Appendix 1 - IRRI

successful and all the participants have gained knowledge on conservation of wild rice
species. Some of the participants joined our collection trips thereafter in different
districts, respectively, in Irian Jaya.
General information of the areas we visited and collecting routes
Originally, we planned to visit five districts, namely, Jayapura, Merauke, Jaya Wijaya,
Monokwari, and Sorong. But due to time limitation and some other difficulties in certain
areas, we were only able to visit Jayapura, Merauke, and Jaya Wijaya districts. Figure 1
illustrates the areas we covered, with approximate travelling routes and the collecting
sites of the rice germplasm. The locations of the collecting sites were captured by a
global positioning system (GPS).
Jayapura - Jayapura lies in the northwest of Irian Jaya, and the majority of the land is
covered by forests. The traditional staple food is mainly sago starch, and in some areas
tuber crops were also grown. The local people were not familiar with rice. We traveled
for two days at the altitudes from a few to 200 meters above sea level in Jayapura,
Sentani, and Muratami subdistrict, specifically to examine the ideal habitats for wild rice,
such as swamps, streams, canals, and lakes (Figure 2), but we did not find any wild rice
species. We interviewed some local farmers in the areas we visited, and no one knew
anything about wild rice (Figure 3). When we showed picture of wild rice species to these
farmers, some of them said that they saw some similar type of grasses in other parts of
Irian Jaya, such as in Merauke and Monokwari. The agriculture extension workers from
these areas did not have knowledge on wild rice either.
Merauke - Merauke district lies in the southeast of Irian Jaya and is facing Arafura Sea,
with latitude between 4” 25’ - 9” 5’ south and longitude between 137” 30’ - 14” 00’ east.
The major area of the district (93.34%) is at the altitudes varying from 0- 100 meters
above the sea level, and a small part of upland area (6.66%) ranging between 1 OO- 1,000
meters. Almost all the areas of the district have topography as plain level. The
temperature ranges between 22.6 “C - 33.2 “C. The average rainfall in the Merauke town
is about 1,350 mm per year. The swampy area has argonosal and alluvial soils and is
periodically flooded, whereas the hilly area has yellow-red podzolik soils. The Merauke
district is composed of 18 subdistricts with a total population of ca. 296,400. The district
is characterized by two distinct seasons. During the wet season (from January to May)
many places were under flooding and land transportation becomes very difficult, but
during the dry season drought became a serious problem. Many fields were cracking
because the moisture content in the soil was tremendously reduced (Figures 12 and 21).
In Merauke district the condition of many roads was very poor and there were only
limited roads extended from Merauke town.
The traditional staple food was sago, cassava, yam, sweet potato, and taro. Rice varieties,
including IR 64 and IR 66, were introduced to Merauke in a large scale by the
Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke in 1994. Now the rice growing area in Merauke
is about 20,000 hectares, with average yield of about 4.5 ton/h, according to the
information provided by Agriculture Extension Office of Merauke. This change made
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