Opportunities for Improving Asian

Agriculture Agroecologically:

Observations from the System of Rice Intensification

ECHO Conference on Asian Agriculture Chiangmai –

September 21, 2009

Norman Uphoff Cornell University

What is Agroecology? Most simply: a superdiscipline

based on concepts/ principles/insights/practices that

rely on changes in the management of plants, soil, water

& nutrients -- to capitalize on existing genetic

potentials in crops, animals and soil systems, rather than on (a) changes in genetic potentials, or (b) external

inputs -- to get more productive

phenotypes thru ecological dynamics/interactions

Agroecological principles understand and manage

crops and animalsnot as isolated species --

but as organisms that always function (having

evolved) in an ecological context

‘Ascending Migration of Endophytic Rhizobia, from Roots and Leaves, inside Rice Plants and Assessment of Benefits to

Rice Growth Physiology’Feng Chi et al.(2005), Applied and Envir. Microbiology 71,

7271-7278Rhizo-bium test strain

Total plant root

volume/pot (cm3)

Shoot dry weight/ pot (g)

Net photo-synthetic

rate (μmol-2 s-1)

Water utilization efficiency

Area (cm2) of flag leaf

Grain yield/ pot (g)

Ac-ORS571 210 ± 36A 63 ± 2A 16.42 ± 1.39A 3.62 ± 0.17BC 17.64 ± 4.94ABC 86 ± 5A

SM-1021 180 ± 26A 67 ± 5A 14.99 ± 1.64B 4.02 ± 0.19AB 20.03 ± 3.92A 86 ± 4A

SM-1002 168 ± 8AB 52 ± 4BC 13.70 ± 0.73B 4.15 ± 0.32A 19.58 ± 4.47AB 61 ± 4B

R1-2370 175 ± 23A 61 ± 8AB 13.85 ± 0.38B 3.36 ± 0.41C 18.98 ± 4.49AB 64 ± 9B

Mh-93 193 ± 16A 67 ± 4A 13.86 ± 0.76B 3.18 ± 0.25CD 16.79 ± 3.43BC 77 ± 5A

Control 130 ± 10B 47 ± 6C 10.23 ± 1.03C 2.77 ± 0.69D 15.24 ± 4.0C 51 ± 4C

Agroecological principle #1:

SUPPORT the recycling of biomass to optimize nutrient

availability in the soil and balance nutrient flows in the soil

and biosphere over time

Agroecological principle #2:

PROVIDE the most favorable soil conditions which enhance soil structure and the functioning of soil

systems, esp. by managing organic matter and by

enhancing soil biotic activity

Agroecological principle #3:

MINIMIZE losses of energy and other growth factors

within plants’ microenvironments -- both above & below ground -- in ways that can maximize

resource-use efficiency

Agroecological principle #4:

DIVERSIFY the species and the genetic resources within

agroecosystems, both over time and over space

Agroecological principle #5:

ENHANCE beneficial biological interactions and synergies among all of the

components of agrobiodiversity, thereby

promoting key ecological processes and services

(Reijntjes et al., 1992; Altieri 2002;)

Agroecology can be summarized in these recommendations:1. Enhance the life in the soil (in soil systems), recognizing the precedence of soil biology which shapes soil’s chemistry and physics

2.Improve the growing environment (E) of crops in order to induce more productive phenotypes from any given crop genotype (G)

CUBA: rice plants of same variety (VN 2084) and same age

(52 DAP)

What is SRI? Most simply, SRI is a set of

concepts/ principles/insights/practices that

change the management of plants, soil, water & nutrients:

(a) to produce larger, more effective, longer-lived ROOT SYSTEMS, and (b) to enrich the LIFE IN THE SOIL

to achieve more productive,healthier PHENOTYPES

from any GENOTYPE

CAMBODIA: Farmer in Takeo Province: yield of 6.72 tons/ha > 2-3 t/ha

NEPAL:Single rice

plant grownwith SRI methods, Morang district

MALI: Farmer in the Timbuktu region

showing the difference between

‘normal’ rice and SRI rice plant

2007: 1st year trials -

SRI yield 8.98 t/hacontrol yield 6.7 t/ha(best mgmt practices)

2008: trials expanded

with 5 farmers in 12 villages doing on-farm comparison

trials (N=60)

  SRI ControlFarmer Practice

Yield t/ha* 9.1 5.49 4.86Standard Error (SE) 0.24 0.27 0.18SRI compared to Control (%) + 66 100 -11SRI compared to Farmer Practice (%)

