This just gives an idea of early impact these projects had and what we are building up in phase 2. He emphasized how we are building on some real success in phase 2. Where are we going? Future is now in the CRPs. This is what we will be part of and that s very good as the CRPs share the same goals and ideas of working, not coming in and dictating but harmonizing and aligning with what is already going on. Boru is exited about this particular work in the Ganges, can be a good example on how to do this type of work, future of CGIAR research is here now. Will make substantive contributions to Banges BDC and will do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Mr. William J. Collis, Director - South Asia, The WorldFish Center William Collis presentation on the Ganges BDC R4D program.

Thanks BARC firstly for letting us hold the program at BARC and thanks everyone for coming. This is the new CGIAR. Similar approach, what you see here is what you will see in the future Goal and objective is very similar to the respective government s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Country Investment Plan (CIP) for India and Bangladesh and that s purposeful because we want to align. Why the Ganges, why the Coastal areas? We will be the most affected by impacts of climate change in the future. Every coastal zone around the world will face similar problems so the lessons will be useful. How will we do this is the real issue here! We will do what CGIARs have always done, real science, look across all the issues , seeking synergies regionally, nationally and globally. Emphasis will also be on communications largely to spread the results for greater impacts, not just writing science papers Not starting from zero. We have the 8 years in CPWF and the vast experience from partners 3 streams of innovations Water management and governance Institution especially community management Farming systems and crop management We will work at several different scales: Farmers, polders, diff salinity zones, across countries and globally How do we achieve these scales? We are not that big. We are just research people. We can only do these with partners, government , NGOs and private sector. We will build on from CSISA, GAFSP, etc Collis goes thru the 5 programs G1 to G5: G1 is a 21st century project: GPS , GIS, extrapolation domains: will allow to carry forward technologies to farmers Target technologies, make decisions on crops, land use planning: major issue in south, G1 will provide a tool for all these important decisions.

G2: IRRI, etc does this well, highly salient areas, fish crops and similar in those areas G3: Any crop needs water. This program looks at water use and access. With water board, IWM and socio consult, G4: another 21st century program, will model a variety of scenarios. Serious issue for future planning G5 is very different from the others, seeking ways to move the impacts to wider audiences With IRRI, IWMI, IWM, we will turn the research into an outcome rather than a nice paper.. Focus remains on science, but we want an outcome, not just a nice paper from this, we want regional and global impacts. Response from the audience: Questions: World Bank: G3: Ministry of Land required as well for water management, experience is that the land ministry allows only leasing system for project duration but then goes back to auctioning after leasing period over. Suggests including 2 more partners: Ministry of Land and local government institutions Bangladesh Water Development Board: BWDB has a feasibility study going on in south, could link this study with BDC. Collis confirms that we are very willing to work with similar projects/studies. Rafiqul Islam Mondal, DG, BFRI says Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARI) could be best partner as it is working in this area. They did/are doing a great job in the coastal zones, created new varieties. Dr Tuoung visited the South and visited some BARI stations and confirms that we do intend to invite BARI staff to work with us, fully acknowledge the potential of working with BARI. Dr. Z. Karim, FAO says Minster of agriculture is developing master plan for the south, for which the government has contracted FAO and Z. Karim is the team leader for this master plan. He will present on this tomorrow Dr. Z. Karim continues to warn that if the NARS institutions, the main extension agents are not included, no fruitful results can be obtained. Md, Alamgir, Water Resource Planning Organization (WARPO), Principle scientist, wants to be involved in G1. It is a partner in G4 as confirmed by Dr. Shwarma. G1 speaker says they are very willing to work with WARPO. M.A. Rashid (Horticulture and Agroforestry Specialist, FAO) says Research Programs for development of river people requires their active participation. So it is required to make provision for participation of farmers/fishers and extension service providers of both GOs and NGOs in the future research programs through tripartite Research program for CPWF. Parimal Chandra Saha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Special Guest speaks Expresses his pleasure to be present here. Thanks the organizers for inviting him and helping him understand the important issues.

Agriculture is a key economic sector, 65% labour force, 20 % GDP, first of 6 pillars for Bangladesh climate change mitigation action plan. Points out that the coastal areas have multiple opportunities and vulnerabilities. Emphasizes that what the government feels about agriculture and its plans for the future is important Points out that within this framework, Ganges BDC teams efforts will be a supplementary for the government. Appreciates the Ganges BDC team matching their program with the governments plans and programs. Mr. Anwar Faruque, Additional Secretary and Director General (DG), Seed Wing, Ministry of Agriculture: Special Guest speaks:

