Low-cost, high production farming in an era of scarcity

The STEPS Centre hosted an informal roundtable to discuss the spread and diversification of SRI, the conflicts that have arisen around it, and the social, institutional and political dynamics that underlie them.

It brought together Prof. Norman Uphoff of Cornell University, USA, Dr. Willem Stoop from the Netherlands and Mr. Biksham Gujja of WWF – who have all played important roles in the evaluation and dissemination of SRI; researchers from Wageningen University, Netherlands who are embarking on a study of SRI’s development in India and Madagascar and a number of STEPS and IDS colleagues. The aim was to gain a better understanding of this evolving and multi-layered phenomenon and to sharpen the focus of research in view or in planning.

• Draft agenda and questions (pdf 61kb)
• System of Rice Intensification (SRI) meeting photoset
• Presentation: Perspectives on SRI: Biksham Gujja

What is SRI?

SRI – also as le Systéme de Riziculture Intensive in French and la Sistema Intensivo de Cultivo Arrocero (SICA) in Spanish – is a methodology for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice cultivation by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients. SRI proponents say its practices lead to healthier, more productive soil and plants by supporting greater root growth and by nurturing the abundance and diversity of soil organisms. SRI is low cost for poor farmers because it does not require the purchase of new seeds or the use of chemical fertilizer and agrochemicals. Seed costs are cut by 80-90%, and because paddy fields are not kept continuously flooded, there are water savings of 25 to 50%, a major benefit in many places. Find out more

Why is SRI important?

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is eye-catching for many reasons. It is an innovation that emerged from the highlands of Madagascar and has spread to countries on at least three continents. Farmers report achieving rice yields 50-100% above their usual harvests – in some cases pushing what scientists have claimed as rice’s physiological potential – while using substantially less water for irrigation. In a context of growing scarcity and competition over water, this in itself is noteworthy.

The innovation builds not on any advanced technique such as genetic modification but on how the crop is managed: transplanting young seedlings, spacing them widely, and keeping soils well aerated and moist, but not flooded. And SRI was developed not in labs or research stations or by farmers in their fields but by a priest who trained as an agronomist and worked with farmers.