+ 87 + 13 100

Number of Farmers 53 53 60

• * adjusted to 14% grain moisture content

Rice grain yield for SRI plots, control plots, and farmer-practice plots,

Goundam circle, Timbuktu region, 2008

Indonesia:Rice plants

same varietyand same age

in LombokProvince

Indonesia: Results of on-farm comparative evaluations of SRI

by Nippon Koei team, 2002-06 • No. of trials: 12,133 (over 9 seasons)• Total area covered: 9,429.1 hectares• Ave. increase in yield: 3.3 t/ha (78%)• Reduction in water requirements: 40%• Reduction in fertilizer use: 50%• Reduction in costs of production: 20% (Sato and Uphoff, CAB Review, 2007)

AFGHANISTAN: SRI field in Baghlan Province, supported by Aga Khan Foundation Natural Resource Management

program

SRI field in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan at 30 days

SRI rice plant @ 72 days after

transplanting – 133 tillers

Yield was calculated at

11.56 tons/ha

IRAQ: Comparison trials at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station, Najaf

SRI originated in Madagascar

Initially called le Systéme de Riziculture Intensive(in Latin America, SICA) by Henri de Laulanié, SJ, who, by 1984, assembled SRI’s counterintuitive practices after 2 decades of working with small, poor farmers to improve their production and incomes without requiring any dependence on inputs

Fr. de Laulaniémaking field visitshortly before his

death in 1995

MADAGASCAR: Rice field grown with SRI methods

Rice sector needs in 21st century

(IRRI/DG, Intl. Year of Rice, 2004)• Increased land productivity-- higher yield• Higher water productivity -- crop per drop• Technology that is accessible for the poor• Technology that is environmentally friendly • Greater resistance to pests and diseases • Tolerance of abiotic stresses (climate

change) • Better grain quality for consumers, and• Greater profitability for farmers

SRI practices can meet all these needs:

• Higher yields by 50-100%, or more• Water reduction of 25-50% (also rainfed)• Little need for capital expenditure• Little or no need for agrochemical inputs• Pest and disease resistance • Drought tolerance, and little/no lodging• Better grain quality, less chalkiness• Lower costs of production by 10-20% → resulting in higher income for farmers

Additional benefits of SRI practice:

• Time to maturity reduced by 1-2 weeks• Milling outturn is higher by about 15%• Other crops’ performance is also being improved by SRI concepts and practices, e.g., wheat, sugar cane, millet, teff, others• Human resource development for farmers through participatory approach• Diversification and modernization of smallholder agriculture; can adapt to larger- scale production through mechanization

Requirements/constraints for SRI:

For best results, we need:•Water control to apply small amounts reliably (rainfed SRI now being developed)•More labor at first during learning phase; but SRI can even become labor-saving --also, SRI practices can become mechanized•Skill and motivation of farmers is key!•Crop protection in some situationsSRI is a matter of degree more than of kind --methods get applied in wide range of agroecologies

SRI is Ideas/Insights; not Technology

1. Use young seedlings to preserve growth potential -- however, direct seeding is becoming an option

2. Avoid trauma to the roots --transplant quickly, carefully, shallow; no inversion of root tips upward

3. Give plants wider spacing – one plant per hill, square pattern for better root/canopy growth

4. Soil is kept moist but unflooded – mostly aerobic, not continuously saturated (hypoxic)

5. Actively aerate the soil as much as possible

6. Enhance soil organic matter as much as possible

Practices 1-3 support more PLANT growth; practices 4-6 enhance the growth and health of ROOTS and soil BIOTA

Two Paradigms for Agriculture:

• GREEN REVOLUTION strategy was to:(a) Change the genetic potential of plants, and

(b) Increase the use of external inputs -- more water, more fertilizer and biocides

• SRI (AGROECOLOGY) changes instead the management of plants, soil, water & nutrients:

(a) Promote the growth of root systems, and

(b) Increase the abundance and diversity of soil organisms to better enlist their benefits

The goal is to produce better PHENOTYPES

SRI

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

IH H FH MR WR YRStage

Org

an d

ry w

eigh

t(g/

hill)

CK

I H H FH MR WR YR

Yellowleaf andsheathPanicle

Leaf

Sheath

Stem

47.9% 34.7%

“Non-Flooding Rice Farming Technology in Irrigated Paddy Field”Dr. Tao Longxing, China National Rice Research Institute, 2004

China National Rice Research Institute (CNRRI): factorial trials, 2004 & 2005

using two super-hybrid varieties --seeking to break ‘plateau’ limiting

yieldsStandard Rice

Mgmt• 30-day seedlings• 20x20 cm spacing• Continuous

flooding• Fertilization:

– 100% chemical

New Rice Mgmt (~SRI)• 20-day seedlings• 30x30 cm spacing• Alternate wetting

and drying (AWD)• Fertilization:

