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An Alternative in Paddy Cultivation

SRI is a method of paddy cultivation. Initially experimented by farmers in Madagascar in 1980s, now this methods  has become popular in many countries. The core principles of this method are using less seed, less water and no chemical fertilizers and  pesticides .  As rice is the staple food,  adoption of SRI method opens up potential water saving and groundwater management issues.

SDTT and The Allied trusts presents - "One Seed Revolution"
 

One Seed Revolution is a docudrama about about real people bringing in change in their lives by adopting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in an effort to find cost effective agricultural practices to attain food security at their household level. At the grass root level, the film follows the lives of Dashrathi Senapathi and Savitri Sahu as they take up the challenge to practice SRI and in turn influence many others to take a step towards food security. While at the another level, we see the team at Sir Dorabji Tata Trust promote and support SRI to farmers across India. For SDTT, SRI is a new window of opportunity to keep away hunger and ring positive development among poor farmers in the face of increased food grain prices and input driven agricultural practices. Click to watch the following

English Subtitle       Part - I     Part - II       Part - III       Part - IV

Hindi Subtitle          Part - I     Part - II       Part - III       Part - IV

PRINCIPLES OF SRI
An overview on SRI in India. Additionally the film contains easy to understand instructions to cultivate paddy by way of SRI.

English Subtitle       Part - I     Part - II

Hindi Subtitle          Part - I     Part - II

Film Crew
Writer & Director: Robina M Gupta
Camera: Arvind K
Editing: Archit D Rastogi
Sound: Allwin Rego
Music: Madhav Shorey and Amitanshu Nath
Animation: Hari Sudakaran
 

Technical Report - Potential of the SRI for systemic improvement in rice production and water use: the case of Andhra Pradesh, India 

As opportunities to enhance the irrigation base for raising food production in the country are dwindling, India needs a more concerted effort to increase the efficiency and productivity of its irrigation systems. This study, based on an analysis of experience from the state of Andhra Pradesh, addresses the potential of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to contribute to systemic corrections in present paddy cultivation, both with regard to agronomic productivity and irrigation water use efficiency. This study points to the considerable increase in rice productivity and farmer incomes, which is being achieved in Andhra Pradesh with substantial reduction in irrigation water application, labor, and seed costs through utilization of SRI methods. Potential public savings on water and power costs could be drawn upon not only for promoting SRI but also to effect systemic corrections in the irrigation sector, to mutual advantage.
Author(s): A. Ravindra and S. Bhagya Laxmi
Date: 17 September 2010
Source: Paddy Water Environment, The Springerlink.com  

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New hope for Indian food security? the system of rice intensification (SRI) 

This paper describes the potential of an innovative rice cultivation practice - the system of rice intensification (SRI) for allowing Indian rice farmers to not only enhance rice production and their net incomes, but also to solve the water crisis. Discovered through an unconventional agricultural development initiative in Madagascar in the 1920s, SRI is now known to rice farmers in 40 countries. SRI is a whole package of agronomic approaches which together exploit the genetic potential of rice plants; create a better growing environment (both above and below ground); enhance soil health; and reduce inputs (seeds, water, labour).
Author(s): Dr. Biksham Gujja, Dr. T.M. Thiyagarajan
Date: Nov 2009 Source: IIED

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 SRI - SURVEY OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE 2009
Source - The Hindu

2009 edition of the Hindu Survey of Agriculture is being released, and most importantly that it features on its cover page, exclusively, a full length picture of an SRI Farmer doing intercultivation operations in his SRI fields. Explaining the cover picture on page 3, it says: System of Rice Intensification (SRI) not only boot's production by 50-100 per cent, and often much more, but also induces greater resistance to pests and diseases and reduce vulnerability to drought, lodging, storm damage, etc.

The first article by M.S. Swaminathan, titled: Five-pronged strategy for boosting crop yield and food security, he explains: "Most of the rainfall during the South West Monsoon period occurs within 100 hours. Therefore rain water harvesting and storage both in the aquifer and in tanks and reservoirs becomes very important. Simultaneously we should promote increased water use efficiency. In 2007, the Ministry of water Resources of the government of India initiated a Farmer Participatory Action Research Programme in over 2000 villages all over the country to assess the impact of water saving technologies, like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in rice. I have been chairing the National Committee providing oversight to this programme. The results of the last 2 years have shown that yield and income can be increased by 50 to 100 percent in most crops by using water saving technologies."

The second article is by Dr. Norman Uphoff and Dr. Abha Mishra is titled: Climate - proofing: Opportunities with the System of Rice Intensification

The third article once again talks on the practical options the Indian policy makers should adopt while designing the adaptive mechanisms most central for farmers to adapt to climate change. The article by Dr. Biksham Gujja is tiled: It is time the Indian rich pay for the cost and allocate resources to farmer.
 

The article further explains that "Certain crops such as rice and sugarcane, which require large quantity of water, need to be cultivated differently. It is possible to produce rice and sugarcane with lot less water and other inputs by adapting it to System of Rice Intensification kind of farm based methods. The method has been proved time again but they require lot more policy and institutional support in order to scale to national level so that dependency on water can be reduced without compromising on the production".

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SRI Model Villages of Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India

Dr.V.V. Sadamate, Planning Comm., GoI visit to SRI villages of Warangal in Andhra Pradesh. The visit was planned as part of the ICRISAT-WWF project mandate to influence policy makers, and the policy decisions to up scale SRI in India. From mere 13 farmers in the year 2007 the district of Warangal now boasts of about 528 farmers (in 431 acres) in Rabi 2007-08.

