System of Rice Intensification

SRI method of rice cultivation/System of rice cultivation may actively disseminated by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Agriculture Extension Department. SRI method was actively followed by 2006 onwards. Almost all road side plots were converted in to SRI method of cultivation.

1 Important Features
2 Indian Farmers Experience in SRI
3 Integrated Disease Pest Management System in SRI
4 More Rice from Less Seed - A Success Story in Madhya Pradesh
5 More Rice with Less Water - SRI WWF Report
6 More Rice, Less Water, Small State, Big Results -SRI in Tripura
7 Saving Rice in India Down to Earth
8 SRI Method of Paddy Cultivation
9 SRI Weeders Manual
10 Tamil Nadu SRI Perspective
11 SRI Album
12 SRI Videos

Important Features

Season: In Kuruvai and summer season most of the farmers interestingly cultivate in this method. In Samba and Thaladi, they reduce the area due to water stagnation problem.

Mat Nursery: Mat Nursery and raised bed nurseries were made by some farmers. 2.5 to 3 kg seeds sown for on acre. Practically many difficulty to raised this method of nursery preparation. Most of the farmers like for machine planting and tray method of seed sowing.

Young Seedlings: Most of the farmers were advised to plant 14 day old seedlings. But practically 16 to 20 old seedlings are planted.

One Seedlings: Most of the farmers don’t follow practice of planting single seedling. No well training labors to the planting, water logging condition. Psychology of the farmer are the reason for non adoption.

Square Planting: 22.5 X 22.5 cm spacing or 25 X 25 cm spacing was advised for planting. Line planting was followed almost by all farmers. Practically square planting was not followed by everyone.

Cono-weeder operation: Manual Cono-weeder operation were taken up on 15th, 25th 35th day after planting. Due to labour shortage, labour need to walk 5.5 km to 6 km for acre. Create chest pain to the labours and so the technology not adopted fully. Most of the farmers ready to use power operated conoweeder to solve this problem

Leaf colour chart: Using leaf colour chart the application of N fertilizer was followed in SRI technology. But due to non availability the experts to demonstrate, farmers don’t follow it. The psychological effect of the farmer were also one reason for non adoption.

Yield: Around 300 to 600 kg of yield increase over the conventional method of planting was observed in SRI method.

Indian Farmers Experience in SRI

Productivity Range of Paddy in India

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a national phenomenon in India.Rice-cultivating farmers, particularly those who have less than one hectare of land,have experimented, refined, adopted and are promoting SRI. It is their hard work and trust that have spread this unknown method into all rice-growing states. Out of 564 rice-growing districts in India, SRI is being practiced by the farmers in about 216 districts. While many individuals, civil society organizations and government agencies have played a major role, ultimately it is the farmers who confirmed its merit by practicing it on the ground. This has been now incorporated in the agenda of the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) to improve rice productivity in the country.

Indian Farmers experiences in SRI

Integrated Disease Pest Management System in SRI

Pests have been associated with crops since times immemorial. But under changing environment their number has increased and the minor pests now become the major one causing greater damage to the crop. This is evident from the fact that rice crop had 3 major pests in 1965 which has increased to more than 15 in 2005. The greater incidence of disease pest leads to greater chemical application resulting in higher input cost and agroecological imbalance.

It is an established fact that SRI has low insect pest and disease incidence resulting in low or nil chemical pesticide application. Most of the SRI farmers are using organic pesticides as preventive measures or when the attack is below the threshold limit. However under changing environmental condition and indiscriminate chemical application to the rice crop in general, the pests have also developed resistance. In such circumstances there is a possibility of disease pest attack to SRI crop in greater proportions than earlier. Therefore, in order to avoid the disease pest attacks and ensure a healthy crop, the SRI farmers need to be acquainted with the rice pest, damage symptom caused by them and management options.

Here we have tried to focus on the causative organism, time and stage of attack, attack symptoms and different management options in the form of non-chemical and chemical treatment. The farmers are advised to practice the non-chemical managements unless and until the damage does not crossed the threshold limit. Apart from the pest wise management options, few ITKs that have been proved beneficial against certain disease pests are given in the end.