– 50% chemical, – 50% organic

Average super-rice YIELD (kg/ha) with new rice

management (SRI) vs.standard rice management

at different PLANT DENSITIES ha-1

0100020003000400050006000700080009000

10000

150,000 180,000 210,000

NRMSRM

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

0 100 200

N uptake (kg/ha)

Gra

in y

ield

(kg

/ha

)

Grain yield SRI

(kg/ha)

Grainyield Conv

(kg/ha)

Poly.:Grain yield

SRI (kg/ha)

Poly.: Grain yield

Conv. (kg/ha)

Rice grain yield response to N uptake

Regression relationship between N uptake and grain yield for SRI and conventional methods using QUEFTS model (Barison,

2002) – same for P and K

SRI LANKA: Rice paddies,with same soil, same variety, same irrigation system and same drought, three weeks after water was stopped: conventional

(left), SRI (right)

Journal of Sichuan Agricultural Science and Technology

(2009), Vol. 2, No. 23“Introduction of Land-Cover Integrated Technologies with Water Saving and High Yield” -- Lv S.H., Zeng X.Z., Ren G.H., Zhang F.S.

Yield increase in normal year is 150-200 kg/mu (2.25-3.0 t/ha); while in drought year, increase is 200 kg/mu or more (≥3.0 t/ha)

• In a normal year, net income with the new methods can be increased from 100 ¥/mu to 600-800 ¥/mu, i.e., from $220/ha to >$1,500/ha, while• In drought year with the new methods, net income can go from a loss of 200-300 ¥/mu to a profit of 300-500 ¥/mu, i.e., from a loss of $550/ha to a profit of $880/ha

VIETNAM: Farmer in Dông Trù village – after typhoon

Reduction in Diseases and PestsVietnam National IPM Program evaluation based on data from 8

provinces, 2005-06Spring season Summer season

SRIPlots

Farmer

Plots

Differ-ence

SRIPlots

Farmer

Plots

Differ-ence

Sheath blight

6.7%

18.1%

63.0% 5.2%

19.8%

73.7%

Leaf blight

-- -- -- 8.6%

36.3%

76.5%

Small leaf folder *

63.4 107.7 41.1% 61.8 122.3 49.5%

Brown plant hopper *

542 1,440 62.4% 545 3,214 83.0%

AVERAGE

55.5% 70.7%

* Insects/m2

Period Period Mean Mean max. max.

temp. temp. 00CC

Mean Mean min. min.

temp. temp. 00C C

No. of No. of sunshine sunshine

hrshrs

1 – 151 – 15 NovNov 27.727.7 19.219.2 4.94.9

16–3016–30 Nov Nov 29.629.6 17.917.9 7.57.5

1 – 15 Dec1 – 15 Dec 29.129.1 14.614.6 8.68.6

16–31 Dec 16–31 Dec 28.128.1 12.212.2** 8.68.6

Meteorological and yield data from ANGRAU IPM evaluation, Andhra

Pradesh, India, 2006

SeasonSeason Normal (t/ha)Normal (t/ha) SRI (t/ha)SRI (t/ha)

Rabi 2005-06Rabi 2005-06 2.25 2.25 3.473.47

Kharif 2006Kharif 2006 0.21*0.21* 4.164.16

* Low yield due to cold injury (see above)

*Sudden drop in min. temp. during 16–21 Dec. (9.2-9.8oC for 5 days)

Measured Differences in Grain Quality

Conv. Methods SRI Methods Characteristic (3 spacings) (3 spacings) DifferenceChalky

kernels (%)

39.89 – 41.07 23.62 – 32.47 -30.7%

General chalkiness (%)

6.74 – 7.17 1.02 – 4.04 -65.7%

Milled rice outturn (%)

41.54 – 51.46 53.58 – 54.41 +16.1%

Head milled rice (%)

38.87 – 39.99 41.81 – 50.84 +17.5%Paper by Prof. Ma Jun, Sichuan Agricultural University,

presented at 10th conference on “Theory and Practice forHigh-Quality, High-Yielding Rice in China,” Haerbin,

8/2004

Status of SRI: As of 1999

Known and practiced only in Madagascar

Spread of SRI demonstrations and use in 10 years

Up to 1999 Madagascar1999-2000 China, Indonesia2000-01 Bangladesh, Cambodia,

Cuba, India, Laos, Nepal, Myanmar, Philippines, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Thailand

2002-03 Benin, Guinea, Mozambique, Peru

2004-05 Senegal, Mali, Pakistan, Vietnam

2006 Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq, Zambia

2007 Afghanistan 2008 Brazil, Egypt, Rwanda,

Ecuador, Costa Rica, Timor Leste2009 Ghana . . .

THANK YOU

• Web page: http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/

• Email: ciifad@cornell.edu or ntu1@cornell.edu