SRI Information Handout/Farmers’ Manualon Socio Economic and Ecological Concern for

System of Rice Intensification (SRI): A Productivity Enhancing Practice in India

B. C. Barah C. Ramasamy and K. N. Selvaraj, V. Ratna Reddy, and G. Nagaraj

Scientific inputs from Dr. T. M. Thyagarajan

National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (ICAR)Centre for Economic and Social StudiesTamilnadu Agricultural University and

University of Agricultural Sciences

System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is an innovative methodology of rice cultivation relying on available farmer inputs.

It is a set of farmer-friendly and environment-friendly practices, specifically intended for use among small and marginal farmers.

Using a set of simple techniques, farmers can improve their rice productivity while incurring little or no additional cost.

SRI helps meet household food requirements with:• Less land area, due to enhanced productivity of the soil, • Minimum seeds as SRI require fewer lesser seedlings per acre, • Saving time, as seedlings just 8-12 days old are transplanted rather than the usual 28 days, and SRI crops ripen sooner. • Little external nutrients, and less manpower needed once skill is

acquired. • Most important, SRI is water saving because the methodology requires 25-50% less quantity of water vs. continuous flooding

TO THE HANDS OF SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS

A synergistic approach:Following are important and specific SRI practices

Following the above practices, SRI uses relatively lesser quantity of inputs and has higher yield capability, making it small-farmer-friendly, and SRI also provides several biological advantages for plants, soil and organisms

Good soil bed preparation using locally-made equipment

Early transplanting: Young seedlings of 8-12 days, transplanted carefully before the third leaf appears, capitalizing on the phyllochron effect

Wider Spacing (25x25 cm to begin; up to 45x45cm or even more on best soil); one seedling per hill, achieving the “edge effect” for the whole field No need to keep the fields flooded continuously: 1) keep soil moist; or 2) practice alternate wetting and drying, making water savings

Use a mechanical rotary weeder every 10-14 days for weed control; this facilitates soil aeration, improving biological activity in the soil

Use compost, and zero or reduced inorganic fertilizers for best results, promoting sustainable soil health

By practicing the following methods explained below, rice productivity can be improved significantly

with lesser inputs 1

6

4 3

2 5

Get better yield prospects from the following practices:Practice No. # 1: SOIL BED PREPARATION

Effectively leveled field is easier for marking operation; and it is also easier for the proper distribution of scarce water resources and for transplanting of young seedlings

Land leveler with wooden plankmade of local materials improvesfield capacity. Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Hyderabad, has developed an improved leveler-cum-marker at a cost of about Rs.900 per piece.

Transplant young seedlings of 8-12 days, before the third leaf appears;and transplant carefully, keeping root horizontal (like L). Resumption of the roots’ growth is delayed when the root tip is inverted upwards (like J).

The potential advantages are: Better phyllochron effect (more

tillers), Saving of seeds, need only 1/10th

the usual seed rate (approx. 2-3 kg as against 30-40 kg per acre),

Save time, about 20 days, and minimize transplanting shock to the young seedlings

Practice No. # 2: EARLY TRANSPLANTING

Practice No. # 3: WIDER SPACINGRow and column spacing should be at least 25x25 cm, and can go up to 45x45cm or even more, at the rate of one seedling per hill, when the soil

has improved through SRI practices. Due to wider space between seedlings, the roots and the canopy of the plant grow undisturbed.

External soil nutrients could be reduced as the wider space provides more energy and air for the plants. Therefore, the plants enjoy the advantage of ‘the edge effect’ for the whole field, and there is more biological N fixation

Practice No. # 4: NO CONTINUOUS FLOODING

Unlike in conventional practice, the fields should not be flooded continuously. In order to keep soil moist, practice alternate wetting and drying of fields is followed. This promotes judicious use of water. Depending on type of soil, it should be irrigated and then let to dry, even to cracking stage, although with clay, may need to keep a thin film of water on the field. This creates scope for water saving, and hairline cracks improve soil aeration for plants and microbes.

.

Practice No. # 5: REGULAR WEEDINGS

Woman farmer (Mrs. Manonmani of Thenpaththuvillage near Tirurnveli in Tamilnadu) reports she could harvest 6088 kg of rice per acre. She used the rotary weeder shown here regularly and feels that this makes weed management ‘child’s play’. The weeds are converted into manure and incorporated into soil.

