SRI’s Potential for Food Security in Cambodia:

Fact or Fallacy? Ministry of Agriculture,

Forestry and FisheriesNorman Uphoff, CIIFAD

March 21, 2005

SRI Proposition: For Centuries, Even Millennia, We Have Been ABUSING

and even MISTREATING Rice Plants • We have FLOODED rice plants – drowning

their roots

• We have CROWDED them – inhibiting the growth potential of their canopy and roots

• We use FERTILIZERS/AGROCHEMICALS that adversely affect the soil biota

• These provide many services to plants: N fixation, P solubilization, protection against diseases and abiotic stresses, etc.

SRI Results are Remarkable -- butThey Have Been Replicated Widely

• Yield increases – 50-100% or more• No need to change varieties – all respond• No need for mineral fertilizers – these are

beneficial, but compost gives better yield• Little or no need for agrochemicals -- SRI

plants more resistant to pests/diseases• Reduction in seed requirement by 80-90%• Reduction in water requirement by 25-50%• More labor is required initially -- but over time,

SRI can even become labor-saving

Additional Benefits• Because it has low capital requirements,

SRI is more accessible to the poor• The initial labor-intensity of SRI can

generate more employment• By increasing factor productivity for land,

labor, capital and water, it raises incomes• IWMI and GTZ evaluations: reduced risk• Resistance to abiotic stresses (storm, frost)

• Better grain quality, shorter maturity, etc.• Environmental benefits from reduced

water, fertilizer and agrochemicals – get better water quality, fewer health hazards

Too Good to Be True?• This perception has been a problem for getting

SRI accepted, even tried• Logical arguments have been used to avoid

testing SRI empirically• SRI creates a new logic for rice – new paradigm

that is different from the ‘Green Revolution’• Need to separate questions of FACT from

questions of EXPLANATION• Many good reasons to be skeptical of SRI –

but skepticism is better to be optimized than maximized – focus on evidence, then attempt explanations

Madagascar SRI field, 2003, yield measured by Department of Agriculture as 17.2 t/ha

Some Independent EvaluationsIWMI evaluation: Purulia, West Bengal (2004)

Farmers (N=110) using both methods in fields Number of SRI users working went from 4 in rabi

season 2003, to 150 in kharif 2004 – why?Still partial utilization: seedlings <15 days (53/110),

water management (13/110), weeding (59/110), wide spacing (110/110), and one/hill (107/110)

Conv. SRI Incr. Straw

Balrampur 1.677 2.513 49.8% 49%

Jhalda 1.510 1.716 11.9% 54%

Yield with 4 weedings 9.02 t/ha; one field 15 t/ha

IWMI evaluation: Purulia, West Bengal (contd)

Productivity of inputs (kg rice/unit of input)

Conv. SRI Incr.

Seeds (kg rice/kg seed) 61.3 845.6 38.5x

Fertilizer (kg rice/kg) 36.6 42.4 16%

Labor (kgs rice/day) 32.3 46.2 43%

Land (kg rice/acre) 32% more

Labor inputs/acre 401.8 369.1 - 9%

Labor saved = Rs. 184/acre ($75/hectare); this time is now available to use for other activities

China Agricultural University evaluation: Xinsheng Village, Dongxi Township,

Jianyang County, China (August 2004)

• 2003 – 7 farmers used SRI (SAAS)• 2004 – 398 farmers used SRI (65%)• 2003 – SRI plot size average 0.07 mu• 2004 – SRI plot size average 0.99 mu• 86.6% of SRI farmers (65/75) said they would

expand their SRI area next year or keep their whole rice area under SRI

Analysis of Farmer Rice Yields[N = 75] (20% sample of all users)

RICE YIELD (kg/mu) 2002 2003* 2004Standard 403.73 297.88 375.77 Methods

SRI -- 439.87 507.16-----------------------------------------------------------SRI Increase (%) +46.6% +34.8% • Drought year Water saving/mu = 43.2%• Farmers said: Labor saving main benefit

SRI rice field, hybrid variety, Yunnan province, 2004 – 18 t/ha

Normal 3-S

3-S is system of rice cultivation developed in Heilongjiong Province, China in 1990s, essentially the same as SRI

3-S seedlings are started at the end of winter in plastic greenhouses

3-S seedling ready for 3-S seedling ready for transplanting at 45 days-- and transplanting at 45 days-- and

resulting plantresulting plant

A. P. Agricultural University evaluation, India Started on-farm trials [N=300) in wet season

2003, in all 22 districts: results good• 1.8 t/ha yield advantage in coastal areas• 2.5 t/ha advantage in Telangana region• 4.8 t/ha advantage in Rayalseema region

Note: Better-drained soils responded better to SRINext two seasons, more on-farm controlled trials

N Conv. SRI Diff.DS 2003-04 94 7.13 9.67 2.54WS 2004 476 5.48 7.92 2.44

Again: much better SRI results with soil aeration• Lakshmana Reddy: ave. yield of 16.25 t/ha on 9 acres• N.V.K.D. Raju: ave. yield of 11.15 t/ha on >100 acres

Swarna variety, normally ‘shy-tillering’

Lakshmana Reddy’s SRI field: 17.25 t/ha

The System of Rice Intensification • Evolved in Madagascar over 20 years by Fr.

