1. State Level Symposium
On
SRI (System of Rice Intensification)
Organized by: RGVN (Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi)
Sponsored by: SDTT (Sir Dorabji Tata Trust), Mumbai
Venue: IIBM, Khanapara, Gu wahati
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Date: 19 February, 2009
A REPORT
BACKGROUND
A State Level Sy mp osium on SRI (Sy stem of Rice Intensification) was organized by
RGVN and sp onsored by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, M umbai at Indian Institute of Bank
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Management, Guwahati on February 19 , 2009. A total of forty organizations from
different p arts of Assam p articip ated in the S mp osium. This was in connection with the
y
one y ear p ilot project sp onsored by SDTT, Mumbai and imp lemented by RGVN alon g
with its 20 p artner organizations. The objective of the p roject was to render technical
supp ort and demonstration to the small and marginal farmers about SRI and thereby to
attain the sustainable livelihood. The main objective of the project was:
• To increase the food grain p roduction of the state,
• Adoption of SRI by at least 1000 farmers of Assam,
• Creation of a talent p ool of 10 master trainers all over Assam.
• Influence state agricultural policy for p romoting the extension of the SRI
technique.
ISS UES
RGVN has organized the state wise symp osium to discuss some issues that have crop p ed
up during imp lementation. The aim was to share the learnin gs amon g the p artners and
strategise for the future ensuring the stakeholdin g of all p lay ers. The main issues are as
follows-
• In sp ite of encouragin g result of the pilot p roject in terms of boosting p roduction
to 2-3 times, most farmers thinks that, cultivation under SRI in Sali (winter
paddy ) is difficult, because it is not an easy task to manage water in the regions
like Assam where heavy rainfall occurs and more than half of the total cultivable
areas are flood prone.
• Providing irrigation facilities to the SRI farmers is going to be a p oint of concern
as with this facilities farmers will be ab le to go for SRI cultivation in boro
(summer) and ahu (autumn) season. All the stake holders includin g state
govern ment need to think on it to make these facilities easily accessible to the
farmers.

2. • Most of the farmers now understand the imp ortance of bio fertilizer, bio
pesticides and organic cultivation. But, these things are not available to the
farmers. There is a n eed to p romote reliable source of b io fertilizer, b io p esticides,
organ ic manures, vermin-compost for the use of farmers adopting SRI.
• Farmers need some incentives in terms of seeds, fertilizers, good quality weeders,
Manual Sp ray er for effective control of p est and diseases in time.
INAUGURAL S ESS ION
At the very beginnin g of the sy mp osium Ms. Aneeta Dutta of RGVN lit the inaugural
lamp and Dr. Amiy a Kr Sharma, Executive Director; RGVN gav e the welcome address.
In his inaugural sp eech Dr. Sharma referred to Vision 2020 and said that India needs to
be to be a develop ed country by 2020. India can grow at 9% rate, Assam needs to keep up
with the national growth rate. Assam is growin g at 4% growth rate whereas the need is to
grow at 14% to keep up p ace. In the economy of Assam, weightage of agriculture in
growth rate is 40% and 29% rice consump tion comes from outside. Assam has to
increase p roduction by adop ting SRI in an extensive manner and mission mode. The
imp ortance of SRI is the of gainin g more p rofit by incurring less external inp ut in terms
of seeds, fertilizer, water etc.
The first session of the day started with Chairp erson Dr. Jay anta M adhab inaugurating the
session with a few words on the resp onsibility of p artner organizations to change the
standard of living of the small and marginal farmin g commun ity of the state.
A traditional welcome was accorded to Dr. Jay anta M adhab, Shri Biswanath Sinha, Sr.
Program Officer, SDTT, M umbai, Dr. B. C. Barah, Principal Scientist, NCAP (ICAR),
New Delhi, Shri Baharul Islam Mazumdar, Sr. Agronomist, SARS, Trip ura with
Assamese Gamocha and bouquet. All the p articipants introduced themselves b efore
beginning of the technical discussion.
