This newsletter summarizes activities of the SRI-LMB Project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Asian Institute of Technology. It discusses the following: 1) Central Farmer’s Participatory Action Research programs have been established in Surin and Uttaradit provinces in Thailand to train farmers on SRI techniques through experiments comparing different rice cultivation methods. 2) National inception workshops were held in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam to inform stakeholders about the project and finalize country strategies and work plans. 3) A regional training of trainers event was held in Thailand to develop a common understanding of SRI principles and train project staff on participatory action research methods.

1. A bi-annual newsletter published by the SRI-LMB Project (A Project Funded by the European Union),
Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (ACISAI), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
SRI-LMB Newsletter Vol. 2, Issue 1: Year 2014
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
This project is funded by the European Union This project is implemented by the Asian Institute of Technology.
IN FOCUS
InthisIssue:
ACISAI
Steering
Committe
Meeting
page 5
Regional
Training of
Trainers
page 3
SRI-LMB
welcomes
new staffs
page 6
National
Inception
Planning
Workshops
page 2
Inauguration ceremony
of CFPAR by Mr.
Chanvit Tapsuphan,
Deputy Secretary-
General of the Office
of Non formal and
Informal Education
at Uttaradit province
During the course of ongoing training, 4 intensive training slots
coinciding with 4 important crop development and growth stages, i.e. ,
transplanting/sowing, tillering, flowering, and at harvest stage are
being organized. During these intensive phases, SMART farmers are
developing skills starting from designing field experiments to collecting
and analyzing data systematically then discussing the key learnings. In
addition, they are honing skills on other aspects such as rice processing,
group dynamics and communication skills.
A baseline survey preceded the setting of training program, i.e., CFPAR
and based on consensus and local need three experiments are ongoing in
Uttradit; a) Comparison of age of seedling of rice under different water
regime; b) Comparison of low density of sowing (2 seeds /hill) with high
density (8-10 seeds/hill); c) Comparison of SRI practices with local farm-
ing practice. Whereas in Surin CFPAR, two experiments, i.e. Compari-
son of seedling age, and Low density sowing are underway. Till date both
provinces have completed the three intensive training slots and have
organized mid-season Field Day attended by some 40 farmers in each prov-
ince from their community to learn from these experiments. A detailed
baseline survey-- involving emerging and firming up FPAR group-- and its
analysis has completed and list of experiments are being firmed up for the
FPAR from July 2014 onwards.
Central Farmer’s Participatory Action Research
(CFPAR) at Surin and Uttaradit provinces,Thailand
Action
Research :
Farmers in
Action
page 4
Message from Team Leader
Twenty SMART rice farmers including women
and landless from both provinces, Surin and
Uttradit, in North and Northeast Thailand
respectively, are actively participating in the
season long intensive capacity building training
program from March – July 2014.These hands-
on training aims to develop capacity of the
SMART farmers to be able to set locally needed
experiments called as “Farmers Participatory
Action Research” (FPAR) to adapt and adopt
SRI crop management practices for healthy
and profitable crops. Under the leadership of
SMART farmers, the action research will be set
up in six selected districts, 3 in each province
(Surin and Uttaradit), from wet season 2014
and will involve another 25-30 farmers from
their communities called as FPAR. The action
will continue for another two to three years.
“The intensification of smallholders
agriculture with emphasis on diversity,
synergy, recycling, and integration to
global economy, and social processes that
value community participation and
empowerment, could be perhaps one
of the viable options to meet present and future food
needs. Given the present and predicted near future cli-
mate, energy, economic and food insecurity scenarios,
SRI approach seems as one of the most robust pathways
towards designing productive and resilient agricultural
system that can feed the food insecure population and
rest of the world.
