Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, has called for greater adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices.
Speaking at a COP30 side event during the Africa Food Systems Summit 2025 in Dakar, Senegal, Kyari said Nigeria’s agricultural transformation agenda is already demonstrating how innovation can strengthen resilience against climate change.
Kyari cited Nigeria’s success with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which has doubled yields, increased farmer incomes, created over 30,000 jobs, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Roy Mosley, a Georgia farmer, has been experimenting with and learning to grow a black-husked “sticky” rice for the past three years. “It is an African rice that was grown in the Serengeti and is grown almost close to the desert. … This is an inland rice. It needs water, but it doesn’t have to be flooded and up under water.”
Roy is growing it as a member of the Jubilee Justice farming co-op, which is based in Louisiana and promotes participation in sustainable farming practices by Black farmers, especially in a “System of Rice Intensification” that uses fewer seeds and less water. This co-op has rice-growing members at least from Louisiana to South Carolina. Farmers in the co-op have tried different approaches to cultivating it.
The first couple of years he used mulching, with wheat straw from bales spread down the middles and between the individual plants. But seeing that this was impractical for scaling up production, he has “direct seeded” the rice with clean middles and no mulch last year and this. “I’m the first one in the co-op to do direct seeding … right into the dirt and plowed, and I treat it just like another crop, and it was successful. …,” Mosley said. “That’s why I’m so proud, because this is the first year I’ve actually made rice.” Now he expects to harvest enough to sell for the first time.
In Maniche, a commune in southern Haiti, rice production is rebounding after years of decline linked to trade policies imposed by international financial institutions, the influx of imports— particularly subsidized rice from the United States, climate disasters and insufficient state support. With the help of the local group Manichean Organization for South Integrated Development (OMDIS), farmers are transforming once-abandoned paddies into productive rice fields again using modern techniques.
OMDIS, founded in 2016 by residents—primarily farmers, aims to reverse that trend and create a replicable model. The organization supplies training, seeds, fertilizer and has introduced the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a low-input method that boosts yields with less water. “We prepared demonstration plots so farmers could compare their traditional methods with SRI,” said agronomist Francisco Nogaüs. “They saw the difference immediately.”
“I really enjoyed the training and like the new techniques,” Altidor, 45, said. On one plot, two pots (approximately 10 lbs) of rice seed yielded nearly four metric tons per hectare—a result previously unthinkable. Altidor said he now exclusively uses the SRI method, and his rice yields have more than doubled.
Hanoi is expanding the area applying the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), striving to have 80% of the rice area applying SRI by 2030. According to the Head of the Hanoi Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, Luu Thi Hang, SRI has now been applied to about 70% of the city's rice area. The 2025 spring crop is the first year the Department coordinated with Me Linh district to bring transplanters into SRI rice production in an organic, low-emission direction.
Currently, Hanoi's rice production area is about 160,000 hectares, of which the proportion of high-quality rice is expected to increase from 62% to over 80%. In addition, following the Government’s direction, Hanoi also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Applying the SRI model not only helps reduce rice production costs by about 7-8 million VND/ha but also increases productivity by 18-20% and saves 2% of irrigation water, contributing to protecting water resources and the environment
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) pilot programme implemented by Propcom+ across different locations in Nigeria has shown potential to enhance rice productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Nigeria.
During the pilot, Propcom+ said 22,269 smallholder farmers, 41% of whom were women, received SRI training through onsite demonstrations and SMS-based education.The pilot also attracted commercial investments, with three suppliers committing to providing motorized transplanters, mobile solar-powered pumps, and organic fertilizers. Additionally, the initiative created 199 jobs, with rural entrepreneurs adopting the service delivery models for mechanized transplanting and irrigation services. The pilot also achieved improvements in farm productivity, with 66% of adopting farmers reporting higher yields compared to conventional farming.
The theme of this webinar is "Insect Diversity and Dynamics in System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Cultivation" Date: 27 March 2025 Speaker: Padmavathi Chintalapati (Principal Scientist, Entomology, ICAR - Indian Institute of Rice Research, India) This is seminar #4 of the SRI Global Research Network's webinar series. See https://SRI-research.org for details
SRI-Rice's insight:
Don't miss the next SRI Global Research Network webinar (#5) on July 10, 2025! Sonali McDermid will speak on integrated climate-crop-economic SRI modeling assessment with an overview of work in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India. Details are forthcoming...