AGRICULTURE MINIS TER’S ADDRESS
Agricu lture Minister Honorable Smt Pramilaran i Brah ma jo ined the session, after
felicitation and she addressed the gatherin g. She said that dep artment of agriculture, govt.
of Assam has undertaken SRI as d emonstration in 13 districts of Assam and the results
are encouragin g. She exp ressed keenness in p romoting SRI all ov er Assam and thereby
imp roving the livin g standard of the farmers of Assam. She also mentioned that she is
very happy to learn about the p ilot p roject on SRI done by RGVN in 21 districts of
Assam. She su ggested that government alone cannot do any thing. Rather, the govt. and
non-govt. agencies all have to join h ands for the betterment of the common p eop le.
Executive Director of RGVN had a short presentation of activities of RGVN and SRI
pilot p roject. He stressed on the encouragin g outcome of the p ilot project and p otentiality
of SRI in the north eastern states esp ecially in Assam. He again urged the partner
organ izations to take SRI in a mission mode to make the state self sufficient in food
grains production.

3. Shri Biswanath Sinha, Senior Pro gram Officer, SDTT p resented National Scen ario on
SRI and the SDTT’s initiative to p romote SRI all over India. He said that SDTT is
working towards p romotion of SRI to achieve food security at household level and in
areas where there are more small and marginal farmers. He highlighted on the major
issues and challen ges and said that in 2008 major play ers on SRI hav e set a target of 5
million hectares under SRI. He insisted on decentralized mechanism for cross learnin g
and an alliance of agencies on SRI. He also mentioned that SDTT is working on the id ea
of setting up a n ational SRI secretariat for takin g up all issues in more comp rehensive
manner.
Shri B aharul Islam Mazumdar, Sr. Agronomist, dep tt of agriculture, govt. of Trip ura
presented the SRI success story of Trip ura. He highlighted on role of government and
Panchayati Raj Institutions for large scale adop tion of SRI in Tripura. He said that, SRI
was adop ted first in 2002-2003 with 44 farmers and cov erin g on ly 8.8 hectares and today
it has crossed 2,50,000 numbers of farmers covering 50,000 hectares. He mentioned that
imp ortance of SRI is for future food and water crisis and adoption in a large scale to
mitigate the shortage in food grain availability.
Dr. Pradip Kumar Bora of Assam Agricu ltural University, Jorhat talked on the basic
princip les of SRI and SRI sy nergy for better productivity of rice.
RGVN p artner organizations namely, Shri Sarat Das (Grameen Sah ara, Kamrup), Shri
Muktaram Nath (farmer, Sipajhar), shared some exp eriences of Sali paddy and the
problems encountered and suggested way s to overcome those problems. Shri Aswini
Bhattacharjy a (PRADAN) who has cultivated 90 bighas said that he was able to work
with the govt dep artments and was able to mak e all the p lay ers come together.He said
that initially in the BTAD area it had been difficult to convince the farmers about SRI.
POS T LUNCH S ESSION
In the after-lunch session, in absence of Director, Agriculture, Mr. C. Hazarika, Joint
Director, Agricu lture, was p resent and he talked on State govern ment’s initiative in
promoting SRI in Assam. He mentioned that state govt. is p romoting SRI in some
selected districts and different stake holders of SRI can be includ ed as funds have b een
allotted under training and exp osure visit under the dep artment of agriculture. He said
that the Government alone cannot do anything, all that who are related in the rural
development venture should join hands to up scale SRI in the state.
Shri Bhaskar Jyoti M ahanta, convener, NECR informed that they are p romoting SRI in
Dergaon and Golaghat area in collaboration with dep artment of agriculture, govt of
Assam. A farmers’ exp osure trip to Trip ura had also b een sp onsored by NEDFi and
organ ized by NECR and RGVN, he said.

