Locally rooted: Ideas and initiatives from the field

By
25 March 2013

More than a recipe to follow, SRI is a set of principles adapted to specific environmental or socio-economic conditions. As “work in progress”, these ideas are the result of trials and experiments carried out at different levels.


Nepal: Farmers Field Schools

The northern Nepalese region of Lalbojhi- Bhajani is very fertile, but water is not always available, limiting farmers’ options. Working to enhance food security, the European Union Food Facility Project decided to look at the potential advantages of SRI, setting up a demonstration plot of 1,500 m2 in May 2010.

This produced twice as much rice as a conventional field, using no fertilizers and with less water. This encouraged the project to start six Farmer Field Schools in different villages in the district.

Twenty-five farmers gathered in each one every week, throughout the season, studying the effects of different weeding practices, the age of the seedlings and the spacing needed. The overall yields, again, were at least twice as high as normal. Thirty new Farmer Field Schools were started in 2011, focusing on those aspects which required extra attention, such as weeding or the use of short-duration rice varieties, better suited for early season planting.

The adoption of SRI has been positive, covering a total of 80 hectares in the early rice season of 2011, and more than 120 hectares in 2012.

For more information, contact Ram Bahadur Khadka, former Programme Co-ordinator of the European Union Food Facility Project.
E-mail: vijayautsarga@gmail.com


Ethiopia: Trying out the System of Tef Intensification

Tef, the main staple food of the Ethiopian diet, is grown on at least 2.8 million hectares in Ethiopia. Yet the national average yield is 1.2 tons/hectare: technologies that improve yields can benefit farmers and the country at large.

Researchers at the DebreZeit Agricultural Research Centre tried to see if yields could improve by changing the planting methods, following the principles of SRI. Farmers traditionally broadcast the very small seeds at a rate of 25-50 kg/ha. In the experiment, tef seedlings were grown for two weeks and then transplanted, with a spacing of 20 cm x 20 cm.

The researchers also tried two different varieties, and two different fertilizer treatments, and compared these approaches to the standard broadcasting method. Yields increased fourfold. The main effect of transplanting was an increase in the number of tillers, but benefits were also seen in the production of stronger tiller culms and an increase in the number of seeds and panicles. Similar experiments are now being tried with farmers.

For more information, contact Tareke Berhe, Tef and Rice Value Chains Director at the Agricultural Transformation Agency.
E-mail: tareke.berhe@ata.gov.et


Dominican Republic: Lower costs, higher incomes

Although rice is the main crop in the Dominican Republic in terms of area, and local production is sufficient to satisfy national demand, production costs are high. Local production is threatened as cheaper foreign rice will get into the country when tariffs disappear as a result of the Free Trade Agreement signed with the United States.

The National Council for Agricultural and Forestry Research has started a project that aims to scale up the results seen in a set of trials carried out by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture with small-scale farmers, in different parts of the country.

One of these took place in the province of Monte Plata, where Fabio Dasa, a farmer, harvested a total of 11.6 tons/hectare. Researchers and extensionists are not only interested in obtaining higher yields, but also in the other benefits seen in Monte Plata. These include rice with more panicles and heavier grains, which mean that farmers get a better price. SRI also reduces farmers’ production costs as, for example, less seed is used.

For more information, contact Manuel Sánchez Hermosillo, IICA representative in the Dominican Republic.
E-mail: manuel.sanchez@iica.int


Pakistan: Machanising SRI production

Even a country with a large population can face agricultural labour shortages. This is one of the main difficulties mentioned by SRI practitioners, yet it is a problem that can be overcome.

FarmMore is a company that specialises in agricultural mechanisation processes; since 2009 it has taken on the challenge of designing, developing and manufacturing machines that can help reduce the labour burden faced by small-scale SRI farmers. Working with research stations and with farmers, FarmMore has been focusing on developing an easier way to level the paddy field (and thereby helping to reduce the amount of water needed), and machinery that distributes compost efficiently, places the seedlings in the soil and weeds the fields.

As elsewhere, SRI trials in the Punjab have shown a reduction in water required of up to 70 per cent, and also shown higher yields. These studies have also shown an additional benefit: only 25 man-hours were needed, instead of 85. These obvious benefits are encouraging farmers to try using these machines with other crops, such as carrots and wheat.

For more information, contact Asif Sharif, at FarmMore, Lahore.
E-mail: aasifsharif@gmail.com