System of Rice Intensification

Recently I received a phone call from Oxfam America which is a charity that I am a regular donor to. My credit card had expired and they wanted to update my information. The young woman that called seemed somewhat determined to spend a few minutes to let my know about one of the programs they have been working on in Cambodia. The program is called System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and apparently was a tremendous help for poor rural farmers. I had never heard of it before so I thought I should spend sometime researching SRI and how Oxfam was implementing the program.

At first glance, SRI seems to too good to be true. The idea that a farmer could see a gain in production from 50 to 100% by using less resources does not seem feasible. In fact, the promise of higher yields has been a major stumbling block towards adoption of the SRI methodology being taken seriously. Instead of using science to genetically modify seeds and the way the plants grow, scientists studied and observed the way rice is grown and found that many of the traditional methods currently used are not very efficient. For example, the SRI methodology uses much less water. Traditionally, rice fields are flooded as it was thought that the roots of the rice plants needed to be underwater all the time in order to grow properly. SRI suggests that the soil be moist but not saturated which allows more oxygen to get to the roots of the rice plants. Another difference is to use less seed (up to 100kg per hectare less) and spacing the seedlings out as opposed to bunching them together. By spacing having more space between each seedling, the plants have more room to grow stronger root systems. Of course, there are some things which are harder using the SRI methods, the main one being dealing with weeds which have an easier time growing since the fields are not constantly flooded. There are also very precise instructions on how to grow and plant the seedlings so that they can reach their full potential.

Through my readings about SRI, I found that even these very poor third world farmers could practice a sustainable form of agriculture. No special equipment is needed - no artificial fertilizers, pesticides or special seeds. But because of the larger yields, SRI is economically profitable for the farmers. It's also environmentally friendly in the sense that less water resources are being (many farms only using rain water) used and no chemicals are being introduced on the fields. Finally, I read a number of stories about how excited the farmers were about farming and sharing their techniques with their neighbors. The SRI method requires each farmer to be smarter about the way they farm the land encourages farmers to experiment themselves, to get a better understanding of why these new methods work and to adapt them to their particular location. This is important as different regions are going to have different requirements based on what the soil conditions are like and how much water is available. By sharing their experiences with one another, they can fine tune SRI to their particular location. Their stories are uplifting, and I really admire the way organizations like Oxfam can help these farmers help themselves in creating a sustainable, economically profitable way of life.