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Le riz, vital en Afrique de l’Ouest, est au centre d’un forum régional clé à Bamako depuis hier, lundi 5 mai 2025. En effet, 13 pays et des organisations internationales discutent de systèmes agricoles durables et de l’essor du Système de Riziculture Intensif (SRI). Riz : Enjeu Clé de la Sécurité Alimentaire. L’Afrique de l’Ouest […]
SRI-Rice's insight:
Representatives from thirteen countries and international organizations discussed sustainable agricultural systems and the development and promotion of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Bamako on May 5, 2025. Mali's Prime Minister emphasized the urgency of helping vulnerable producers. He also reiterated the alignment of SRI with Mali's national development strategies and assured the government's full commitment to the development of the regional SRI. In conclusion, collective action was deemed essential for West African food security, in which the SRI could play a major role.
For generations, Sarawak’s Indigenous rice farmers have cultivated more than just crops—they have nurtured a way of life deeply rooted in tradition, sustainability, and resilience. In the face of climate change and modern challenges, their time-honoured practices offer valuable lessons in ecological balance and community survival. As technology and tradition converge, these silent teachers continue.
The Sarawak rice farmers practise agriculture in a way that is sustainable in nature, emphasising a harmonious relationship with the natural ecosystem. One such practice is the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which was introduced to enhance yield without compromising environmental integrity. SRI is environmentally friendly and gives a higher yield compared to conventional planting techniques. With these eco-friendly practices, farmers have observed increased paddy yields and sustained income while decreasing the need to clear more forests for cultivation. This chemical-free approach keeps rivers clean and minimises environmental impacts, showing a win-win situation for farmers and the environment alike.
The India rice market size was valued at USD 10.12 billion in 2024. Looking forward, IMARC Group estimates the market to reach USD 12.21 billion by 2033, exhibiting a CAGR of 2.1% from 2025-2033. The India rice market share is growing due to the increasing population, rising domestic consumption, government support through Minimum Support Price (MSP), advancement in farming technology, increasing exports, climate-friendly rice varieties and improved irrigation systems.
…With growing concerns about environmental sustainability and soil health, India's rice sector is embracing eco-friendly farming methods. Sustainable cultivation techniques such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), direct-seeded rice (DSR), and organic farming are becoming more prevalent, helping reduce water consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance yield efficiency.
Identifying rice management interventions to reduce methane emissions while improving productivity is critical for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and food security. We leverage site-based data to model combined rice yields, methane emissions, and water productivity for 83 sites across the Red River Delta, Vietnam. We test three rice management interventions with our coupled crop-soil model, characterized by Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and other System of Rice Intensification (SRI) principles. Our simulations are forced with historical as well as future climate conditions, for a high-emission climate scenario centered on 2050.
We evaluate the efficacy of these interventions for combined climate change mitigation and adaptation under historical and future climate change. Two SRI interventions significantly increased yields (one by over 50%) under historical climate conditions while also reducing (or not increasing) methane emissions. These interventions also increase yields under future climate conditions although climate change decreases absolute yields across all management practices. Generally, where yield improved, so did crop water-use efficiency. However, impacts on methane emissions were mixed under future climate conditions. SRI principles combined with high-yielding varieties, implemented for site-specific conditions, can serve climate change adaptation and mitigation goals.
"Asia Initiatives and Dilasa Janvikas Pratishthan tested the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in combination with social capital credits (SoCCs) in one of their projects to empower women in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, India. By promoting sustainable farming practices, they are not just enhancing livelihoods but also fostering climate resilience and environmental conservation for those most vulnerable to climate catastrophes in some of the marginalized regions of the world."
The theme of this January 21, 2025, webinar is “System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Research in Africa” (This is the third in the SRI Research Webinar Series, which is hosted by the SRI Global Research Network.) Speakers were: 1. Aisha Abdulkadir (Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria) presented “Enhancing Food Security in Africa through SRI: Challenges and Opportunities” 2. Primitiva Andrea Mboyerwa (Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania) presented “Eco Rice: The SRI’s Pathway to Multiple Sustainable Development Goals”
In Chilean fields in the Ñuble region, techniques are beginning to be adopted to reduce water consumption in crops by more than 50% and to grow in extreme weather conditions. An atypical method adapting the System of RIce Intensification (SRI) has begun to attract farmers to fields in the Las Rosas sector to witness that it is possible to produce rice with half the water resources normally used as well as reduce methane emissions. This is being studied together with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Chilean National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA) at an experiment station in Ñuble.
They also evaluated almost 300 genotypes of different varieties, four of which have been selected for their ability to adapt to both droughts and floods. “This is revolutionary, since in many countries they are still not thinking about planting varieties of this type,” says Cordero. The intention is that this Chilean formula for adapting the SRI will be used on a large scale in the future. Efforts to measure and adapt low-emission production systems have also been applied in Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Panama, and Argentina.