The SRI-LMB, which has engaged 15 partners so far,
national and international and government min-
istries, has initiated the agricultural intensification
work in the Lower Mekong River Basin countries:
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The quest
is to develop practical learning and knowledge on the
subject so called “sustainable agriculture development”,
onethatresultsinimprovedfarmerswell-beingandsocial
equity while significantly reducing environmental risks
andecologicalscarcities.Our‘SRIjourney’continues…”
Dr. Abha Mishra

2. Vol. 2, Issue 1: Year 20142
National Inception and
Planning Workshops
National Inception and Planning Workshops (NIPWs)
were organized in each of the four project countries,
namely, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
The main objectives of these NIPWs were a) to inform
the wider national level audience on the project, its
goal, objective and activities; b) to revisit the project
definition, goals, overall work plan; c) to finalize the
country strategy paper; d) to formulate country specific
log-frames, responsibility of each stakeholder and bud-
gets; and e) to form National Steering Committees. The
workshops were attended by rice farmers, governments,
ministries, NGOs, national universities and research in-
stitutions along with AIT and its project partners FAO
and Oxfam.
The NIPW for Thailand was inaugurated by Dr. Shob-
hakar Dhakal, Chair for the Steering Committee of
Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable Agricul-
ture Intensification (ACISAI) and Associate Professor
of Energy Field of Study, AIT. Mr. Ars Phonhet and
Mrs. Wimonmal Rinthaisong, the Directors of Voca-
tional Training and Development Center (VTDC) for
Uttaradit and Surin provinces respectively, attended the
workshop. Also present were Dr. Mads Korn, the focal
point for SRI-LMB project from the EU Delegation,
Thailand and Mr. Jan Willem Ketelaar, the focal point
for SRI-LMB from FAO. CFPAR is already underway
in Thailand since March 2014.
In Cambodia, NIPW was inaugurated by Ms. Nina Brand-
strup, FAO Representative and Mr. Ngin Chhay, Direc-
tor of the Department of Rice Crop (DRC), the Ministry
of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). NIPW in
Vietnam was inaugurated by Mr. Ngo Tien Dung,
National IPM Programme Coordinator and Deputy Direc-
tor, Plant Protection Department, Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Development. Similarly, in Lao PDR the NIPW
was co-chaired by Dr. Somnuck Thirasack, Deputy Director
General of the Department of Agricultural Extension and
Cooperatives.
The NIPWs confirmed that the project is inline with
national policy and priorities in all four LMB countries.
Improving the rice productivity sustainably is common goal
for all. The CFPAR in Cambodia and Vietnam is planned to
begin from early July 2014 whereas in Lao PDR preparation
is in full swing to setup the CFPAR as soon as possible.
Group photo of National Inception and Planning
Workshop at Hanoi, Vietnam (23-24 May 2014)
National Inception and Planning Workshop at
AIT , Thailand ( 29-30 Jan 2014)
Group discussion: National Inception and Planning
Workshop at Vientiane, Lao PDR (16-17 June 2014)
Training session, National Inception and Planning Workshop
at Phnom Penh,Cambodia (21-22 May 2014)

3. Vol. 2 , Issue 1: Year 20143
Regional
Training
of
Trainers
Regional Training of Trainers participants from the LMB countries- Cambodia,
Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
A Regional Training of Trainers (ToT)
was organized from 28 August – 07
September 2013 at Asian Institute of
Technology (AIT), Pathumthani, Thai-
land attended by Project Management
Unit Coordinators (PMU), Training
Experts, and Local Management Unit
(LMU) Coordinators from 4 proj-
ect countries namely Cambodia, Lao
PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
The training highlighted the project’s
goals and works along with country
specified implementation issues. Also,
to develop common understanding
among participants about the con-
cept and principles of System of Rice
Intensification (SRI) and its relevance
for rice farmers in rain-fed production
systems. ToT aimed to familiarize and
strengthen the scientific capacity for
experimental design, implementation
and analysis, including development
of a clear understanding among par-
ticipants about the concept of partici-
patory action research. The training’s
other objectives were to agree upon
the country-specific criteria for district,
village, CFPAR site, farmers, land-
less selection for project-supported
interventions and to develop the design
of the field school diaries suitable for
chosen provinces.
The Central Farmer’s Action Research
(CFPAR) process and its concept were
developed and discussions on the
curricula and session plans for the up-
coming CFPAR were concluded. ToT
also discussed and integrated gender
aspects into learning curricula and in
practice of CFPAR and FPAR process
and along with Monitoring, Evaluation
and Learning (MEL) aspects to support
the CFPAR work.
