Presented by: Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD, Cornell University, USA Presented at: 12th European Rice Millers Convention. Venice Presented on: September 18, 2009

1. Increasing Both Quantity and
Quality of Rice Production
with Reduced Inputs:
The System of Rice Intensification
12th
European Rice Millers Convention
Venice – September 18, 2009
Norman Uphoff
Cornell University

2. What is SRI?
Basically, SRI is a set of concepts/
principles/insights/practices that
introduce changes in the management of
plants, soil, water & nutrients to:
(a) produce larger, more effective
ROOT SYSTEMS, and
(b) enrich the LIFE IN THE SOIL
to achieve more productive,healthier
PHENOTYPES from any GENOTYPE

3. CUBA: rice plants of
same variety (VN 2084)
and same age (52 DAP)

4. CAMBODIA: Farmer in
Takeo Province: yield of
6.72 tons/ha > 2-3 t/ha

5. NEPAL:
Single rice
plant grown
with SRI
methods,
Morang
district

6. MALI: Farmer in the
Timbuktu region showing
the difference between
a ‘normal’ rice and
an SRI rice plant
2007: 1st year trials -
SRI yield 8.98 t/ha,
control yield 6.7 t/ha
(best mgmt practices)
2008: trials expanded
with 5 farmers in 12
villages doing on-farm
comparison trials (N=60)

7. SRI Control
Farmer
Practice
Yield t/ha* 9.1 5.49 4.86
Standard Error (SE) 0.24 0.27 0.18
SRI compared to
Control (%)
+ 66 100 -11
SRI compared to
Farmer Practice (%)
+ 87 + 13 100
Number of Farmers 53 53 60
• * adjusted to 14% grain moisture content
Rice grain yield for SRI plots, control plots,
and farmer-practice plots,
Goundam circle, Timbuktu region, 2008

8. Indonesia:
Rice plants
same variety
and same age
in Lombok
Province

9. Indonesia: Results of on-farm
comparative evaluations of SRI
by Nippon Koei team, 2002-06
• No. of trials: 12,133 (over 9 seasons)
• Total area covered: 9,429.1 hectares
• Ave. increase in yield: 3.3 t/ha (78%)
• Reduction in water requirements: 40%
• Reduction in fertilizer use: 50%
• Reduction in costs of production: 20%
(Sato and Uphoff, CAB Review, 2007)

10. AFGHANISTAN: SRI field in Baghlan Province, supported by
Aga Khan Foundation Natural Resource Management program

11. SRI field in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan at 30 days

12. SRI rice plant @
72 days after
transplanting –
133 tillers
Yield was
calculated at
11.56 tons/ha

13. IRAQ: Comparison trials at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station, Najaf

14. SRI originated in Madagascar
Initially called le Systéme
de Riziculture Intensive
(in Latin America, SICA)
by Henri de Laulanié, SJ,
who, by 1984, assembled
SRI’s counterintuitive
practices after 2 decades
of working with small,
poor farmers to improve
their production and
incomes, without requiring
any dependence on inputs

15. Fr. de Laulanié
making field visit
shortly before his
death in 1995

16. MADAGASCAR: Rice field grown with SRI methods

17. Rice sector needs in 21st
century
(IRRI/DG, Intl. Year of Rice, 2004)
• Increased land productivity-- higher yield
• Higher water productivity -- crop per drop
• Technology that is accessible for the poor
• Technology that is environmentally friendly
• Greater resistance to pests and diseases
• Tolerance of abiotic stresses (climate change)
• Better grain quality for consumers, and
• Greater profitability for farmers

18. SRI practices can meet all these needs:
• Higher yields by 50-100%, or more
• Water reduction of 25-50% (also rainfed)
• Little need for capital expenditure
• Little or no need for agrochemical inputs
• Pest and disease resistance is induced
• Drought tolerance; no lodging
• Better grain quality, and
• Lower costs of production by 10-20% →
giving farmers higher income

19. Additional benefits of SRI practice:
• Time to maturity reduced by 1-2 weeks
• Milling outturn is higher by about 15%
• Other crops’ performance is also being
improved by SRI concepts and practices,
e.g., wheat, sugar cane, millet, teff, others
• Human resource development for farmers
through participatory approach
• Diversification and modernization of
smallholder agriculture; can adapt to larger-
scale production through mechanization

20. Requirements/constraints for SRI:
For best results, need:
•Water control to apply small amounts
reliably; rainfed SRI now being developed
•More labor initially during learning phase;
but SRI can become labor-saving; also, SRI
practices can become mechanized
•Skill and motivation of farmers is key!
•Crop protection in some situations ?
SRI is matter of degree more than kind -- its
methods are applied in wide range of agroecologies

