The genesis of an agro-ecological model in Madagascar: The System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Abstract

The genesis of an international agro-ecological watchword, the system of rice intensification (SRI), was studied through the historical context and the actors of its promotion. Through a process of research partnership between a priest, H. de Laulanie , and young farmers, it emerged in Antsirabe (Madagascar) in 1990 and was promoted at a national level in 1995 before an international launching. SRI required eight-day-old seedlings, transplanted sparsely in lines, with intermittent irrigation and several mechanical weedings. Through emphatic rhetoric, the promoters targeted media, NGOs and ministerial authorities, popularizing an interpretation at plant level. SRI's emergence coincided with the launching of a national project supported by the World Bank, in search of innovative and cheap themes. Agricultural research had no data and remained on the sidelines of the validation process, adopting an ambiguous position in a second phase. Facing poor adoption among farmers, the heirs of the inventor and agro-ecology theorists developed another rhetoric based more on organic fertilization, highlighting savings in water and inputs, facilitating the dissemination of the message but trigging an international controversy. Such a genesis reveals a governance shift of development. The current unstable knowledge about SRI and its poor adoption illustrate the need of an early plural debate about any emerging agricultural concepts before the political closing of the debate.