4. Panel Discussion
How to scale up SRI in the Assam and build synergy among all the
stakeholders of Government, Financial institutions, Donors, Universities,
NGOs, CBOs and Farmers’ bodies.
There was a panel d iscussion on “how to scale up SRI in Assam and build sy nergy
amon g all the stake holders of gov ernment, finan cial institutions, donors, universities,
NGOs, CBOs and farmers’ bodies. The discussion was moderated by Biswanath Sinh a of
SDTT Other p anelists were Dr. B. C. Barah, NCAP (ICAR), Dr. Amiy a Kr Sharma, ED,
RGVN, Dr. D. N. Dutta, NEDFi, Prof. M adhurjy a Bezbarua, Agro Econo mist, Guwahati
University , Baharul Islam Mazumdar, Sr Agronomist, SARS, Trip ura, Ravindran ath,
Director, RVC, Dr R K Thakuria, KVK, Nalb ari, Mr. C. Hazarika, JD Agriculture, Dr.
Nazrul Kazi, rep resentative from Sadou A xom Pathar Parichalana Samity and Dr. Jay anta
Madhab. The panel discussion emphasized on formation of state level committee to
formulate a strategy for SRI p romotion in Assam.
Chairp erson RGVN Dr Jay anta M adhab said that there was the p roblem of findin g
suitable markets if the p roduction increases, also the humidity factor in Assam had to be
considered so that SRI p roduction is not affected.
Shri BC Borah was of the op inion that the p roduction level in Assam is low and therefore
such p roduction techniques would help boost p roduction. The sustainability of SRI in the
long run should be considered. He spoke about the exp erien ces of states such as Tamil
Nadu and the role of Basix in Bihar in the promotion of SRI. Govt p rogrammes such as
NREGA and the Food Security M ission should tie up with SRI p roduction.
Dr Nazrul Kazi of the Sadou A xom Pathar Parich alan a Samity said that this technique
could be easily adop ted by farmers and agricu lture dep artment should also render h elp .
Mr. C. Hazarika, JD Agriculture informed that the demonstration and train in g fund could
be used for train in g of farmers in SRI. He said that a trainer could b e trained in every
village for SRI. The A gricu lture Dep artment could make p lans for this. Dr R K Thakuria,
KVK, Nalbari said that the village lev el gram sevak could b e trained in this regard. In
Nalbari district, the Krishi Vigy an Kendra is aware of SRI and VLEWs have b een
help ing farmers. Other districts should also take this up . Shri Keshab Saikia, Executive
Engineer (Agri), stressed up on the imp ortance of mechanization and said the govt is
already supp lying p ower tillers and tractors at a subsidized rate. These can also be
supp lied in SRI areas.
Shri Ravindranath from RVC said that it was imp ortant to take the learnings from the
field to the SRI p rogramme. Indigenous techniques should be documented. He also said
that aromatic flavours had much more demand for the exp ort markets and hence, it was

5. also important that such seeds should be used. Technology should be used to combat the
humidity factor. An organisation such as RVC could take up training of VLEWs and also
network with DRDAs and the Agriculture d ep artments in Dhemaji, Lakh imp ur and other
neighbourin g districts. Promotion of SRI though the traditional councils could be done
and this would definitely influences the farmers in the area. He also suggested that
training manuals be mad e availab le in the lo cal lan guage.
Dr DN Dutta, NEDFi stressed up on the imp ortance of sy nergy at all levels and said that
NEDFi is interested in p lay ing an imp ortant role in SRI. An exp osure trip had already
been sp onsored by NEDFi and arranged by RGVN in this regard.
Mr Bezbaruah, agro economist said that it was important to deal with the issue of p ost
harvest p rocurement, storage, mark eting and extension services. Such p roblems had
cropp ed up in Dhubri dist where the yield was much higher.
Shri Bah arul Islam stressed on the imp ortance of formin g a Core Committee for
imp lementation and a State level steering committee to influence p olicy making at the
state level.
