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News Alerts | Grow more rice with fewer inputs and save the environment for free!

Grow more rice with fewer inputs and save the environment for free!

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published Published on Sep 30, 2009   modified Modified on Sep 30, 2009

The procurement of rice for distribution under the proposed Right to Food scheme has renewed the fears of irreversible depletion of water table in India’s grain producing regions. It is feared that unless more scientific and progressive methods of rice cultivation are used, the otherwise welcome scheme would lead to more sowing of summer paddy leading to more injudicious water use and further soil degradation.

Many rural NGOs and agricultural scientists have been reminding the government of promoting the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which offers arguably the best solution in terms of food security and environmental sustainability. SRI technique helps in growing more rice with fewer inputs.

The technique is both seed and labour saving. Use of SRI methods reduces the agronomic and economic risks that are usually faced by the farmers. The National Food Security Mission (2007) too has recommended SRI method of farming to increase rice productivity.

India is one of the largest producers of rice in the world. Its share in the world rice production was 21.51 percent during 2006, following China (29.01%). However, rice cultivation during the recent years has suffered from various interrelated problems such as high water and fertilizer use, stagnation in productivity and concomitant environmental problems due to salinisation and water-logging of fields. Mindless use of pumpsets for irrigation occurs as electricity is cheap and the cropping technology demands more water. Social conflicts have arisen between water users in several canal-irrigated areas due to the water intensive nature of the crop.

SRI method was first developed in Madagascar by Fr. Henri De Laulanié, a French priest with a background in agriculture and passion for rural development. Experimentation with SRI got started at the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD, http://ciifad.cornell.edu/) under the supervision of Norman Uphoff. The objective was to increase the yield on lowland rice fields and wean farmers away from slash-and-burn cultivation. The state of Tamil Nadu is often credited with bringing SRI to India during the late 1990s, where it is popularly known as ‘Thirunthia Nel Sakupadi’ (transformed rice cultivation). Almost 20% of the state's rice area is under SRI management. SRI is being practiced in other states too like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in South India, and sporadically followed in few Eastern states like Tripura and Assam. The state of Tripura has more than 70,000 farmers practicing SRI presently. Some of the NGOs who have promoted SRI in India are WASSAN (http://www.wassan.org/), PSI (http://www.peoplesscienceinstitute.com/), PRADAN (http://www.pradan.net/), AME, Timbuktu Collective (http://www.timbaktu.org/) and many others.

Despite its successes as claimed by many non government organizations (NGOs), employment of SRI technique has received stiff resistance from agricultural scientists and officials for being ‘backward’. A few of them have questioned the productivity increasing potential of SRI.

The SRI technique under proper crop and soil management provides better growing conditions for rice plants, particularly in the root zone. Four components of SRI include early planting (12 days’ old single seedlings, wider spacing), limited irrigation (2-3 cm depth after the appearance of hairline cracks), weeding and application of more compost and building soil organic matter content.

The additional yield advantage in SRI ranges from 500 to 1500 kg/ ha over conventional method of planting. Water required under SRI is half of what is needed under conventional rice farming. By avoiding flood irrigation and adopting limited irrigation, the breeding of malarial mosquito in rice fields is prevented. SRI crops are more resistant to most pests and diseases, and better able to tolerate adverse climatic influences such as drought, storms, hot spells or cold snaps. Thus, adopting SRI methods can drastically cut down the cost of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, which can be beneficial to the small and marginal farmers who have lower capacity to invest.

The following links and resources offer a wider reading on pros and cons of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI):
 
Dr. C Shambu Prasad (2006): System of Rice Intensification in India: Innovation History and Institutional Challenges,
http://www.cgiar-ilac.org/system/files/private/Articles/SR
I_India_innovation_institutions.pdf

Rethinking innovation and development: Insights from the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in India by C. Shambu Prasad, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, Volume 12(2), 2007, article 3, http://www.innovation.cc/peer-reviewed/prasad_p2rethinking
_innovat3.pdf

System of Rice Intensification: Experiences of Farmers in India by Dr. Biksham Gujja, Dr. N. Loganandhan, Dr. V. Vinod Goud (Ed.), November, 2008, WWF-ICRISAT Project, http://sri-india.110mb.com/documents/Farmersexperiences.pdf

Report of Sub-Committee on More crop and income per drop of water, Ministry of Water Resources, October 2006, http://cwc.gov.in/main/webpages/3.doc

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) as a System of Agricultural Innovation by Norman Uphoff (2007), http://www.future-agricultures.org/farmerfirst/files/T1c_U
phoff.pdf

The System of Rice Intensification, A collaborative effort of Association Tefy Saina, Antanarivo, Madagascar and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD), http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/

System of Rice Intensification (SRI): An Alternative in Paddy Cultivation, Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), http://www.wassan.org/sri/

System of Rice Intensification (SRI), India, http://www.sri-india.net/

Get More From Less With System of Rice Intensification (SRI), The World Bank. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/WBIPROGRAMS/W
BIWATER/0,,contentMDK:21810464~pagePK:64156158~piPK:641528
84~theSitePK:443986,00.html

Berkelaar, D. (2001) „SRI -- The System of Rice Intensification: Less Can Be More, ECHO Development Notes, No. 70.,
http://www.echotech.org/network/modules.php?name=News&
file=article&sid=461

Zheng, J.G., Lu X.J., Jiang X.L. and Tang Y.L. (2004): The System of Rice Intensification for super-high yields of rice in Sichuan basin, in T. Fischer et al. (eds.), New Directions for a Diverse Planet: Proc. of the 4th Intl. Crop Science Congress,
http://www.cropscience.org.au/icsc2004/poster/2/3/319_zhengjg.htm  

Rice Wars, Institute of Science in Society, http://www.i-sis.org.uk/RiceWars.php

System of Rice Intensification—Optimising production with fewer inputs by Vibhu Nayar and VK Ravichandran, The Hindu Business Line, 4 April, 2008,
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/04/04/stories/200
8040450240900.htm
   

 

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