In addition, few participants from
North East Thailand also joined the
ToT. AIT and its partner organiza-
tion notably FAO-IPM and Oxfam-
America provided inputs to the
conduct of various sessions of the work.
All discussion session were linked to
the field exercises either conducted in-
side AIT Rice Farm or during the field
visit to Uttaradit Province.
Regional ToT, Thailand -
Capacity building and knowledge & skill development
activities of the trainers participated from
4 LMB countries - Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.

4. Vol. 2, Issue 1: Year 20144
Action Research
The main intervention vehicle for this project is action
research and capacity building using Farmer’s Field
School (FFS) platforms to achieve the goals of improved
food and nutritional security and will include women and
landless and/or land-poor from the communities from
selected districts of 10 Provinces in 4 lower Mekong River
Basin Countries.
Farmers in Action ...
Encouraging rainfed farmers to experiment and devel-
op locally suited technological suit under the guiding
principles of SRI. In the process of building capaci-
ties of women, men and landless farmers the “science
culture” (i.e., designing, documenting and discussing
result) is being introduced along with bookkeeping and
effective networking for a knowledge rich ecologically
sustainable and profitable rice production systems.

5. Vol. 2 , Issue 1: Year 20145
The Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable Agricul-
ture Intensification (ACISAI) conducted its first steering
committee meeting at AIT on 11 November 2013. The
meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Prabhat Kumar, ACISAI
Centre Director and Dr. Abha Mishra, ACISAI Center
Co-director.
The current activities of the Center covered organizing
workshops, research activities, AIT student internships,
policy dialogues as a means of providing platform for
development and fund raising activity for the Center.
Furthermore, the Center is partnering with School of
Environment Resources and Development (SERD) to
develop a Professional Master Degree course on Sustain-
able Agriculture Intensification (PM-SAI). This endeavor
has been moving forward for approval of the Academic
Development Review Committee (ADRC) of AIT.
TheCenteraimstostrengthenoneofthethematicrsearchareas
of the AIT Research Strategy, i.e., “Sustainable Land and Wa-
terResourceManagement(SLWRM)”byinvolvingstudents,
faculties, and researchers along with SRI-LMB stakeholders.
In addition to this initiative, research students were encour-
aged to submit proposals to the Center relevant to the theme
such as: low carbon rice practices, GHG emission in SRI
and conventional practices, climate change affecting land
use, rice cultivation and crop productivity, root plasticity
and developing matching management practices, arthro-
pod diversity and impacts and effects of adoption of SRI
practices in the LMB countries.
Also the agenda included discussions of the Terms of
Reference for the Steering Committee members. The
ToR consisted of the guidelines for the members to know
about their role, composition, appointment of the steering
committee, function, meetings, decision-making, and chair.
Subsequently, the selection of the chair was carried out the
same day. Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal has kindly agreed for his
appointment as the first chairman for the ACISAI Steering
Committee. The Chairman was then selected based on the
rotation from SC members. His term would be until the
next meeting of the SC.
ACISAI Concludes First
Steering Committee Meeting
ACISAI Steering Committee Members
Asian Institute of Technology
Ground flr. Admin bldg.
P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang
Pathumthani, 12120
Thailand
Tel. no. +(662) 524 5823
Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal
Energy, Field of Study
School of Environment Resources and Devel-
opment (SERD)
Asian Institute of Technology
Email: shobhakar@ait.asia
Dr. Mokbul Morshed Ahmad
Regional and Rural Development
Planning (RRDP)
School of Environment Resources and Devel-
opment
Asian Institute of Technology
Email: morshed@ait.asia
Dr. Anil Kumar Anal
Food Engineering and Bioprocess
Technology (FEBT)
School of Environment Resources and Devel-
opment (SERD)
Asian Institute of Technology
Email: anilkumar@ait.asia
Dr. Avishek Datta
Agribusiness Management, Agricultural Sys-
tems and Engineering (ASE)
School of Environment Resources and Devel-
opment (SERD)
Asian Institute of Technology
Email: datta@ait.asia
Dr. Yuosre Badir
Managing Technology, Innovation & New
Product Development
School of Management (SOM)
Asian Institute of Technology
Email: badir@ait.asia

6. Vol. 2, Issue 1: Year 2014
6
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
This project is funded by the European Union This project is implemented by the Asian Institute of Technology.
