The Epidemiology of SRI:
High Hopes and Falling Trees
Roundtable on System of Rice Intensification IDS, University of Sussex
December 17, 2009
Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD
This subject can be framed by a
pop song and a philosophical query• ‘High hopes’ have animated SRI
efforts• Like little old ants and silly old rams?• Ambitious objectives plus persistence
•If a tree falls and nobody hears it?... We have tried to get ‘trees’ to fall all over the world -- whether or not the scientific community was listening•Bottom-up approach - ‘boots on ground’
•‘Put not your faith in princes’ (Psalm 146:3)
Started with an understanding that SRI is
not a technology something different, many
things• Epistemological orientation:• Inductive, and not reductionist
• Ontological assumptions:•Dialectical (Heraclitean), both materialist & non-materialist•This is not an ‘either/or’ world
•Pluralist post-modern outlook
Inductive semantic realizations
• ‘SRI’ is better understood as an adjective than as a noun
• ‘SRI’ is more a matter of degree than of kind
These understandings have not been widely shared, however
Many things have been SRI-inspired rather than being ‘SRI’
Rice scientists ask: What is SRI?
This is not a problem for farmers & practitioners
working with them• Reports are generated from the field - week after week, season after season
• SRI is an example of where practice has preceded the science that explains it• Previous example of the airplane
(Ruttan)• This challenges the ‘linear model’ that
has been dominant throughout the 20th century: researcher extension farmer/adopter
• SRI favors the ‘triangular model’ (ISNAR)
‘Rice Aplenty in Aceh
(Indonesia)’
CARITAS NEWSSpring 2009
SRI methods were introduced in Aceh in 2005 by CARITAS Australia after tsunami had devastated the area – new methods raised local rice yields from 2 t/ha to 8.5
t/ha: “Using less rice seed, less water and organic compost, farmers in Aceh have
quadrupled their crop production.”
2009 Report from Aga Khan
Foundation: Baghlan Province,
Afghanistan
2008: 6 farmers got SRI yields of 10.1 t/ha vs. 5.4 t/ha regular2009: 42 farmers got SRI yields of 9.3 t/ha vs. 5.6 t/ha regular
2nd year SRI farmers got 13.3 t/ha vs. 5.6 t/ha1st year SRI farmers got 8.7 t/ha vs. 5.5 t/ha
AFGHANISTAN: SRI field in Baghlan Province, supported by Aga Khan Foundation Natural Resource Management
program
AKF technician making field visit in Baghlan Province
SRI field at 30 days
SRI plant with 133 tillers @
72 days after transplanting
11.56 t/ha
IRAQ: Comparison trials at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station, Najaf
From Report on SRI in Deorali Geog, Bhutan, 2009
Sangay Dorji, Jr. Extension Agent, Deorali Georg, Dagana
SRI @ 25x25cm 9.5 t/ha SRI random spacing 6.0 t/ha
SRI @ 30x30cm 10.0 t/ha Standard practice 3.6 t/ha
Mechanized Systems of Crop Intensification
(MSCI)
1 KM Defence Road, Bhobatian Chowk, Raiwind Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92 (042) 532 2205 Fax: +92 (042) 532 1509
Solutions Provider in Farm Sector
Pakistan: Private-sector applications of SRI principles; mechanized rice production (8 ha) was 13 t/ha;
applications are being made to wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, onions, etc.
Mechanical weeder for raised beds --for spacing 9x9 inch
(22.5x22.5 cm) – gives very good soil aeration
SRI is best understood as being
a ‘civil society’ innovation• But with a broad understanding
of civil society – including state agencies, research institutions, private sector
• Originated from the life’s work of Henri de Laulanié, SJ, in Madagascar, working with small/poor farmers, observing, experimenting, plus some serendipity
• Farmer knowledge is not always right!
• SRI has proceeded in a non-hierarchical, voluntary, opportunistic, non-formal manner
IRRI has characterized SRI as a movement – WU study• But this is only one aspect of SRI• SRI is manifested in three domains:
• Biophysical innovation – new ways to manage plants, soil, water and nutrients in order to produce better phenotypes
• Social network – focus of concern here, will consider alternative ways to perceive
• Paradigm shift – operating in the realm of ideas – change our understanding of world
• These interdependent realms interact
Status of SRI: As of 1999
Known and practiced only in Madagascar
Before 1999: Madagascar1999-2000: China, Indonesia2000-01: Bangladesh, Cuba Cambodia, Gambia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Thailand 2002-03: Benin, Guinea, Mozambique, Peru
2004-05: Senegal, Mali, Pakistan, Vietnam2006: Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq, Zambia2007: Afghanistan, Brazil 2008: Rwanda, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana2009: Timor Leste, Malaysia
2009: SRI benefits have now been validated in
37 countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America
SRI as been likened to an infection – a benign virus?
