Food Security in Bangladesh: Improving Wheat, Maize and Papaya Production, and Impacts of Arsenic Contamination. Fifth Year Quarterly Activity Report No. 1, July - September, 2006

摘要

The period July 2006 to June 2007 is the last year of the five year project Food Security in Bangladesh: Improving Wheat, Maize and Papaya Production and Impacts of Arsenic Contamination. This project is financed by USAID Grant No. 388-G-00-02-00070-00. All components of the project ended by June 2006, except for Papaya Improvement through Ring Spot Viral Disease Resistance, which continues until June 2007. Additionally the CIMMYT Office in Bangladesh continues to support some follow-up activities related to these three components of the project: 1. Facilitation and Promotion for Adoption of Mechanization by Growers 2. GIS - Bangladesh Country Almanac (BCA) 3. Whole Family Training in Maize. In this first 3-month report for the 2006-07 year, we describe the papaya project achievements against each proposed activity for the period July to September 2006 and highlight some interesting follow-up activities from the other components. A budget summary is also given. Some progress has been made in deploying ring spot virus resistant papaya to Bangladesh. Additionally, the summaries of work on farm machinery, the BCA and maize training show continued interest and impact with these components, building well from the substantial support provided by USAID.