Henri de Laulanié, S.J. – working with farmers, observing, doing experiments, also having some luck in 1983-84 season

• SRI is now spreading around the world – ‘SRI effect’ has been seen in 22 countries

• SRI is a set of principles and insights that when translated into certain practices change the growing environment of rice to get healthier, more vigorous plants

• Get different, more productive phenotypes from any rice genotype: HYVs, hybrids, local variety

Fr. de Laulaniémaking field visit

Sebastien Rafaralahy andJustin Rabenandrasana,Association Tefy Saina

Plant Physical Structure and Light Intensity Distribution

at Heading Stage (Tao et al., CNRRI, 2002)

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6-J ul 16-J ul 26-J ul 5-Aug 15-Aug 25-Aug

Date

LAI

SRICK

Change of Leaf Area Index (LAI) during growth cycle (Zheng et al., SAAS, 2003)

Roots’ Oxygenation Ability with SRI vs. Conventionally-Grown Rice

Research done at Nanjing Agricultural University,Wuxianggeng 9 variety (Wang et al. 2002)

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Development stage

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What Are SRI Practices?• Transplant young seedlings (8-12 d old, <15 days), quickly (15-30 min), carefully• Plant with wider spacing than at present:

– 1 seedling per hill, or at most 2 seedlings– in square pattern, starting at 25x25 cm, but often get better results at even wider spacing as soil improves biologically, up to 50x50 cm

• Practice water control, keeping soil moist but not continuously saturated• Control weeds and aerate soil with rotary weeder; weed/aerate as often as possible• Apply as much organic matter as available

Mrs. Im Sarim (Takeo)with rice plant grown

from single seed,using SRI methods

and traditional variety-- yield of 6.72 t/ha

Tillering with SRI practices: single rice plant grown by Dr. Musliar Kasim (Andalas Univ. West Sumatra, Indonesia)

SRI field in Cuba – CFA Camilo Cienfuegos, Bahia Honda,14 t/ha – Los Palacios 9 cv. -- 2003

SRI field in Sri Lanka –

with many panicles having 400+ grains

Two rice fields in Sri Lanka -- same variety,same irrigation system, and same drought :

conventional methods (left), SRI (right)

SRI is still controversial for several reasons

1. SRI is counterintuitive – less gives MORE -- but this can be explained in scientific terms

2. SRI results are quite variable, between and within countries – because more is involved than genetic potential and external inputs

– Soil biological resources are the key to SRI performance – not industrial operation

3. SRI results often higher on farmers’ fields than on research stations – scientists often cannot replicate farmers’ results, which is the reverse of the usual situation

What Can Explain these Anomalies?

Soil differences assessed in biological terms

IRRI trial results with SRI – average 2.1 t/ha

WHY? Soils at Los Banos have been in rice continuously rice for 30+ years – same root exudations reduce soil biodiversity

They have been mostly kept flooded – anaerobic conditions change soil biota

Huge amounts of agrochemicals have been added, affecting soil biota adversely

Roots of a single rice plant (MTU 1071) grown at Agricultural Research Station

Maruteru, AP, India, kharif 2003

Cuba – 52 DAP, Variety VN 2084

AZOSPIRILLUM POPULATIONS, TILLERING AND RICE YIELDS ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT CULTIVATION PRACTICES

AND NUTRIENT AMENDMENTSResults of replicated trials at the Centre for Diffusion of Agricultural Intensification,

Beforona, Madagascar, 2000 (Raobelison, 2000)

Azospirillum in the

CLAY SOIL Rhizosphere(103/ml)

Roots(103/mg)

Tillers/plant

Yield(t/ha)

Traditional cultivation,no amendments

25 65 17 1.8

SRI cultivation, withno amendments

25 1,100 45 6.1

SRI cultivation, withNPK amendments

25 450 68 9.0

SRI cultivation,with compost

25 1,400 78 10.5

LOAM SOILSRI cultivation,with no amendments

25 75 32 2.1

SRI cultivation,with compost

25 2,000 47 6.6

Different Paradigms of Production • The GREEN REVOLUTION paradigm:

(a) Changed the genetic potential of plants, and

(b) Increased the use of external inputs -- more water, fertilizer, insecticides, etc.