SRI-LMB Newsletter is published bi-annually by SRI-LMB Publications Unit. We welcome your input, preferably in English.
The deadline for submissions is on 30 May for June issue and 30 November for December issue. We reserve the right to edit all contributions.
Please send inputs to Ms. Shreya Pradhan, Media & Communication Officer-SRI-LMB (shreyap@ait.asia)
and cc to Dr. Abha Mishra, Project Manager-SRI-LMB, (abhamishra@ait.asia).
SRI-LMB welcomes new staffs !
Ms. Dang Bao Nguyet joined as Policy
and Communication Officer for SRI-
LMB project. She is currently playing a
lead role in policy works starting from
research preparations for policy advocacy
related activities and initiatives to the
development and delivery of policy and
communication documents.
She has been working for 12 years in the development sector
in Vietnam with a wide range of partners from grassroots to
nationalpolicylevelandmultilaterallevel.Someofherkeyexpertise
areas include: community development, poverty reduction, ethnic
minority and indigenous issues, agricultural and rural devel-
opment, adult education and capacity building. She holds a
Master degree in Public Management and Economics from Solvay
Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre
de Bruxelles, Belgium. She has a strong research background and
is familiar with project management; participatory, results-based
and rights-based approaches. She is based in Oxfam America East
Asia Regional Office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Contact details:
Cell (Cambodia) : +855 17 504 287
Cell (Vietnam): +84 916 279 792
Email:NDang@oxfamamerica.org; Skype: nguyetdang
Mr. Digpal Bahadur
joined as a Monitoring
and Evaluation Specialist
for SRI-LMB project. He
has key expertise in sev-
eral areas like project cycle
management, livelihood
promotion of marginalized communities,
community development, local governance
and institution building, and research, anal-
ysis and advocacy. He is a graduate of Tata
Institute of Social Science Mumbai (India)
and has worked with many organizations in
India such as BASIX, Sir Ratan Tata Trust
and Pravah. He has worked as Senior Pro-
gram Officer in AIT for the development
of M&E mechanisms/tools which includes
providing support to overall coordination
to the IFAD funded project “APMAS” in
Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos and
Vietnam.
Contact details
Office: +662-524-5822 ; Cell: +66880074130
Email: digpal@ait.ac.th
Ms. Ariya Watthana-
karnkitikun joined as
Programme Officer Thai-
land for SRI-LMB project.
Her works includes ensur-
ing data collection from
field experimentation, li-
aising with national/international agencies
and governmental bodies and enhance proj-
ect’s visibility in Thailand through develop-
ment of appropriate media. Her expertise
areas are greenhouse gas, biogas, sustain-
able development, genetic engineering and
biotechnology.She has also worked with
King Mongkut’s University of Technology
Thonburi (KMUTT), National Center of
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,
World Vegetable Center of East and South-
east Asia (AVRDC-ESEA) and Bayerische
Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft.
Contact details
Office: +662-524-5823 ; Cell: +66873370710
Email: ariyaw@ait.ac.th
For more information please visit our social media links:
https://www.facebook.com/sri.lmb
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5P9MFLsKIbshwMDY918XXw
http://www.slideshare.net/srilmb/
https://plus.google.com/photos/100435612470757772541/albums
Ms. Shreya Pradhan
joined as a Media &
Communication Officer
for SRI-LMB project. She
will be responsible in sup-
porting implementation
and visibility action of the
project and liasioning and communicating
with national and regional media, also with
project partners and associates for any media
related matter. Her expertise include informa-
tion technology, information management,
database management, knowledge dis-
covery, website development and web
content management system. She holds
a Master degree in Information Manage-
ment from AIT. She has also worked with
organizations in Nepal namely Scott
Wilson Nepal and World Wildlife Fund
(WWF Nepal).
Contact details
Office: +66-2-524-5823; Cell: +66845419201
E-mail: shreyap@ait.ac.th