21. SRI is Ideas/Insights, not Technology
1. Use young seedlings to preserve growth potential
-- however, direct seeding is becoming an option
2. Avoid trauma to the roots --transplant quickly,
carefully, shallow; no inversion of root tips upward
3. Give plants wider spacing – one plant per hill,
square pattern for better root/canopy growth
4. Soil is kept moist but unflooded – mostly
aerobic, not continuously saturated (hypoxic)
5. Actively aerate the soil as much as possible
6. Enhance soil organic matter as much as possible
Practices 1-3 support more PLANT growth; practices 4-6
enhance the growth and health of ROOTS and soil
BIOTA

22. Two Paradigms for Agriculture:
• GREEN REVOLUTION strategy was to:
(a) Change the genetic potential of plants, and
(b) Increase the use of external inputs --
more water, more fertilizer and biocides
• SRI (AGROECOLOGY) changes instead the
management of plants, soil, water & nutrients:
(a) Promote the growth of root systems, and
(b) Increase the abundance and diversity of
soil organisms to better enlist their benefits
The goal is to produce better PHENOTYPES

23. SRI
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
IH H FH MR WR YRStage
Organdryweight(g/hill)
CK
I H H FH MR WR YR
Yellow
leaf and
sheath
Panicle
Leaf
Sheath
Stem
47.9% 34.7%
“Non-Flooding Rice Farming Technology in Irrigated Paddy Field”
Dr. Tao Longxing, China National Rice Research Institute, 2004

24. China National Rice Research Institute
(CNRRI): factorial trials, 2004 & 2005
using two super-hybrid varieties --
seeking to break ‘plateau’ limiting yields
Standard Rice Mgmt
• 30-day seedlings
• 20x20 cm spacing
• Continuous flooding
• Fertilization:
– 100% chemical
New Rice Mgmt (~SRI)
• 20-day seedlings
• 30x30 cm spacing
• Alternate wetting
and drying (AWD)
• Fertilization:
– 50% chemical,
– 50% organic

25. Average super-rice YIELD (kg/ha) with new rice
management (SRI) vs.standard rice management
at different PLANT DENSITIES ha-1
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
150,000 180,000 210,000
NRM
SRM

26. 0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
0 100 200
N uptake (kg/ha)
Grainyield(kg/ha)
Grain yield SRI
(kg/ha)
Grainyield Conv
(kg/ha)
Poly.:Grain yield
SRI (kg/ha)
Poly.: Grain yield
Conv. (kg/ha)
Rice grain yield response to N
uptake
Regression relationship between N uptake and grain
yield for SRI and conventional methods using
QUEFTS model (Barison, 2002) – same for P and K

27. SRI LANKA: Rice paddies,with same soil, same variety,
same irrigation system and same drought, three weeks
after water was stopped: conventional (left), SRI (right)

28. Journal of Sichuan Agricultural Science and Technology
(2009), Vol. 2, No. 23
“Introduction of Land-Cover Integrated Technologies with Water
Saving and High Yield” -- Lv S.H., Zeng X.Z., Ren G.H., Zhang F.S.
Yield increase in normal year is 150-200 kg/mu (2.25-3.0 t/ha);
while in drought year, increase is 200 kg/mu or more (≥3.0 t/ha)
• In a normal year, net income with the new methods can be
increased from 100 ¥/mu to 600-800 ¥/mu, i.e., from $220/ha
to >$1,500/ha, while
• In drought year with the new methods, net income can go from
a loss of 200-300 ¥/mu to a profit of 300-500 ¥/mu, i.e., from a
loss of $550/ha to a profit of $880/ha

29. VIETNAM: Farmer in Dông Trù village – after typhoon

30. Reduction in Diseases and Pests
Vietnam National IPM Program evaluation
based on data from 8 provinces, 2005-06
Spring season Summer season
SRI
Plots
Farmer
Plots
Differ-
ence
SRI
Plots
Farmer
Plots
Differ-
ence
Sheath
blight
6.7% 18.1% 63.0% 5.2% 19.8% 73.7%
Leaf blight
-- -- -- 8.6% 36.3% 76.5%
Small leaf
folder *
63.4 107.7 41.1% 61.8 122.3 49.5%
Brown
plant
hopper *
542 1,440 62.4% 545 3,214 83.0%
AVERAGE 55.5% 70.7%
* Insects/m2