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 Field Day on SRI in Irrigation Tank System on 27th November, 2008

WASSAN has been working on various pilot initiatives related to Drought Adaptation under the World Bank supported AP Drought Adaptation Initiatives program in Mahabubnagar and Anantapur districts, which are promoting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) both under borewell and Tank systems for almost 8 seasons by now. We are working closely with the Department of Agriculture/ATMA, Mahabubnagar district in this program. SRI was practiced by 78 & 15 farmers in two Tanks with an area of 107 and 7 acres in the Kharif season this year in Kottur village, Bomraspet Mandal of Mahabubnagar district. The crop is mature and is about to be harvested. In addition there are several farmers practicing SRI under borewells. This field day is intended to analyze the learning from scaling up strategies followed in this initiative successfully and to provide policy inputs into NFSM and other programs. Detailed data will also be compiled before the event and presented during the field day.

 See Photo Gallery

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Strengthening the Learning Alliance: Scaling up options for SRI in Orissa - C.Shambu Prasad; Debasis Mohapatra; Piyush Mishra
When we first thought of taking up SRI (System of Rice Intensification) activities in the state in early 2007, the landscape of innovation was sparse and scattered. There was some experience on SRI by farmers and a few NGOs none of whom were aware of each other’s knowledge. Yet, these actors were linking up with SRI actors from other states to access, experiment and even improve upon SRI practices. The results were extremely encouraging even in the very first cropping season without complete knowledge, training and availability of weeders and markers. Small, marginal and tribal farmers were excited about the implications of SRI for their food security encouraging us to explore options for policy support and expansion. The initial discussions that Prof Radhamohan and I and later Debasis Mohapatra had with some governmental agencies including the Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production was extremely encouraging. We were keen that the government recognizes and builds on the SRI innovation capacity that these actors demonstrated. This led to the first multi-stakeholder workshop or the launch of the platform for Learning Alliance in the state in June 2007.

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NPM - SRI in Tank Irrigation Systems (Bomraspet Mandal of Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh, India) Mahabubnagar is one of the districts in Andhra Pradesh with less and uneven distribution of rainfall. SRI is normally taken up under bore well irrigation and tanks in larger parts of this district. Filling up of tanks is erratic in the district in recent days and whether to take up a crop with the available water is always a dicey question.  Farmers in a small Tank in Nagireddypalli village worrying whether the tank-water would be sufficient to sustain normal rice crop came forward to take up SRI in 2007 Rabi. Their interest is to see if they can have the entire crop safely as water recedes fast from the tank. Farmers have also agreed to do SRI completely without using any chemical pesticides using NPM practices.

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District Level Symposium on SRI - 5th & 6th December 2008 at Koraput, Orissa Pragati along with 6 local NGO partners network ( Jaivik SRI Samaj) organized a two day District level Symposium on SRI in the premises of Tribal Museum Koraput on 5th and 6th December 2008 in association with Trocaire, Ireland; Centre for World Solidarity , Bhubaneswar; Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai; CENDERET-SORC, Jeypore, ATMA, Koraput; CYSD-DRC, Koraput , SOVA, Koraput and Tribal Museum, Koraput. 430 farmers, 47 Agriculture department officials from Koraput, Raygada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts, 72 representatives of 31 NGOs and 16 Media representatives have participated in the deliberations on both the days.

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Report on Village visits in Tripura state of India to assess progress with SRI, October 6-9, 2007 - Dr. Norman Uphoff
The following report shares with anyone interested what was learned from four days of field trips in Tripura following the 2nd all-India SRI symposium hosted by the Tripura state government. Below is a summary of the main observations and conclusions deriving from the village visits.

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SRI Method of paddy cultivation in Parigi mandal, Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh - WASSAN has taken the responsibility of anchoring the Parigi CLRC in Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh.

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More Rice with Less Water- Rice is the main source of directly consumed calories for about half the world’s population and 90 per cent of it is produced and consumed in Asia. Contrary to popular belief, rice is not an aquatic plant and the main reason it is submerged in water is for controlling weeds. Conventional method of rice cultivation uses 60-70 kilos of seeds per hectare, SRI requires just five kilos per hectare. This report was released at a conference held 3rd-5th October 2007 in Tripura.

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Towards a Learning Alliance: SRI in Orissa  
Dr. C. Shambu, Koen Beurner and Debasis Mohanty

Continuing Reading ...

State level Dialogue on SRI in  Orissa

For the past couple of years, Civil Society Organisations (CSO) such as Sambhav and PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action) started promoting  SRI.... This report documents, the proceedings of the dialogue among 80 participants from agriculture department, research organisations, civil society organisations and farmers seeking to form a 'learning alliance' on SRI in the state of Orissa'.

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System of Rice Intensification in India - Innovation History and Institutional Challenges.
Dr. C. Shambu Prasad has made the introduction of SRI into India a subject for systematic investigation early on in that process. He recognized the potentially profound impact that SRI could have on Indian agriculture and on the people who participate in it as producers and/or consumers. He was interested in what implications this process might have for gaining a better understanding of technological change in agriculture and of the interplay between science and technology in these processes.

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Envisioning 'Post Modern Agriculture ''...
The agricultural techniques and patterns of investment that were developed and practiced in the latter half of the 20th century -- widely known as ‘modern agriculture’ -- culminated in what is called the Green Revolution, a subject of both extravagant praise and persistent controversy. Will it be wise to extend and even intensify this mode of agricultural development in the coming decades? This is a big question...."  - Dr. Norman Uphoff

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