At the end of the discussion Shri Biswanath Sinh a summed up the discussions:
• There should be sy nergy between all stakeholders in SRI
• A Committee would be formed for imp lementation of SRI in Assam
• Schemes under the agricu lture dep artment should be accessible to the farmers of
SRI, hence there should be coordination with DRDAs and State Agriculture
dep artments
• Indigenous p ractices which help to boost p roduction should be documented.
• Training manuals should be mad e in the local lan guages
Shri B ezbaruah said that another discussion be held on the formation of the committee
and RGVN should organize this. ED RGVN agreed to this.
Five farmers from different districts of Assam were felicitated and given certificate from
RGVN to encourage them.
The sy mp osium came to an end with vote of thanks by Dr. Anil Kumar Pegu of RGVN.
ANNEXURE 1
Name and address of the participants of state level symposium on S RI
1. Dr. Jay anta M adhab, chair p erson, RGVN.
2. Shri Biswanath Sinha, Senior Pro gram Officer, SDTT, M umbai.
3. Dr. B. C. Barah, NCAP (ICAR), New Delhi.
4. Shri Baharul Islam M azumdar, Sr Agronomist, SARS, Trip ura.
5. Dr. Amiy a Kr Sharma, ED, RGVN,
6. Dr. D N Dutta, NEDFi
7. Aneeta Dutta, Coordinator (Resource Unit), RGVN.