Use mechanical rotary weeder every 10-14 days for weed control and soil aeration, starting 10-12 days after transplanting.This improves biological activityin the soil and facilitates vigorousroot growth. Beyond minimum of2 weedings, additional weedingscan add 0.5-2.0 t/ha to yield

More weedings enrich soil for better root growth due to incorporation of organic matter and aeration of soil [FLD CRIDA, Hyderabad]

Weeding is crucial: Multiple direction weedings are good

Use more compost, and zero or reduced inorganic fertilizers, for best results. This ensures: Sustainable soil health Producing of healthy food Saves the cost of agro-chemicals Accelerates microbial activities in soil

Practice No. # 6: ORGANIC MANURE

Andhra Farmer says:

Farmers could not believe their

own eyes when they saw only 23

cms long seedlings in 11 days, and

then on the 39th day after

transplantation, their plants with 84

tillers.

Mr. Rambabu of Srinagar village

in Manopadu mandal of

Mahabubnagar District was

surprised to see such seedlings;

he considers the whole exercise as

‘a miracle’.

Luxurious tillering from a single seed

A convincing OUTPUT:

SRINORMAL RICE

Picture from Dong Tru village, Vietnam, after typhoon, taken by Elske van de Fliert, FAO IPM advisor, during Sept. 2005 visit.

Due to the sturdy stems and larger, healthier root systems, SRI plants have capacity to resist lodging compared to rice

plants grown with usual methods (e.g., continuous flooding).

Therefore, SRI potentially can assure meeting household food requirements with:

√ Less area of land,

√ Minimum volume of seeds, as SRI requires lesser number of seedlings per acre,

√ Saving time, with shorter crop cycle,

√ Little external nutrients, thereby reducing costs of production, and

√ Lesser labour once methods are learned.

Most importantly, SRI can be practices with lesser quantity of water.

International experiences: Gain in yield due to SRI (ton/ha) in 12 Countries

Countries Conventional SRI % increase

Gambia 2.3 7.1 209%

Madagascar 2.6 7.2 177%

Myanmar 2.0 5.4 169%

Sri Lanka 3.6 7.8 116%

Sierra Leone 2.5 5.3 112%

Nepal 4.2 8.5 102%

India 4.0 8.0 100%

Cambodia 2.7 4.8 78%

Cuba 6.2 9.8 58%

Indonesia 5.0 7.4 37%

Bangladesh 4.9 6.3 29%

China 10.9 12.4 14%

From: Norman Uphoff, Presentation to Intl Year of Rice Conference,

FAO, Rome, Feb. 2004

A comparison of Input use pattern in SRI riceSRI Normal % Difference

Area 1.34 4.55 Likely to increase

Yield 29.4 22.8 29

Seed rate 2.4 35 (-) 93

Irrigation (no./acre) 51 97 (-) 47

Labor cost (Rs./acre) 660 633 4

Family labor: Male 92 78 18

: Female 16 6 167

Hired Labor: Male 8 4 100

: Female 6 3 100

Hired labor cost: (Rs./acre) 747 314 138

Operational cost (Rs./acre) 6271 5757 9

Value of output (product+by-product) 17502 15145 16

Net Return w/o family labor 11230 9388 20

Net Return with family labor 7804 5915 32

Source: Collated from a village survey in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh 2005 by Dr. Ratna Reddy, Hyderabad

To summarize

SRI may have diverse meaning as rice is cultivated in highly diverse way. Depending on the agenda of various groups of farmers in adopting technology innovations, they try to maximise productivity within the local production environments and social systems. This implies that there is no single solution or policy of productivity enhancement for all situations across the spatio-temporal dimension.

New technology/practice like SRI opens up the vista for sustainable agriculture and/or revitalise the potential of traditional as well as modern seed varieties that seems to have gradually lost in the green revolution agenda. As the newer practice is dedicated mainly for the small and marginal farmers, it has important household food security implication. The SRI is an innovative practice of rice cultivation that has a chance to revive the shrinking opportunity in rice production systems.Source; IWMI-Tata initiative 2005