Water and access to water is a problem for the whole of Bangladesh and not just the South. Our resources are facing crises. We want to increase our irrigation facilities; we want better water management of water. Dr Boru mentioned about water productivity, very important for Bangladesh. AWD method is a very effective innovation by IRRI and BRRI. Our water efficiency is one of the lowest in the region. South is our next agriculture region. For development of agriculture in south, we need varieties, stress tolerant, short time duration with more yield as land is decreasing as population is increasing. We need varieties that require fewer inputs like water and fertilizers. Costs are high of fertilizers. So how do we expand agriculture in the south? Before we had 1 million hectare scope in the south. So far our Research institutions have done remarkable innovations. We are trying to shift maize too in the south. We need more varieties for the south. Why we are targeting south is because our main crop is rice and it comes mainly from boro season which is grown mainly in the north. Heavy use of water for growing the winter dry season rice boro in the north is depleting the ground water levels there. We have to decrease boro cultivation in north western part and move to the south which has plenty of water though saline but we can solve and also grow other products like fish and even introduce new fish species. We will grow products based on suitability, not sacrifice one for another. Some research program needs to identify land and find out which is suitable for what, comparative advantage is needed to be known. People working with fish and agriculture need to be brought under an institutional framework. We are targeting south as rice production in the north is static and our population is expanding. Mainland is not enough. We have to go for the south. We want to go for boro. Boro is safe. Boro is from October to May and no natural disasters take place during that time. Amon does not give enough yield due to tidal surges every year. Barisal region is facing deficiency because of traditional methods. It was green before. Should incorporate NARS system and people in the field, need to incorporate in the early stage. Mr. Ujjwal Bikash Datta, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Chief Guest Speaks:

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries. 1 quarter of the country s land is declining, declining rate is 1 % every year, so high pressure on its natural resources. Fish production has been increasing. Fish production remains the highest return to small holder householders. It also contains plenty of nutritional value. Besides providing fish, prawn and shrimp has been contributing significantly to earnings. Export industries have created huge opportunities for income generation. The southern delta has huge potential for livestock resources, request the team not to ignore livestock and include it in their research programs. Address by Chair: Dr. Wais Kabir, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Institutional arrangement must be made in such a way so that everyone can work in harmony for the vulnerable area; institutional innovation may be tried in that part of the region. We were very successful in developing our technology during green revolution. Success mostly came from irrigating agriculture or from a favorable ecosystem. But for the area we are targeting, conventional technology won t be sufficient and so we need to strengthen the institutions and for this, global experiences will also be very important. South is very complex. So newer science, approaches will be required to address the livelihood problem. Need to focus with newer science and newer technology. We have to accept the technology of tomorrow. Exploring the opportunities in the south is a demand of time. Scientists must think of developing technologies considering not only the present challenges, but also that of future. The professional must be constantly aware of outside technologies that are being used. Our research institutions in Bangladesh have a wide network nationally. They developed many varieties in those particular areas, even before climate change became an issue. He suggests utilizing the existing strengths along with our partner s efforts to solve the problem in the coastal areas. He expresses a desire for a more visible presence of our research system strengths. Of course international experience will also be very useful. Everyone disperses for tea break and after that only G1 to G5 team members stay back for workshop. CPWF INCEPTION WORKSHOP Dr. Boru s presentation on 3rd Intl Forum on Water and Food (IFWF 3) Nov in South Africa All about the forum is on the CPWF website: http://www.waterandfood.org/ifwf3/ Putting together a delegation of people who can contribute to this forum. It s about added values, ability to learn from our other basins. November is the ideal time to take stock of opportunities, to look at respective road maps and make improvements. We are trying to meet pressing development challenges in our basin. How we will do it? Topic working groups are an important mechanism to make CPWF happen.

There are 6 Coordination and Change Enabling projects now. There are 5 similar projects in 5 other basins, We have topic working groups on global drivers for instance, which may or may not make research relevant or irrelevant. The purpose is on highlighting significant results that will be emerging. What are some of the global messages that we can share? We have the 6 basins, we will organizing around topic working groups and the 6 BDCs. The Volta example is provided by Boru and how it sees itself contributing. All the 5 Ganges projects have budgets particularly for participation in the Forum. Boru describes some of the expected components of the forum: Key note speakers, mixed debating panel, main question the forum is addressing, routine provided for the IFWF3. 2 basins will have to team up together at the forum. Boru asks everyone to think about who they would like to pair up with and messages coming out of their work that they can share with other basins.. Need to fill out a two pager template: deadline 15th of July, key messages, key findings, highlights, we wont have any key messages or highlights for phase 2 so should bring out the phase 1 work that we are enhancing upon. All the material is online in this address: www.waterand food.org/ifwf3 Start visa process at beginning of October latest for Bangladeshi participants, it has to go to Colombo for visa. Maybe also need a yellow fever card to enter South Africa: everyone should be aware of visa requirements. We will need key note speakers; something to think about Submit two page abstract form to Bing by 15 July. Also need a list of possible participants for the forum. Three participants per program. Since the Ganges BDC is just starting, we don t have any results to share as of yet. Thus the forum will provide the opportunity to highlight phase 1 results which phase 2 is building on. There should be some link to the CPWF. Dr. Aditi : With a 15 July deadline for abstract submission, we might have results by October which then can t be shared in the forum. Solution: Abstract in anticipation of what you will do/have by October, maximum two pager The big question, seems like quite a negative question (concern raised by G2): Is agriculture and NRM R4D relevant to addressing current and future water and food challenges? Boru replies, are we relevant is a question that should always be asked, answer is can we be even more relevant?

Finally Boru instructs: Workplan preparation: to be ready tomorrow to come back for project presentation, you will see what is expected in agenda, maximum 15 minute presentation, methodology you are planning to use, summary time line and main project linkages and needs. Recommending no more than 6 slides. What is it you plan to do in the next year or so? Everyone disperses for lunch.