Promoting the adoption of improved ICM technologies in chickpea by poor farmers in Nepal

Chickpea is an important source of protein in Nepal for both poor rural and urban families. Yields of legumes including chickpea have decreased in recent years, primarily due to disease and insect pest problems, and the reluctance of farmers to invest time and money in a crop which increasingly fails. This project aimed to improve, validate and evaluate a complete integrated crop management (ICM) strategy for chickpea on farms; to persuade farmers to adopt the strategy through workshops and farm trials in some of the poorest areas of Nepal; and to promote the strategy widely to the press. and other stakeholders. The improved seed and technologies offered were in high demand by farmers, and the project produced evidence to show that the outputs (increased yield of a cash crop) have been translated into significant impacts on livelihood, including improved housing, debt repayment, education costs, clothes and healthcare. The value of the improved seed has been impressive and will benefit farmers in the longer term. An innovative promotional strategy promoted the findings to policymakers as well as farmers, and used the popular media in Nepal and the UK to publicise the wor

Alternative pest control approaches NPV for pod borer control and its uptake in Nepal

Pod borer is the most serious pest of chickpea in Nepal and its control based upon chemical insecticides alone has met major problems of resistance. There is a clear need for alternative pod borer control techniques. One of the most promising alternative controls i nucleopolyhedrovirus or NPV This is effective, safe and has bee adopted in a number of countries as part of the national pod bore IPM strategy. The chickpea IPM project has conducted evaluation of NPV in Nepal and results show it to be as effective or better than existing chemical control. However, if promotion of NPV in Nepal for pod borer control were to be adopted, a policy for the supply of NPV would need to be developed. Importation is feasible but local production would probably be cheaper. Several models of local production exist including farmer production, village production, state or extension service production and commercial private sector production and these models need to be evaluated for adoption in Nepal. A national system of regulation for NPV would also need to be developed

Orbital dependent nucleonic pairing in the lightest known isotopes of tin

By studying the 109Xe-->105Te-->101Sn superallowed alpha-decay chain, we observe low-lying states in 101Sn, the one-neutron system outside doubly magic 100Sn. We find that the spins of the ground state (J = 7=2) and first excited state (J = 5=2) in 101Sn are reversed with respect to the traditional level ordering postulated for 103Sn and the heavier tin isotopes. Through simple arguments and state-of-the-art shell model calculations we explain this unexpected switch in terms of a transition from the single-particle regime to the collective mode in which orbital-dependent pairing correlations, dominate.Comment: 5 pages 3 figure

Beta decay of 71,73Co; probing single particle states approaching doubly magic 78Ni

Low-energy excited states in 71,73Ni populated via the {\beta} decay of 71,73Co were investigated in an experiment performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU). Detailed analysis led to the construction of level schemes of 71,73Ni, which are interpreted using systematics and analyzed using shell model calculations. The 5/2- states attributed to the the f5/2 orbital and positive parity 5/2+ and 7/2+ states from the g9/2 orbital have been identified in both 71,73Ni. In 71Ni the location of a 1/2- {\beta}-decaying isomer is proposed and limits are suggested as to the location of the isomer in 73Ni. The location of positive parity cluster states are also identified in 71,73Ni. Beta-delayed neutron branching ratios obtained from this data are given for both 71,73Co.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR

Realistic Shell-Model Calculations for Proton-Rich N=50 Isotones

The structure of the N=50 isotones 98Cd, 97Ag, and 96Pd is studied in terms of shell model employing a realistic effective interaction derived from the Bonn-A nucleon-nucleon potential. The single-hole energies are fixed by resorting to an analysis of the low-energy spectra of the isotones with A>= 91. Comparison shows that our results are in very satisfactory agreement with the available experimental data. This supports confidence in the predictions of our calculationsComment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to be published on Journal of Physics

The adoption of ICM technologies by poor farmers in Nepal

Rural poverty remains pervasive throughout Nepal, the poorest country in South Asia and a predominantly agrarian nation, with 60% of its GNP derived from agriculture. The principal foods are cereals (rice, maize and wheat) with grain legumes grown as secondary crops during the winter, mostly in paddy fields using residual moisture for plant establishment. As the staple crop, rice is grown in 1.45 million hectares across the country but 400,000 ha remain fallow in winter (Subba Rao et al. 2001). The exploitation of this uncultivated land offers one route to resolving problems of food security in Nepal. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), the 3rd most important pulse in Nepal after lentils {Lens esculenta) and pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan) provides a high yielding and high value crop option for poor farmers. Like all pulses, chickpea is a very important source of protein for poor rural families and equally so for the urban poor. It is also valuable because it is a highly versatile grain and is used for making biscuits, breads and sweets as well as a soup vegetable. It provides an excellent crop with which to tackle food security and alleviating malnutrition, and as a winter crop, it lends a strong focus on the agricultural role of women