A team comprising of the Embassy officials together with members from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University a constituent partner of the project, visited several trials conducted in the farmers’ field. The field trials among others were to test the variety of paddy that could perform better in the off season (dry) and also to propagate the Azolla technique for reducing chemical fertilizer application.
The trials are conducted in different locations in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. The team also visited farmers fields in Thirumangalam village in Lalgudi, Trichy district and had discussions with women self help group. The farmers have expressed confidence in the project and are beginning to harness the benefits. The self help group is working on establishing nursery for Azolla so that they could make use of the water fern in their fields and also sell the remaining and earn some money.
The 'ClimaRice' Project is working towards developing techniques and methods to sustain rice production under changing climate conditions. In this whole exercise farmer participation becomes crucial and the team from TNAU and Bioforsk are constantly engaged in stakeholder discussion to frame the project research activities and achieve greater sustainability.