More rice with less water

Abstract

The 'system of rice intensification', known as SRI, has already helped several thousand farmers in Madagascar to at least double their yields. With good management of plants, soil, water and nutrients, this system has increased yields even more - to 6, 8, even 10 tons per hectare or more. The combination of plant, soil, water and nutrient management in SRI can promote substantially greater root growth, increase tillering, lead to greater grain filling, and often higher grain weight. Yields with SRI have been typically around eight t/ha in Madagascar, where the national average is two t/ha. Research station or farmer-field trials are being conducted by research institutions, NGOs and/or farmers in China, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Cuba. In all cases where there was good water control, rice yields increased at least 50 per cent but often by several fold.