• SRI changes certain management practices for plants, soil, water and nutrients, so as to:

(A) Promote the growth of root systems, and

(B) Increase the abundance and diversity of

soil organisms, and also (C) Reduce water use and costs of production

21st Century Agriculture Should Be• More PRODUCTIVE AGRONOMICALLY:

– LAND -- per unit area -- per ha or per acre– LABOR -- per hour or per day– WATER -- per cubic meter or per acre/ft– CAPITAL -- more profitable for $ invested

• More ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN– More robust in face of CLIMATE CHANGE

• More SOCIALLY BENEFICIAL– ACCESSIBLE to the poor, reducing poverty– Providing greater FOOD SECURITY– Contributing more to HUMAN HEALTH

• SRI can contribute to all of these goals

LESS CAN PRODUCE MOREby utilizing biological potentials & processes• Smaller, younger seedlings become larger,

more productive mature plants• Fewer plants per hill and per m2 will give

higher yield if used with other SRI practices• Half as much water produces more rice

because aerobic soil conditions are better• Greater output is possible with use of fewer or even no external/chemical inputs

There is nothing magical about SRI – but it is ‘controversial’ in some scientific circles

SRI is not just ‘a niche innovation’ as argued by Dobermann, Agricultural Systems (2004)

• Nor is it ‘voodoo science’ as claimed by Cassman & Sinclair, ACSSA (2004) UFOs? cold fusion?

• Conclusion of Sheehy et al., Field Crops Research (2004): “[SRI] has no major role in improving rice production generally” was based on very dubious scientific evidence – and it is contradicted by the work of major rice research institutions in China

• Further: IRRI is not institutionally opposed to SRI; and WARDA has been cooperating since 2000

• SRI is ‘not finished yet’ – still evolving and improving with FARMER INNOVATIONS

Roller-marker devised by Lakshmana Reddy, East Godavari,AP, India, to save time in transplanting operations; his yield

in 2003-04 rabi season was 16.2 t/ha paddy (dry weight)

4-row weeder designedby Gopal Swaminathan,

Thanjavur, TN, India

AERATE SOIL at same time weeds are removed/incorporated

Motorizedweeder

developed byS. Ariyaratna

Sri Lanka

Seeder Developed in Cuba

Direct seeding will probably replace transplanting in futureEssential principle is to avoid trauma to the young roots

Greatest SRI Benefit Is Not YIELD• Yield can vary -- often widely; farmers

need/want profitability more than yield• Also risk reduction: drought, pests, etc.• From society’s perspective, what is most

important is factor productivity – kg of rice per land, labor, capital, and water !

• No question any longer of whether SRI methods give higher yields/productivity but rather how to explain & exploit them

• SRI can/will surely be further improved -- too soon for final conclusion (not necessary)

What Are Negatives?• Initially requires more labor/ha, during

learning period; becomes labor-saving• Labor productivity and profitability go up

as a rule, so added labor is remunerated• For best results need good water control

and water control needed first few weeks – some limitation on what soils are suitable

• Need more farmer knowledge and skill and farmer involvement in decision-making and evaluation – these are assets

• Nematodes and golden snail may be problems

The Aim of SRI Is Not to Double the Production of Rice

• Real aim: RAISE FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY• Support REDEPLOYMENT of some of a

country’s land, labor, water and capital from the production of its staple food to higher-value activities – giving people more income and better nutrition

• We expect intensification to contribute to the DIVERSIFICATION of agriculture

• Leading also to its MODERNIZATION

SRI Comes at Opportune TimeGreen Revolution is losing momentum

Water scarcities are becoming more and more severe

SRI concepts and practices are showing relevance to other crops: wheat, sugar cane, ragi, bajra, etc.

SRI may show us the way to achieve “post-modern agriculture”

Liu Zhibin, Meishan Inst. of Science & Technology, inraised-bed,no-till SRI field with certified yield of 13.4 t/ha

MEASURED DIFFERENCES IN GRAIN QUALITY Characteristic SRI (3 spacings) Conventional Diff.

Chalky kernels (%)

23.62 - 32.47 39.89 - 41.07 - 30.7

General chalkiness (%)

1.02 - 4.04 6.74 - 7.17 - 65.7

Milled rice outturn (%)

53.58 - 54.41 41.54 - 51.46 + 16.1

Head milled rice (%)

41.81 - 50.84 38.87 - 39.99 + 17.5

Paper by Prof. Ma Jun, Sichuan Agricultural University,presented at 10th conference on Theory and Practice for

High-Quality, High-Yielding Rice in China, Haerbin, 8/2004

THANK YOU

• Web page: http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/

• Email: ciifad@cornell.edu or ntu1@cornell.edu or

• tefysaina.tnr@simicro.mg