31. PeriodPeriod Mean max.Mean max.
temp.temp. 00
CC
Mean min.Mean min.
temp.temp. 00
CC
No. ofNo. of
sunshine hrssunshine hrs
1 – 151 – 15 NovNov 27.727.7 19.219.2 4.94.9
16–3016–30 NovNov 29.629.6 17.917.9 7.57.5
1 – 15 Dec1 – 15 Dec 29.129.1 14.614.6 8.68.6
16–31 Dec16–31 Dec 28.128.1 12.212.2** 8.68.6
Meteorological and yield data from ANGRAU
IPM evaluation, Andhra Pradesh, India, 2006
SeasonSeason Normal (t/ha)Normal (t/ha) SRI (t/ha)SRI (t/ha)
Rabi 2005-06Rabi 2005-06 2.252.25 3.473.47
Kharif 2006Kharif 2006 0.21*0.21* 4.164.16
* Low yield was due to cold injury (see above)
*Sudden drop in min. temp. during 16–21 Dec.: 9.2-9.8o
C for 5 days

32. Measured Differences in Grain Quality
Conv. Methods SRI Methods
Characteristic (3 spacings) (3 spacings) Difference
Chalky kernels
(%)
39.89 – 41.07 23.62 – 32.47 -30.7%
General
chalkiness (%)
6.74 – 7.17 1.02 – 4.04 -65.7%
Milled rice
outturn (%)
41.54 – 51.46 53.58 – 54.41 +16.1%
Head milled
rice (%)
38.87 – 39.99 41.81 – 50.84 +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

33. Welcome to the world of Tilda
PROMOTION OF SRI
WITH BASMATI
RICE IN HARYANA
Powerpoint for 3rd
National SRI Symposium, Coimbatore, India, 12/08

34. SRI: Increased farm
yield
• Higher tillering
• More filled grains
per panicle
• Better grain
weight

35. SRI: Improved Basmati
Quality
• Improved head rice recovery
• Reducing chalkiness
• Less green grains
• Fewer damaged &
discolored grains
• Reduced immature grains
• Better shining

36. Haryana farmers’ views
• Bit complicatedBit complicated
• Not cheapNot cheap
• Labor-intensiveLabor-intensive
• Requires continuous attentionRequires continuous attention
• Need strong extension & trainingNeed strong extension & training
SRI has tremendous potential for small farmersSRI has tremendous potential for small farmers
Constraints on SRI

37. System of Rice Intensification
(SRI)
1 KM Defence Road,
Bhobatian Chowk,
Raiwind Road, Lahore
Tel: +92 (042) 532 2205
Fax: +92 (042) 532 1509
info@farmalltechnology.com
www.farmalltechnology.com
Solutions Provider in Farm Sector

38. Raised Bed Maker with
Fertilizer & Compost Applicator
Does 5 jobs in one go:
• Opens furrows
• Makes raised bed
• Shapes/compacts bed
• Applies fertilizer in the
root zone
• Applies compost in a
band where the plant is
going to be
transplanted
Recommended dose of compost is 4 tons per acre.
However, with this machine doing precision placement
in a band, compost application can be only 200-400 kg.

39. Precision Weeder in Operation
without a Tractor Operator

40. Crop condition 62 days after transplanting --
average no. of tillers per plant exceeds 90
VID00034-20090823-1733.3GP

41. METHANE
EMISSIONS
Research on greenhouse
gases (GHG) at Institut
Pertanian Bogor (IPB)

42. N2O
EMISSIONS
Research on greenhouse
gases (GHG) at Institut
Pertanian Bogor (IPB)

43. Yan, X., H. Akiyama, K. Yagi and H. Akomoto. ‘Global
estimations of the inventory and mitigation potential
of methane emissions from rice cultivation conducted
using the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change Guidelines.’ Global Biochemical Cycles, (2009)
“We estimated that if all of the continuously flooded rice fields were
drained at least once during the growing season, the CH4 emissions
would be reduced by 4.1 Tg a-1 . Furthermore, we estimated that applying
rice straw off-season wherever and whenever possible would result in a
further reduction in emissions of 4.1 Tg a-1 globally. … if both of these
mitigation options were adopted, the global CH4 emission from rice
paddies could be reduced by 7.6 Tg a-1. Although draining continuously
flooded rice fields may lead to an increase in nitrous oxide (N2O)
emission, the global warming potential resulting from this increase is
negligible when compared to the reduction in global warming potential
that would result from the CH4 reduction associated with draining
the fields.”

44. Status of SRI: As of 1999
Known and practiced only in Madagascar

45. Spread of SRI demonstrations and use in 10 years
Up to 1999 Madagascar
1999-2000 China, Indonesia
2000-01 Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Cuba, India, Laos, Nepal, Myanmar,
Philippines, Gambia, Sierra Leone,
Sri Lanka, Thailand
2002-03 Benin, Guinea, Mozambique,
Peru
2004-05 Senegal, Mali, Pakistan,
Vietnam
2006 Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq,
Zambia
2007 Afghanistan
2008 Brazil, Egypt, Rwanda, Ecuador,
Costa Rica, Timor Leste
2009 Ghana . . .

46. THANK YOU
• Web page:
http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/
• Email: ciifad@cornell.edu or
ntu1@cornell.edu