6. 8. Ramani Kanta Sarma,Coordinator ,SRI Unit
9. Dr. Anil Kr. Pegu, Project Executive,RGVN
10. Mr. Nibaran Medak,Project Executive,RGVN-SRI
11. Jaideep Das, Coordinator NER, RGVN.
12. Utp al Ranjan Dutta, Coordinator (HR & Admin), RGVN.
13. Mr. Bhabesh Kalita,RGVN
14. Ms. Gopa Talukdar,PE,RGVN
15. Ms. Indrani Sharma,SPE,RG VN
16. Ms. Priakshi,PE,RGVN
17. Mr. Utpal Jy oti Choudhury ,SPE,RGVN
18. Dhirendra Nath, master trainer, Nalbari. Ph : 94353 10135 (M)
19. Kedar Deb, master trainer, Dashabandhu Club, C achar, Ph : 94013 75158 (M)
20. Swap an Debnath, MDO, Basugaon, Chirang Ph : 98646 36679 (M ), 03661-
295517 (O), Email : mdo_n go.btad@yahoo.com
21. Bapp i Dey Sarkar, LSS, Nagriju li (Baksa), Ph : 98549 90628 (M )
22. Dip ak Kr Sarma, Bardewp ar, Ph : 98644 06401(M )
23. Dhiren Deka, CADAT, Sonitpur, Ph : 94359 19659 (M )
24. Prem Newar, CADAT, Sonitp ur Ph : 98646 29327(M)
25. Dip en Saikia, master trauiner, (RVC) Dhemaji. Ph: 99545 47771 (M ). Email:
saikia.dip en@yahoo.com
26. Sailendra Go goi, farmer, Dhemaji.
27. Dip ankar Bora, master trainer, Golaghat (NEST), Ph: 94352 03057 (M )
28. Kamal Uddin, Chan mari Youth Club, Karimganj, Ph: 94353 75985 (M )
29. Mumai Pheiga, RNBA, Lan gol Tarung, P/O Lamp hel, Imp hal, Ph: 98621 89247
30. Dr. M .G Liangkuwan g, RNBA, Imp hal, Ph: 98562 06236 (M)
31. Aswini Bhattacharjy a, PRADAN, Bangaigaon, Email: aswinib123@y ahoo.com
32. A. Zahir Chaudhury , DREAMS, Nalbari, Ph: 98596 90215 (M )
33. Mainul Haque Chaudhury , DREAM S, Ph: 98543 18589 (M )
34. Biswajit M azumdar, master trainer (G. Sahara), Kamrup , Ph: 98647 94892 (M )
35. Madhav Ch. Das, Farmer, Chay gaon, Kamrup,
36. Tabib Ali, Navap rabhat, Barama, Baksa, Ph: 98644 03623 (M)
37. Robbie Ron gp i, JIROI (NGO), K. Anglong, Ph: 94355 79644 (M )
38. Jy otish Ch Deka, C/O Dist. Agril Officer, Ulub ari, Kamrup , Ph: 2478803
39. Chandra Hazarika, J/Director of Agriculture (Extn), Directorate of agriculture,
Khanapara, Ghy, Ph: 99545 95574 (M)
40. Dr. R K Thakuria, SMS (Agron), KVK, Bariahtoli, P.O. Milanp ur, PIN- 781 337
Ph: 94350 85343 (M )
41. Dwip en Baishy a, PGBK, Nalbari, PIN: 781 335 (M ), Email:
mail2p ancharatna@y ahoo.com
42. Sarat Das, CEO, Grameen Sahara, Cch ay gaon, Kamrup , Ph: 98649 83524 (M ),
Email: grameensah ara@gmail.com
43. Jay anta Deka, Kamalp ur Janapriy a Club, Kamrup , Ph: 98544 48241 (M )
44. Amal Das, Kamalp ur J Club, Ph: 98648 20954 (M )
45. Jy otish Kr Sarma, master trainer, ABITA gkup , Ph: 98643 68708 (M)
46. Dr. P C Acharya, Director, ABITA gkup ,
47. Manuj Barua, Green p ark Society , M origaon Ph: 99540 31906 (M )

7. 48. Kabindra Deka, Farmer Duani M origaon.
49. Saifudd in Ahmed, master trainer, (Discovery Club), Kokrajhar, Ph: 94354 82078
50. Tap an Mahanta, REDA, Nagaon,
51. Ravindranath, Director, RVC, Dhemaji, Email: rvcassam@gmail.com Ph: 94350
89275 (M)
52. Diganta Kr Bordoloi, master trainer, (SATRA), Sip ajhar, Ph: 97076 05607 (M )
53. Mukta ram Nath, Farmer, Sip ajhar, Darran g,
54. Ap al Das, ADO, Govt of Assam, Sidli, Ch irang Ph: 94350 23099 (M)
55. RahimUddin, C YC, Karimganj, Ph: 98643 13953 (M ), Email:
rahimuddin87@gmail.com
56. Putul bora, Survey Beltola, Ph: 99541 52510 (M )
57. Dr. Nazrul kazi, Ex-Secretary , SAPPS, Ph: 98645 65321 (M)
58. Sy ed J. Kazi, Member, SAPPS, Krishak Bhawan, Ulubari, Ghy -7
59. Saty aban Nath, Discovery Club, Kokrajhar
60. Himan gshu Nath, farmer, Kokrajhar, Ph: 99573 98488 (M )
61. Anwar Hussain M azumdar, MACC, hailakandi, Ph: 94351 79308 (M)
62. Soneswar Dewri, master trainer, M origaon, Ph: 98590 72509 (M )
63. Pradip Rajbangshi, Sank ardev M ission, kamrup , Ph: 97070 20817 (M)
64. Keshab Saik ia, Executive En gineer (Agri), khanap ara, Ph: 94351 62368 (M)
65. Bhaskar J. M ahanta, Convener, NECR, Email: mahantassam@ gmail.com Ph:
94357 38533 (M)
66. Manoj Sharma, Dip shikha RDO, Panitema, Kamrup , Ph: 99574 02611 (M )
67. Mahibur Rehman, All Assam Labour Association,
68. Birendra Kr. Pathak, Sr. ADO (Extn), khanapara, Ghy
69. Hareswar Das ADO, Tezp ur
ANNEXURE 2
PROGRAMME SCHEDULE:
First Se ssion:
09.30 A.M. to 10.00 A.M.
Registration of Participants
INAUGURAL SESSION
10.00 A.M.
Welcome Address : Dr. Amiya Kr. Sharma, ED, RGVN
To be presided over by:
Dr. Jayanta Madhab , Chairperson, RGVN
Lighting of the lamp by
Smt. Pramila Rani Brahma,
Hon’ble Agriculture Minister, Govt. of Assam
10.15 A.M.
A Presentation on RGVN’s Experience on SRI in Assam (Based on Winter Paddy Harvest): ED,
RGVN

8. 10.30 A.M.
National Level Scenario in SRI and SDTT’s initiative:
Mr. Biswanath Sinha, Sr. Programme Officer, SDTT, Mumbai
10.45 A.M
SRI success story of Tripura by
Mr. Baharul Islam, Senior Agronomist, SARS, Government Of Tripura
11.00 A.M.
Government initiative in SRI :
Smt. Pramila Rani Brahma, Hon’ble Agriculture Minister, Govt. of Assam
11.15 A.M.
Chairperson’s concluding remarks
11.30 A.M.
Tea Session
Se cond Se ssion:
Chair: Dr. B.C.Barah, NCAP; and Member, National Food Security Mission, New Delhi.
11.45 A.M.
Presentation on Basic Prin ciples of SRI by Pradip Kr. Bora, Scientist (Agriculture Engineering)
Followed by Question –Answer Session for 5 minutes
12.15 P.M
Experience sharin g by RGVN Partners
Rural Volunteers’ Centre (RVC), Dhemaji 12:15 to 12:30
Social Action for Appropriate T ransformation and Advancement in Rural Areas (SAT RA),
Sipajhar, Darrang 12:30 to 12:45
By a project farmer 12:45 to 12:50
Followed by question answer session
1.00 P.M
Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN)’s initiative in SRI in Bodoland
Territorial Autonomous District (BT AD) of Assam by Shri Ashwini Bhattacharya
Followed by Open discussion
Lunch Break
1.30 -2.30 P.M
Third Session:
Chair: Dr. Jayanta Madhab, The Chairman, RGVN.
2.30 P.M.
Assam State Government’s initiative in SRI by

9. Dr. Prasanta Kalita, Director Agriculture, Govt. of Assam
Followed by Question-Answer Session
3.00 P.M : Panel Discussion
How to scale up SRI in the Assam and build synergy among all the stakeholders of Government,
Financial institutions, Donors, Universities, NGOs, CBOs and Farmers’ bodies.
Moderation by Mr. Biswanath Sinha, SDTT , Mumbai
Panelists:
Mr. Chandi Hazarika, Joint Director Agriculture, Govt of Assam
Dr. B.C.Barah, NCAP
Dr. Amiya Sharma, ED,RGVN
Representative, NABARD, Guwahati Autonomous
Dr. D.N.Dutta,Representative, NEDFI
Prof. Madhurya Bezbarua, Economist, The Gauhati University
Mr. Baharul Islam Mazumdar, Senior Agronomist, SARS, Govt of Tripura
Mr. Ravindra Nath, Director, RVC, Assam
Dr.Nazrul Kazi , Representative, All Assam Pathar Parichalana Samity.
Dr. Ramani Thakuria,KVK,Nalbari
Presentation followed by Moderator’s remarks
Open discussion
4.00 P.M
Award distribution ceremony to Progressive farmers of SRI (Winter Paddy)
Ila Gogoi and Sailen Gogoi, Silapathar, Dhemaji
Rashmi Bora Deka and Kavindra Deka, Morigaon
Dimbeswari Nath and Muktaram Nath, Sipajhar, Darrang
Rupali Das and Madhav Das, Chaygaon, Kamrup
Himanshu Nath, Kokrajhar
4.15 P.M.
Vote of Thanks by RGVN