Click to download OSWALD V 1.0
for Windows

The shortage of expertise in agronomy and weed sciences in countries like Lao PDR and Cambodia is widely felt. The initiative of the OSWALD project serves as a major platform to address the question of building expertise in these areas. By establishing a knowledge base on the weed species, young researchers across the region can use it as a valuable tool to enhance their capacities in species identification and to have access to species level data for all the weed species found in the region.

By intervening at the institutional level through training to the young agronomists, the project sets a conducive environment for learning and self-training. Also by making the knowledge base open to everyone we enhanced the possibilities for young researchers from the region to self-train themselves, unrestricted by access to information and other facilities.

The training provided to the extension workers enables them to better assist the farming community. The project also facilitates the information flow for the extension workers who need to remain up to date on the latest techniques in managing issues related to productivity.

The project providing a knowledge base in local languages enables the farmers of the region to identify the weed species by themselves and decide on appropriate control measures. The timely and correct identification of weed species helps the farmers to control them much more effectively and thus improves productivity as a direct impact.

Eventually, by encouraging a culture of self-sustainable lifestyle with less dependence on traditional support systems among farmers with the help of IT&C tools, this would also empower farmers to assess and manage their issues related to livelihood by themselves. This would also enable the micro-organizations to manage their resources at village level with the combined knowledge base of local and institutional levels. This effect would enormously contribute towards improving the decision-making capacity of the farmers, not only on issues related to farming, but also on other issues related to development as a spill-over effect.

 As for the different partners viz. the RUA, Cambodia, the NAFRI, Lao PDR and Leiden University, it helped accrue expertise such as:

a)       designing and implementing applications based on Open Source in the areas of weed identification (CIRAD, the NAFRI, Lao PDR)

b)       improved abilities in developing and customizing IT & C applications in local languages for specific target audiences (RUA, Cambodia and NAFRI,  Lao PDR)

c)       better assessing the needs of the agronomist community in capacity-building in weed knowledge and proposing enhancements (CIRAD, RUA, Cambodia and
  NAFRI,  Lao PDR  & Leiden University)

d)       local farming practices and traditional knowledge systems so as to design better management techniques for future (RUA, Cambodia and NAFRI,  Lao PDR)

e)       designing and implementing networking mechanisms for cooperation in agronomy and weed control with neighbouring countries and also between Europe and
  South East Asia (CIRAD, Leiden University, RUA, Cambodia and NAFRI,  Lao PDR)

f)         Designing and integrating into the academic curriculum, issues related to weed knowledge and weed control. (RUA, Cambodia and NAFRI,  Lao PDR)

As one of the objectives and outcomes of the project, a long-lasting network of partners is envisaged, this would continuously contribute towards the enrichment of the knowledge base. As a follow-up action, particularly the partners from Lao PDR (NAFRI), Cambodia (RUA) and CIRAD centre will work closely to collaborate in various agriculture related initiatives.

At its conclusions, the project published one thousand CD-ROMs which are widely distributed during various national and international meetings, workshops, conferences attended by the 4 institutions involved in this project. This activity is sustained by providing the CD-ROM image for downloading on the website. Those who are interested are encouraged to download this CD-ROM image and make their own CD-ROM. This will also retain the flexibility of updating the contents of the CD-ROM whenever changes are needed.
 

ON GOING:

1. We are planning to participate at the international conference held by the Asia-Pacific bureau of AUF by producing a small video (visit this link for more details: http://www.auf.org/communication-information/actualites/appel-a-manifestation-d-interet-colloque-du-cidefa.html). The conference will be held at the "Institut de Technologie du Cambodge" (ITC), Cambodia, and will have a regional impact (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thaïland, and certainly in a larger level).
   We are looking for funds but once the video realised, it will be made available online.

2. The OSWALD Version 1.5 will be released soon.