More Rice from Less Seed - A Success Story in Madhya Pradesh

Growing More Rice with Less Seed: A revolution in paddy farming A simple way to double rice yields Paddy is the main crop in the eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh. This is the most important rice-growing area in the state and, even in rainfed tribal areas, paddy has replaced millet as the main crop. But tribal farmers reap poor harvests because their landholdings are small, they sow inferior seed and their conventional farming methods are inefficient in terms of production. Farmers with less than two acres produce hardly enough rice to feed their families, let alone a surplus to sell. Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (MPRLP) is helping to change this. Already many tribal households are much more food secure. Families that had to buy rice for three to four months now have enough to last them through the year. Tribal farmers in Dindori, an eastern district of Madhya Pradesh, find themselves locked in a cycle of poverty. Their harvests are poor but the costs of production, such as the price of seed and fertilizer, are rising. MPRLP is encouraging a revolution in paddy farming that promises to break this invidious cycle of poverty and hunger.

A French priest in Madagascar sparked a paddy farming revolution when he invented a simple way of doubling rice yields. His invention is called the System for Rice Intensification (SRI). It's quite easy for farmers to change to SRI. Instead of planting seedlings haphazardly, farmers plant them in rows. They space the seedlings much further apart, 25 or 30 centimetres rather than 10 centimetres, and they plant them when they are one week old rather than leaving them in the nursery for up to a month.

More Rice with Less Water - SRI WWF Report

Lifeblood for billions of people, rice is now a way of life and is deeply embedded in cultures, rituals and myths. It is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population. In Asia alone, more than 2,000 million people obtain 60 to 70 percent of their calories from rice and its products. Production and consumption of rice is expanding in Africa. Rice continues to be an important staple in Latin America. It is significant for food security in low-income and food-deficit countries. In Europe, it is a major food crop in certain regions of countries like Italy and Spain. Rice is indeed a global food grain.

More Rice, Less Water, Small State, Big Results -SRI in Tripura

Tripura is one of the seven states in the north-eastern part of India located between 22 degree and 56 minutes and 24 degree and 32 minutes north latitude and between 90 degree and 09 minutes and 92 degree and 20 minutes east latitude. Tripura is a small hilly and land-locked state with poor communication facilities. In fact, the area is handicapped because of the transportation system. The economy of the state is basically agrarian and more than 70 per cent of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood.

Saving Rice in India Down to Earth

RICE is at the heart of a fierce strategy debate as the country prepares to launch the second Green Revolution in the eastern states. Policymakers and scientists have drawn up ambitious plans to increase the productivity of this cereal which feeds two-thirds of Indians. Enormous funds are being poured into research aimed at improving seed varieties, with a heavy focus on developing hybrid rice. Is it the right option for millions of small rice farmers who are already battling high input costs and increasingly unpredictable weather? Or does part of the solution lie in efficient methods of cultivation that will cut down water use and improve yield?

SRI Method of Paddy Cultivation

There is a notion that what has been done in research plots and by scientists is modern and desirable. However, it is farmers who played a key role in designing and developing SRI method of cultivation practices. Thus every farmer has to be a scientist and an experimenter. Farmer should not blindly follow what is suggested by others. One has to understand the principles behind and decide upon what to do based on local situation and available resources. This is the key aspect in SRI method of cultivation.

SRI Weeders Manual

Manual weeding in paddy field Thanjavur

Rice is one of the major food crops. It feeds more than 60 percent of the world's population. Food habits, market price and other related factors are encouraging people to grow rice wherever water is available. This led to pressure on water and crop productivity resulting into increased investments on bore wells and agriculture inputs like seed, fertilizers and pesticides. These factors either independently or collectively are pushing the farmers slowly into crisis. In such situations, System of Rice Intensification (SRI) emerged as an alternative in paddy cultivation with core principles like using less seed, less water, and less fertilizer requirement. Introduced by innovative farmers in Madagascar in early 1980s, now this is being practiced in many countries. The experiments and observations over the period reveal that there is substantial reduction in the investments on external inputs. And the productivity is usually more than the conventional rice cultivation.

Tamil Nadu SRI Perspective

Tamil Nadu is the southern-most state in India. The total rice area in 2005-06 was 2.05 m ha. Season-wise areas were 15.7 per cent in kuruvai (Jun -Oct ), 74.7 per cent in samba (Aug- Jan ) and 9.6 per cent in navarai (Dec- Apr). Rice is grown in all 30 districts of the state except Chennai and the top five districts with a higher rice area were Villupuram (8.2%), Nagapattinam (7.7%), Thiruvarur (7.6%), Thanjavur (7.55%) and Thiruvannamalai (6.99%). The total paddy production was 7.83 million tonnes 5.2 million tonnes of rice, which was 84.3% of the total food-grain production in the state) in 2005-06, but had increased to 9.92 million tonnes in 2006-07.Tamil Nadu ranks twelfth in total rice production in the country.