Proceedings - Balai Penelitian Tanah

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Sembiring et al.
lowland rice to other commodities, or simply abandoned the land.
Despite the fact that salinity has been destroying the productive
capacity of coastal areas(as well as at the drier eastern part of
Indonesia) in Indonesia for decades, it is only relatively recently that
we have recognized the extent of the problem and, unfortunately,
efforts made on national scale to slow the process is limited (or
none?). As a result, personnel responsible to handle salinity problems,
especially in rice cropping, are still scarce. It should be much better if
salinity problem in Indonesia is handled on national scale. Madamba
(1981) have suggested that national agricultural research systems in
the developing countries have a key role to play in agricultural and
rural development and in advancing the economic status of the
developing nations. More over, new technologies have better chances
for nationwide adaptation on account of ongoing national program for
intensifying production (Lantican 1981).
Tsunami in NAD and other rice production areas, on December 2004,
awakened agronomists that salinity must be seriously considered in
order to revitalize rice production, especially lowland rice; not only in
NAD but also in other production areas significantly affected by
salinity. Some international organizations have been directly engaged
in NAD to restore rice cropping in tsunami-affected areas. It was
evident that salinity is a complex problem and needs special and
comprehensive efforts, especially for rice crop restoration after
tsunami. From field monitoring to tsunami-affected areas, it was also
seen that researches are required in revitalization of the affected
areas. In addition, there is a need to have experienced staff available
to solve problem, to transfer techniques and knowledge on salinity
remediation and to evaluate management strategies which at least
restore productivity to pre-tsunami levels.
Because research must be shared with the end users, it is extremely
important to develop effective strategies for lateral, downward, and
even upward communication. In other words, a good research
strategy must be coupled with communication and adoption efforts. As
has been pointed out by Flores (1981), the primary justification for
research is how it can change the lives of people for the better. For
this to happen, results of research must reach the people who shall
ultimately make use of it. Research is of little use until it is applied for
productive purposes.
The ACIAR project, SMCN/2005-118, was a comprehensive and
integrated effort in restoring rice cropping in NAD after tsunami,
fulfilled justifications mentioned above. The project activities such as
field trials and monitoring directly engaged with farmers and involved
them in field activities in their local area. The capacity building of
extension staff and technical knowledge developed in this project
improved the advice and information available to farmers and
International Workshop on Post Tsunami Soil Management, 1-2 July 2008 in Bogor, Indonesia