In her early 40s, Swarnalata Sahu seemed to have started a stir, but the revolution in the farming sector she was fueling in Brajeshpentha village in Rangeilunda block of Ganjam district in Odisha carries with it the potential to turn into a storm. Identified and tagged as a Climate Champion, she has been encouraging the implementation of SRI (System of Rice Intensification), an agroecological method of farming used for increasing rice yield while reducing water, seed, and fertilizer requirements.
In a village with 148 households and a population of 756, most of whom depend on agriculture for sustenance, Swarnalata’s intervention has clicked well among the lead farmers, particularly women, who play a major role in farming.
Meeting the rising global nutritional demands is a critical challenge due to population growth, increasing incomes, shrinking natural resources, and climate change. Enhancing crop productivity while ensuring sustainability requires innovative and efficient agricultural practices. The System of Crop Intensification (SCI), adapted from the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), offers a promising solution by optimizing agronomic management for various crops, such as wheat, millets, maize, sugarcane, rice, and soybean.
The system of crop intensification (SCI) offers a promising solution to challenges (i.e., climate change, resource scarcity, and soil degradation). It enhances productivity, profitability, and sustainability by optimizing practices such as WUE and NUE. The following conclusions are drawn based on a comprehensive review, as in the following.
1. SCI increases crop yields by 15%–25%, doubling farmer income while improving oil and protein content, nutrient uptake, and water-use efficiency.
2. Soil quality under SCI surpasses conventional methods, enhancing sustainability and climate resilience in cropping systems.
3. SCI reduces GHG emissions and weed challenges, making it an ecologically friendly and profitable farming approach.
4. Despite higher production costs, SCI ensures better net returns through improved resource use and productivity in crops like rice, maize, and soybean
The Malian government has unveiled a US$24.4 million initiative to nearly double the nation’s rice production by 2030. Dubbed the National Program for Scaling Up the Intensive Rice Farming System (PN-SRI), the initiative was formally launched at a national forum in Bamako on April 17. Led by the Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with GIZ-Mali, the 10-year strategy targets a production increase from 3 million tonnes to 5.5 million tonnes of paddy rice.
The initiative is grounded in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a cultivation method designed to optimize yields through improved water and soil management, better spacing, and input efficiency. The initiative is expected to benefit approximately 245,000 producers across one million hectares, boosting local paddy rice production.
This study evaluates the combined effects of irrigation and fertilization strategies on yield, water productivity, and greenhouse gas emissions in paddy fields. The main plots included two irrigation methods (flooding and adjusted deficit irrigation), and the subplots involved three fertilization treatments (none [control], mineral fertilizer, and vermicompost). The results indicated that vermicompost application produced a paddy yield of 4.281 kg ha-1, comparable to that of mineral fertilizer. The interaction between irrigation and fertilization practices revealed that the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) management that combined deficit irrigation and vermicompost, achieved 2.5 times higher water productivity than continuous flooding (1.13 kg rice m-3 water vs. 0.41 kg m-3).
Furthermore, under SRI, cumulative methane (CH4) emissions were 10-39% lower than those from conventional treatments, peaking at 39% for the treatment combining deficit irrigation and vermicompost. This indicates the complementary advantages of SRI components. These findings suggest that SRI can be a practical climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technique when properly managed, enhancing water productivity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving rice yield sustainability.
Ñiquén (Chile) (AFP) – A cold, dry part of Chile might not sound like the best place to grow rice, a famously thirsty grain that thrives in tropical conditions. Javier Munoz has been trialling the "Jaspe" strain created by experts at the Agricultural Research Institute's (INIA) Rice Breeding Program, in combination with SRI, which cut the Munoz family's water consumption in half in a country that has for generations cultivated rice in flooded paddies.
The Jaspe rice strain was obtained by INIA agricultural engineer Karla Cordero and colleagues by crossing a Chilean seed with a Russian one better adapted to cold and dry climates. The modified seed is then grown using the SRI technique that involves spacing seedlings further apart in enriched soil, and watering only sporadically to build a more resilient root system. Apart from using less water and fewer seeds, the new Jaspe-SRI method also emits less methane. The team hopes to test Jaspe soon in other South American countries. "This is the future," said Munoz. "If we want... food security and care about the environment, this is the way."
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At the same time, yield rocketed, with each seed yielding about thirty plants -- nearly ten times more than a conventional rice field.
