SRI Global News: Aug - Oct. 2024 *SRI-Rice -- System of Rice Intensification

Though rice is the most widely consumed cereal in Côte d’Ivoire, the country is not self-sufficient. Production deficit is covered by annual imports which cost on average 223 billion CFA francs. Through the implementation of a National Rice sector Development Strategy (SNDR), the country hopes to achieve self-sufficiency in 2018. SRI has helped to increase significantly paddy production in several African countries. SRI was experimented with in irrigated conditions in 9 localities of Côte d’Ivoire to assess the level of overall agronomic performance. Analyses focused on total tillers number per hill, number of fertile tillers, height (cm) of the main tiller, number of grains per panicle and paddy yield (tha-1). Results show real advantage of SRI, especially in production of fertile tillers production. The increase in number of tillers under SRI method is  between 17 and 338 p.c. with yield increases of 10 to 67 p.c. However, SRI is most adopted when the level of original technical ability of the producer is low. On a larger scale, SRI can help to achieve rice self-sufficiency. Therefore, this technology should be adopted at national scale. Short or medium technical support of volunteers of SRI implementation and learning among producers are also necessary.

50,000 Farmers in 13 Countries: Results from Scaling up the System of Rice Intensification in West Africa is a publication by Dr Erika Styger and Dr Gaoussou Traore, written for the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development, (CORAF/WECARD), Africa's largest sub-regional research organization. The 120-page book documents the results of using the SRI approach in rice farmers’ fields in 13 West African countries between 2014 and 2016: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.