Application of the principles and practices of SRI

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National Workshop on Food Security in
Ethiopia Opportunities Created by the System
of Rice Intensification Imperial Hotel,
Addis Ababa July 27, 2008 Application of the
principles and practices of the System of Rice
Intensification (SRI) to other crops in
Ethiopia Prof. Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD Cornell
University ______________________________________
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SRI is NOT A TECHNOLOGYRather it is a set of
insights,principles and practices

• SRI concepts and methods are being adapted to
  rainfed/upland/unirrigated rice
• They are also being adapted in India to other
  crops by farmers and by NGOs to
• Wheat
• Sugar cane
• Finger millet
• Mustard, etc.

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Ethiopians produce many crops, especially rainfed
crops little irrigation

• What can be learned from the SRI experience for
  agriculture in general?
• Reduce reliance on engineering and chemical
  solutions, and rediscover biology
• What is required is a willingness and ability to
  think outside of mental boxes
• In Cambodia, farmers have even applied SRI
  concepts to CHICKENS!

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Mrs. Im Sarim in Takeo Province, Cambodia
Her village has started doing Chicken SRI
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Farmers in this village have learned how valuable
it is to apply compost to their rice fields, so
they all have compost piles near their houses

• Some farmer got the idea of putting a bamboo
  fence around their compost piles, and of putting
  their free-ranging chickens inside.
• This way the chickens eat worms and insects in
  the compost, and leave their manure in it
• During the hot summer, when chickens suffer and
  even die from thirst, they are kept well watered
  within the compost pens
• No chickens are lost to thieves or to dogs
• So, farmers say they get more meat and more eggs
  from fewer chickens this is like SRI!

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Winter wheat field in Poland planted with SRI
concepts single seedlings, widely spaced, with
organic matter on soil
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Experiments in Himachal Pradesh state ofIndia by
Peoples Science Institute, 2007

• SYSTEM OF WHEAT INTENSIFICATION
• No change in management as large as moving from
  anaerobic to aerobic soil conditions as occurs
  with SRI.
• Using two different varieties of wheat, use of
  wider spacing and other SRI-inspired practices
  more soil organic matter and soil aeration --
  together with direct seeding at fixed spacing
  produced 28 to 40 more grain yield and 18
  more straw yield
• Compared to the control results using standard
  broadcasting methods of crop establishment

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Comparison of results for SWI and conventional
method of HD-2329 wheat variety at Dehradun
Particulars SWI SWI SWI SWI Conventional Conventional
Plant spacing (cm) 20 x 20 15 x 15 10 x 10 15 x 15 Broadcasting Broadcasting
Average no. of tillers (range) 16 (8-23) 20 (8-36) 20 (8-32) 23 (9-39) 5 (2-9) 5 (2-9)
Average plant height (cm) 90 92 84 84 71 71
Average no. of panicles per plant 16 15 15 15 4 4
Average panicle length (cm) 12 10 11 10 7 6
Average no. of grains/panicle 66 49 53 49 38 37
Grain yield (tons/ha) 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.3 1.8 1.6
Straw yield (tons/ha) 7.4 8.5 7.4 8.0 7.2 6.4
SWI yield with this variety was obtained with
spacing 15 cm x 15 cm row-to-row and 15 cm x 15
cm plant-to-plant
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Comparison of results for SWI and conventional
method of PBW-396 wheat variety at Dehradun
Particulars SWI SWI SWI SWI Conventional Conventional
Row-to-row spacing (cm) 20 x 20 15 x 15 10 x 10 15 x 15 Broadcasting Broadcasting
Average no. of tillers (range) 17 (10-27) 15 (7-22) 17 (7-36) 11 (6-16) 4 (2-8) 5 (2-9)
Average plant height (cm) 84 80 80 80 74 71
Average no. of panicles per plant 12 10 10 14 5 4
Average panicle length (cm) 14 12 11 11 7 76
Average no. of grains/panicle 51 67 56 55 36 28
Grain yield (tons/ha) 2.5 2.3 2.1 2.2 1.5 1.4
Straw yield (tons/ha) 7.8 7.4 7.2 7.6 6.6 6.4
Highest SWI yields with this variety were
obtained at spacing 20 cm x 20 cm row-to-row
and 20 cm x 20 cm plant-to-plant
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This year, PSI reports that it is experimenting
with SRI practices for

• Maize
• Soyabean
• Rajamah
• Lobia
• Manduva (a course grain)
• Very important for Ethiopia will be millet (ragi
  and bajra) and also sorghum

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Sugarcane Renewed Intensification (SRI) in
Andhra Pradesh State of India
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Farmer methodology in AP

• Take 4-inch set (instead 12-inch set)
• Put in plastic bag with compost, and keep warm
  and moist for 45 days
• Transplant sets into rows 5-6 feet apart
  (instead of 3 feet), plants 1 foot apart (instead
  of 4 inches) reducing planting material from 4
  tons to 600 kg
• Put mulch between rows to conserve soil
  moisture, control weeds, and promote soil
  biological activity

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Results from Sugar Cane SRI

• Yield of 100 tons instead of 30 tons
• Farmer expected 120 tons next year (now that I
  know what I am doing) however, he only got 110
  ton yield
• Saved cost of 3 irrigations from reduced water
  requirements
• Saved cost of 1 herbicide application
• Lower cost of production magnified his increase
  in income from the higher yield

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Finger Millet has shown good results with SRI
concepts

• Farmer-devised system (Guli Ragi) in Karnataka
  state assisted by The Green Foundation in
  Bangalore independently developed, but farmers
  and NGO see the similarities with SRI
• Staff of Indian NGO PRADAN working with farmers
  in eastern India have extended SRI ideas to
  finger millet (ragi)

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Korudu Farmer-devised leveler to bend over
young millet plants
Yedekunte farmer implement for
intercultivation, aerating the soil
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Cotton seeds planted in cups 1 cup of hybrid seed
1 acre At 10 days, bottom of the cup is
removed, and seedlings are planted at 2 ft x 4
ft spacing Yield is 20 more less
weed competition reduced water need lower cost
of production
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• SRI strategy proposes thatLESS CAN PRODUCE
  MORE
• This is counter-intuitive within a world of
  closed systems and zero-sum thinking
• We need to understand that biology can make for
  expanding systems, or dying ones
• In particular, we need to understand soil
  systems as living super-organisms
• How can we make these insights work for the
  improvement of Ethiopian agriculture?