• Its spread is trackable between and within countries
• SRI contagion can be rapid or slow and it can induce a kind of ‘fever’
• Metaphor is immediately recognized and embraced by most in the ‘movement’
* * * *Quantitative analysis of listing of 240
persons with significant roles in the spread of SRI around the world
Approximate Regional Distribution of SRI Network, by
Roles(N) Africa LAC ME&NA So Asia SE Asia E Asia Europe U.S.
Transnat’l. Movers
17 1 1 3 3 8
Support Staff 8 1 2 5
Country Leaders
43 6 4 4 15 10 3 1 0
Initiators 44 10 3 0 16 14 2 1 0
Enablers 45 3 0 1 12 6 5 9 9
Evaluators 31 7 2 0 7 3 4 2 6
Sages 16 2 1 0 2 2 2 2 5
Well-wishers 25 3 1 0 2 4 2 8 5
Angels 12 0 1 0 2 5 0 1 3
Totals 242 31 13 5 59 47 18 27 41
Approximate Sectoral Distribution of SRI Network, by
Roles(N)
Govt.Bodies NGO
Res. Insts.
Univer-sities
Priv. Sector
Grass-roots
Intl. Orgs. Other
Transnat’l. Movers
17 0 4 2 6 1 0 3 1
Support Staff
8 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 2
Country Leaders
44 7 12 7 11 2 2 1 2
Initiators 44 7 12 2 7 3 5 3 6Enablers 45 8 12 2 4 4 1 11 3Evaluators 33 2 0 6 21 0 0 4 0
Sages/ Adv. 16 1 4 4 5 0 0 1 1Well-wishrs 25 3 3 3 5 2 0 6 3Angels/ Fin. 12 1 2 0 0 4 1 0 4
245 29 51 26 63 16 9 29 22
Cornell Connections of SRI Network Participants, by Roles
(N) Men WomenCornell Faculty/
Stud/Staff
Cornell Programs
Cornell Contacts
SRI Info Cornell
Transnational Movers
17 12 5 3 1 5 7
Support Staff 8 2 6 4 0 0 4
Country Leaders
44 38 6 4 3 11 26
Initiators 44 35 9 5 3 6 31
Enablers 46 38 8 7 5 10 24
Evaluators 33 26 7 10 3 9 11
Sages/ Advisors 16 13 3 3 4 6 3
Well-wishers 25 20 5 3 5 8 9
Angels 10 9 1 0 1 0 9
243 192 50 39 25 55 124
How to Understand Dynamics?
SRI is unprecedented: both (a) as an agricultural innovation (less more) and (b) as a social movement (email/ internet have changed many dynamics)
Still, there are some interesting ‘precedents’ in history and fiction
Following thoughts are musings more than explanations --
• Need to consider two kinds of causation
• Mechanism vs. process causation?
Some Historical and Fictional Precedents? …
MusingsMy role in all this can be overestimated as easily as it may be underestimated… Perspective is unavoidably egocentric…
1.Apostolic Movement?2.Challenge to Orthodoxy?3.Long and Difficult Quest?Main conclusion so far is that we should: Avoid orthodoxy!
Precedent from Previous Work in Development: Gal
OyaTransformation of most run-down irrigation system in Sri Lanka – through Institutional Organizers and Farmer Organization network – how achieved?
1.Ideas2.Ideals3.FriendshipThese 3 factors drive ‘SRI movement’
SRI-Inspired Phenomena
• Rainfed SRI – 7 t/ha average• Other crops – wheat, sugar cane, finger millet, teff, etc.• Diversified smallholder farming systems (Cambodia)• Appreciation of plant-microbial interactions and of epigenetics
System of Finger Millet I ntensificationon lef t; regular management of improved
variety and of traditional variety on right
ICRISAT-WWF Sugarcane
Initiative: at least 20% more cane
yield, with: • 30% reduction in water, and • 25% reduction in chemical inputs
‘The inspiration for putting this package together is from the successful approach of SRI – System of Rice Intensification.’
Extensions of SRI to Other Crops: Extensions of SRI to Other Crops: Uttarakhand / Himachal Pradesh, India Uttarakhand / Himachal Pradesh, India
Crop No. of Farmers
Area (ha)
Grain Yield (t/ha)
%Incr.
2006 Conv. SRI
Rajma 5 0.4 1.4 2.0 43Manduwa 5 0.4 1.8 2.4 33Wheat Research
Farm5.0 1.6 2.2 38
2007
Rajma 113 2.26 1.8 3.0 67Manduwa 43 0.8 1.5 2.4 60Wheat (Irrig.)
25 0.23 2.2 4.3 95
Wheat (Unirrig.)
25 0.09 1.6 2.6 63
Rajma (kidney beans)
Manduwa (millet)
Comparison of SRI and usual rice plants –
Miyatty Jannah, Crawuk village,
Ngawi, E. Java
THANK YOU
• Check out SRI website: http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/
• Email: [email protected]
• or [email protected]