Discussions regarding green manure cover crops in Vietnam/Rice Bean
(1/19/01 - 1/22/01)

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postings: 7
countries: Canada, Honduras, Thailand, United States, Vietnam
organizations/institutions/companies: COSECHA, Cornell University, IDRC, McKean Rehabilitation Center

From: Karl Gerner
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: GM/CC
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001

Dear Mulchers,

Green manuring is quite unpopular on the mild slopes of Central Vietnam. Could anybody give me an idea where to find information on a GM/CC system (where hedges are not appropriate) that would fit to the climat and the crops here (maize, upland rice, sweet potatoes, cassava, ground nuts)? The farmers are very keen on fruit tree planting, which GM/CC would fit to the trees? I remember that there was a conference on GM/CC here in the country some years ago (1995?). So, there must be some University Institute with experience and also seeds (which will probably be the biggest problem).

Hi Roland, you should have a contact adress/email address in Vietnam.
Greetings,

Karl Gerner
(Vietnam)

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From: Klaus Prinz
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: GM/CC
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001

Karl,

Besides other contacts in the north which you will get from Roland, write to Nguyen Van So at C.A.F.,Thuduc, nvso.vnafe@fmail.vnn.vn

If you can get supplies of ricebean ( nho nhe bean), try relay cropping in maize. Intercropping of Tephrosia candida ( Cot khi ) in maize also gets good results; Rick Burnette intercrops T. in upland rice. You probably can get seed from Prof. Dr.Tu Quang Hian at Thai Nguyen University tuaf@hn.vnn.vn .

Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture & Forestry
Phone: 84.280.855.564
Fax: 84.280.852921

Regards,
Klaus Prinz
McKean Rehabilitation Center
Thailand

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From: Roland Bunch
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001
Subject: Re: GM/CC

Dear Karl,

I only received about the first three lines of your message, but I'll answer that much.

Frankly, gm/cc systems exist all over northern Vietnam. (I personally observed about a dozen while there, and agronomists have told me of another 25 systems, easily.

To figure out a system, we'd need to know what the dominant crops in your area are, what are the rainfall characteristics (I would assume it's fairly droughty), the soils (many of the soils around there are pretty sandy. Is that true where you are?), and what beans or peas people eat or can sell (rice bean? "Dao nyo nye", lablab bean? "Dao van", green bean? "Dao zang", soybean? "the" bean? cowpea?) Do people grow cassava that will last for three years in their fields? At what altitude are you? Is there Tithonia in the area? Do people fallow their land, and for how many years?

Sincerely,
Roland Bunch
COSECHA
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

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Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: H. David Thurston
Subject: Re: Rice bean

You may find this information of value. Rusty Biñas did his MPS degree at Cornell on the rice bean.

1.Biñas, R. 1995. Rice bean crop: its socioeconomic, nutritional and environmental importance in the Philippines In: Personal Communication rice bean (Vigna umbellata), protein-rich, high nutritional value, native of south and S.E. Asia, high-yielding forage crop, yields of 3000 kg/ha/yr obtained, in Thailand maize intercropped with rice bean, generally grown in traditional farming systems,

2. Biñas, R.A. 2000. An analysis of the factors affecting the underutilization of the rice bean in the villages of Ago and Bagonanay, Tubungan, Iloilo and Suyo, Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines: Project Paper for MPS degree; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Philippines, rice bean (Vigna umbellata), protein-rich, high nutritional value, native of south and S.E. Asia, high-yielding forage crop, yields of 3000 kg/ha/yr obtained, in Thailand maize intercropped with rice bean, generally grown in traditional farming systems,

My last email address for Rusty was: Rusty Binas: oticbabes@yahoo.com

Dave Thurston
Dept of Plant Pathology
Cornell University

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Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: Daniel Buckles
Subject: Re: Rice bean

Dear Mulchers,

I have seen rice bean (Vigna umbellata) relay cropped with maize in southern Veracruz, Mexico by subsistence farmers. It was grown on lowlying lands (good soil moisture) and in higher areas with heavy daily dew (constant watering). It provides an edible bean, and good soil fertility improvement. Definitely worth a try if the soil conditions are right when relay cropping is feasible.

Cheers,

Daniel Buckles
IDRC
Ottawa, Canada

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Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: Roland Bunch
Subject: Re: Rice bean

Dear Mulchers,

Interesting! I have been told by a good number of people that the "viny legumes" we use in Central America are not used in the Southeast Asia. Then I found them all over northern Vietnam and Thailand, but still had no idea whether they were used in insular SE Asia, because people told me people in the people in these areas don't like to eat beans. And now we find rice bean is used in the Philippines. Plus, of course, lablab bean. And soybeans. (Although soybeans are eaten as tofu and lablab beans in their pods, which means neither are actually eaten as beans.)

Which all goes to show that many of these gm/cc systems are "invisible"--not noticed by traditional agronomists.

By the way, rice bean is also used extensively in northern Vietnam, and is planted both intercropped with maize and as a monocrop in many areas of Mexico, such as Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan States. I also believe it is still used in El Salvador and southern Honduras, as an intercrop. Also, it was at least being tried as a cover crop under citrus trees in Thailand, but Klaus knows much more about that than I do.

In Mexico and Central America, the major complaint I hear is that the grain is very small, so it takes an awful lot of work to separate it from weed seeds and dirt. That is, there is a gender issue--it takes women a lot more time to prepare the bean for cooking. People actually often prefer the rice bean's taste to that of regular beans, but the women don't like to prepare it. Of course, this is not a problem in Asia, where women work with rice every day. Any program wanting to work with rice bean elsewhere might try seeing how hard it is to teach women to use the winnowing trays they use in Asia.

Sincerely, Roland Bunch

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From: Erick Fernandes
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: RE: Rice bean
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001

Greetings all,

Check out Rusty's synthesis on Rice bean at http://wwwscas.cit.cornell.edu/ecf3/Web/AF/RiceBean.html .

Best wishes,

Erick Fernandes
Crop and Soil Sciences
Cornell University