Reports of Gains Bring Attention to Rice-Growing Method (1/2)

Some farmers of irrigated rice in Asia, Africa and the Americas are using a production method called S.R.I. S.R.I. is short for the System of Rice Intensification. It does not require new seeds. It only requires changes in the ways that rice farmers manage plants, soil, water and nutrients.

With S.R.I, farmers use fewer seeds and transplant them earlier than usual. Leaving more room between plants lets the roots and leaves spread more. Farmers also use less water. They keep the fields moist but do not continuously flood them. The use of chemical fertilizer is also reduced or even eliminated.

Norman Uphoff is a big supporter of the System of Rice Intensification. He was a professor of government and international agriculture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He retired but still works from an office there to bring attention to the system.

A French priest, Father Henri de Laulanie, developed S.R.I. in Madagascar in the nineteen eighties. Norman Uphoff learned about it fifteen years ago while working there. He led field trials for the system for three years.