Discover how Tanzanian farmers are boosting rice production despite climate change using System of Rice Intensification (SRI)! Learn key practices like young seedlings, reduced water use, less fertilizers, and smart spacing to grow more rice with fewer resources.
Dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre du projet Promotion du Système de Riziculture Intensive au Cameroun (ProSRI-Cam), le CIPCRE a organisé, du 22 au 28 avril 2025, une série d’ateliers de formation théorique sur les méthodes du Système de Riziculture Intensive (SRI) dans quatre villages pilotes : Santchou, Bamendjo, Koutaba et Bangourain.
Ciwara Capital, set up with support from IFAD and EU funding and entirely owned by members of the Malian diaspora, invests in small and medium-size enterprises in Africa including agri-businesses, aiming to raise US$2 million by 2026 and US$10 million over the longer term. In Mali, Ciwara has invested in Zira Capital, an impact investment fund.
Among the new investments of Ciwara and Zira is SOPROTRILAD, a Malian company that provides over 3,000 small-scale farmers with inputs, such as seed and fertilizer, and in return buys the rice they harvest. IFAD’s INCLUSIF project has supported SOPROTRILAD in building relationships with rice cooperatives and introducing them to climate-smart production techniques, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
Ibrahima's cooperative has signed an agreement with SOPROTRILAD, and despite a steep learning curve, he immediately spotted the potential of the new farming approaches. “It is more beneficial for us,” he says. “For example, for a 0.25-hectare field, we used to use 13 kg of seeds, while with SRI we only use 2–3 kg. SRI uses less water, which reduces the use of motor pumps and saves fuel.”
“We are moving from the age of food security to the age of sustainability.” With this resonant message, Ambassador V.B. Soni (Retd.) set the tone for his address at the 6th Agri-Business Conclave and Awards on May 21, 2025. “From being a food-deficient country dependent on imports in the 1960s, India has emerged as the world’s largest producer of milk, pulses, and the second-largest in cereals, fruits, and vegetables. But this success story is now at a turning point. This growth has been achieved at a cost — depleting groundwater, degrading soils, and excessive chemical use. Sustainability is no longer an optional value; it is the defining principle of future agribusiness.” Indian farmers, scientists, and entrepreneurs are pioneering climate-smart solutions — from low-input agriculture and organic farming to resource-efficient practices like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). “India’s farmers are innovating every day. They need enabling systems, not just schemes.”
Two years in, the SRI Tanzania project has made a significant impact on the lives of 2,880 farmers, with a 30-40% increase in yield and an approximately 90% reduction in seed usage.
The emphasis of the Norad-funded project SRI Tanzania is on the promotion of the climate-smart agriculture System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods. The project is currently being implemented in five districts in Tanzania by the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI).
NIBIO’s CEO Ivar Horneland Kristensen reflected on the project’s wider potential: “On a larger scale, if all two million rice farmers in Tanzania adopted this approach, the impact would be transformative. Tanzania could not only secure its own food supply but also help feed six neighbouring countries, improving lives and bolstering regional and global food security,” he says.
The mission of SRI-2030 is to scale up SRI and the complementary agroecological farming practices around it. In order to help scale and speed SRI adoption, SRI-2030 is partnering with organisations and governments across Africa funding dedicated Breakthrough Facilitators, whose role is to train up extension workers and farming communities. The Breakthrough Facilitator in Cameroon is agroecology expert Charlin Tsaffo.
Francesco Zampaolo Carnevale, SRI-2030 Programme Director, visited Cameroon to plan activities and make field visits with SRI-2030’s newest partner, Cercle International pour la Promotion de la Création (CIPCRE), an NGO in Cameroon. Together, they chose four areas in the Western Region to begin with: Bangourain, Santchou, Koutaba and Bamendjou. The SRI efforts will be integrated CIPCRE’s agroecological approach with the SRI promotion strategy used by Julius Fileshi, an early SRI adopter in the North-West. Briefly, the plan involves one-day SRI trainings for 600 farmers; training 60 farmers as trainers (provided with weeders, seeds and support), and community pilot plots in each zone for community participation, demonstrations and direct practice).
Meet Djaja Baldé, a determined farmer from Sintchä Benfica, whose adoption of improved rice production techniques is transforming her family’s future: “Look around, see for yourself. Never in all my years have I had so much rice.” (She is one of 150 farmers who participated in this project, with 48% of them being women who received training in SRI, the System of Rice Intensification). We are in the Gabú region of Guinea-Bissau, where five of the 15 pilot rice fields are that werre established in a 2022 project financed by the UN Joint Fund for Sustainable Development Goals and implemented by the UN in Guinea-Bissau.
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