Scientists advocate new method for better rice yields

Oct 4, 2007, 9:26 GMT

Agartala, Oct 4 (IANS) India could meets its food grain demand of 220 million tonnes in the next five years if farmers adopt the Madagascar model of cultivation instead of the conventional method, scientists Thursday said.

The system of rice intensification (SRI) method, developed in the 1980s in Madagascar, is currently practised in 28 countries. 'SRI would help increase yields by over 30 percent. Another advantage is that it would require at least 40 percent less water than the conventional method,' said Biksham Gujja, senior policy adviser of Geneva-based conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The salient features of the SRI method include developing nutrient-rich nurseries by ensuring wider spacing between seedlings and managing water carefully to avoid plants' roots getting saturated. Already about 20 Indian states have taken to the SRI method of rice cultivation.

'In a country like India, which faces a major water crisis, yet has the world's largest rice cultivated area, the SRI method would be really productive,' Gujja said, quoting a recent study.

Scientists, environmentalists, farmers from 20 countries, besides experts from various agricultural research institutes, have assembled here for a three-day international symposium that began Wednesday.

The meet was aimed at devising strategies for further expansion of the SRI method in India and other countries.

'Conventional method of rice cultivation requires 60 to 70 kg of seeds per hectare, while in the SRI method just about five kg is required,' said Normal Uphoff, an agricultural scientist from the US. Uphoff played a key role in popularising SRI in many countries.

'The demand for a water-intensive crop such as rice is expected to increase by 38 percent by 2040, deepening the water crisis. Savings in water have the potential for mitigating domestic water conflicts, especially in poor, rural areas, where water is scarce,' Uphoff said.

Rice is grown in about 45 million hectares in India with a production of about 90 million tonnes. 'Frequent droughts in Andhra Pradesh from 1998 to 2004 left rice farmers in doldrums and adoption of SRI in the state in 2003 as an alternative methodology with a slogan 'less can produce more' tremendously helped the state to overcome the crisis,' said L.G. Giri Rao, director, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service