Participating countries:
Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Thailand

Period:
April 2000 – March 2003

Funding:
Government of Japan – (US$ 706,575)

Project Officer:
Shigeki Yokoyama

The objectives:

1. To collect and analyse data and information on El Nino-related abnormal weather changes, drought in particular, in the Asia and the Pacific region and their impacts on regional upland agricultural production as well as on regional trade.
2. To collect and analyse data and information on abnormal weather-related damage in upland agricultural production in the participating countries.
3. To collect and analyse data and information on upland agricultural technologies, resources, infrastructures, institutions, farm management and household economy based on crop and locality-specific characteristics in the participating countries with a special emphasis on vulnerability and strategies to cope with El-Nino-induced agricultural risks.
4. To elucidate and propose institutional or administrative preparedness and schemes to predict El Nino-related abnormal weather change and upland agricultural risks in the participating countries as well as in the region.
5. To prepare strategic proposals for technologies, farm management and administrative policies to stabilize upland crop production and farm economy in the participating countries under the frequent abnormal weather, drought in particular.

The activities:

1. The project operationally started in April 2000
2. The project was implemented in collaboration with partner institutes of the five participating countries:
   • Indonesian Center for Agricultural Socio Economic Research and Development
   • Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute
   • PNG National Agricultural Research Institute
   • Bureau of Soils and Water Management, University of the Philippines, Los Baños
   • Thailand, Office of Agricultural Economics
      
3. The country studies were conducted by the respective national experts. The studies were implemented in two separate phases: national level and local/farm level.
4. The international joint workshop “Coping against El Nino for Stabilizing Rainfed Agriculture: Lessons from Asia and the Pacific”, co-organized by the CGPRT Centre, Department of Agriculture-Philippines, JIRCAS, ACIAR and IWMI was held in Cebu, the Philippines, 17-19 September 2002.
5. The prospective workshop on “A 2015 Vision of CGPRT crops in Asia and the Pacific” was held on 25-28 November 2002 at the CGPRT Centre, in collaboration with CIRAD.
6. A series of in-country seminars was conducted at each participating country to disseminate the research results and country specific policy recommendations.

The outcomes:

1. The first and second country reports were published as Centre’s Working Paper series (WP) as follows:
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 61
   Stabilization of upland agriculture under El Nino induced climatic risk: impact assessment and mitigation measures in Malaysia
    
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 62
   Stabilization of upland agriculture under El Nino-induced climatic risk: impact assessment and mitigation measures in Indonesia
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 63
   Stabilization of upland agriculture under el nino-induced climate risk: impact assessment and mitigation measures in Thailand
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 69
   Coping strategies against El Nino-induced climatic risk: case of northeast Thailand
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 70
   Stabilization of upland agriculture under el nino-induced climatic risks: regional and farm level risk management and coping mechanisms in the Kedah-Perlis region, Malaysia
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 71
   Stabilization of upland agriculture under el nino-induced climatic risk: impact assessment and mitigation measures in the Philippines.
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 72
   Coping strategies against El Nino: the case of selected communities in Talugtug, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 73
   Stabilization of upland agriculture under el nino-induced climatic risks: impact assessment and mitigation measures in Papua New Guinea
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 74
   Indigenous drought coping strategies and risk management against el nino in Papua New Guinea
   
   CGPRT Centre Working Paper; no. 75
   Multilevel impact assessment and coping strategies against el nino: case of food crops in Indonesia
   
   CAPSA Working Paper; no. 77
   Integrated report of the project "Stabilization of upland agriculture and rural development in el nino vulnerable countries"
    
2. The proceedings of the international joint workshop and prospective workshop were published as the
   Centre’s Monograph
   
   CGPRT No. 43
   Coping against El Nino for stabilizing rainfed agriculture: lessons from Asia and the Pacific - Proceedings of a joint workshop, Cebu, the Philippines, September 17-19, 2002
    
3. The brochure “El Nino Induced Climatic Risk: How to Reduce Its Impacts” was published drawing attention to El Nino induced abnormal weather and disseminating the result of projects.
    
4. Parts of research results of the regional study were presented at several conferences:

• ENSO Impacts on Food Crop Production in Asia and the Pacific, poster presentation at the 8th JIRCAS International Symposium, Water for Sustainable Agriculture in Developing Countries,
    27-28 November 2001, Epocal Tsukuba, Japan.
• ENSO Impacts on Food Crop Production in Indonesia, oral presentation at the Fourth Indonesian National Seminar on Development of Dry Farming Area, 27-29 May 2002, Hotel Lombok Raya, Mataram, Indonesia.
• ENSO Impacts on Food Crop Production in Asia and the Pacific, oral presentation at the Fourth Conference of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE), 20-22 August 2002, Alor Setar, Malaysia.