NGOs: Technique Boosts Rice Production with Less Water

(Oxfam America)

International relief and development organizations Oxfam America, Worldwide Fund for Nature, and Africare reported an improved method of rice farming known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) that the groups say has the potential to dramatically improve the lives of millions of poor people around the world.

The report released Wednesday is based on the experiences of the three non-government organizations (NGOs) with farming communities in Vietnam, India, and Mali. The findings show SRI increases yields by 50 percent or more using 25-50 percent less water and almost 25 percent lower costs. which translated into significant income improvements. In Vietnam, farmers introduced to SRI saw their income increased by about 50 percent, while in Mali farmers almost doubled their income.

The NGOs say implementing SRI is simple, and can be spread from farmer to farmer to achieve rapid impact with only modest initial investments. Farmers transplant younger single seedlings into un-flooded soils and space them in a square pattern wider than in traditional practices. Soils are kept moist rather than continuously flooded.  The plants then develop with higher grain yield and more resistance to climate extremes, pests and diseases.

Farmers, who in the three countries are often women, require less time for transplanting seedlings and can harvest their crop one to two weeks sooner. This faster process allows additional time to diversify production with higher value fruits and vegetables or livestock to further enhance their diets and incomes.

The benefits of SRI, according to the NGOs, have been documented in 42 countries, where more than one million farmers are using some or all of the recommended SRI practices. The SRI principles are also being applied successfully to other crops such as sugar cane, teff (an alternative cereal grain), and wheat.