The Southeast Asia SRI Regional Network (SeaSRI) official website has been officially launched (https://seasri.org/)! This regional network was formed at the 6th International Rice Congress held in Manila in October 2023. It was constituted by representatives of SRI national networks in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Myanmar, with Vietnamese colleagues also supportive of this initiative but not present. SeaSRI is a collaborative network dedicated to promoting SRI practices throughout Southeast Asia. It brings together academics, researchers, farmers, and other stakeholders to embrace this environmentally friendly and economically viable approach, with the ultimate goal of enhancing food security and farmer well-being in Southeast Asia.
🖐 Have you ever heard of Adan rice? It is the heirloom rice of the Lun Bawang people in Sarawak, Malaysia, and holds great value possibly as Sarawak’s best-kept culinary secret. Local farmers in Ba’ Kelalan are adopting a chemical-free farming method called System of Rice Intensification (SRI). This SRI farming project started with 12 participating farmers in 2017, and the number has grown to 53 farmers in 2022.
SRI provides a win-win situation for farmers and ecosystems. 👉 It increases paddy yield which brings income to the farmers. 👉 It reduces the need to open up more forests for rice cultivation. 👉 It reduces negative agricultural impacts on the environment by eliminating pesticide and chemical fertiliser uses.
Many paddy farmers shy away from practicing SRI due to the labour required, especially during transplanting and weeding. Manual transplanting to ensure proper root establishment of the seedlings makes SRI less appealing to many farmers. Furthermore, the transplanting shock arising from manual transplanting needs to be solved. Mechanized transplanting of young single seedlings eliminates drudgery and enables better exposure to sunlight, water, air, and nutrients. This paper presents a solution to overcome the problem of transplanting shock and the back-breaking manual transplanting, which was achieved by containing the roots of each seedling in a grid of isolated cells. Several designs of isolated cells to contain the root system were fabricated and tested. The most promising design was one with single seedlings raised in bio-degradable capsules arranged close together to fit the conventional rice seedling tray of 300 mm by 600 mm and can accommodate 684 capsules per tray. Upon reaching 2-3 leaf stage, the seedlings with undisturbed roots are ready to be transplanted into the paddy fields using currently available transplanters.
Pelajar dari Belanda, Jepun dan Amerika Syarikat menunjukkan padi yang boleh dituai di Institut Pengurusan Pertanian Organik Bersepadu Kedah di Sri Lovely Organik Farm, Kampung Lintang Belantik, Sik kemarin [foto]. (Sri Lovely adalah singkatan kepada ‘System of Rice Intensification, Lintang Organic Valley’ yang meliputi kawasan seluas 10 hektar, diusahakan oleh Koperasi Agro Belantik Sik Berhad.) Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Makanan menyarankan agar golongan siswazah yang belum bekerja tetap, merebut peluang dalam sektor pertanian seperti mengusahakan padi organik bagi menjana pendapatan mereka. Timbalan Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Makanan II, Che Abdullah Mat Nawi berkata, “Kita lihat (padi organik) memberikan pulangan cukup lumayan, dengan penggunaan air yang sedikit selain menggunakan benih (padi) paling minimum berbanding dengan kaedah pertanian biasa (konvensional). Ini satu peluang dalam sektor bekalan makanan itu sendiri.”
SRI-Rice's insight:
Students from the Netherlands, Japan, the USA and Malaysia are currently harvesting rice grown with the System of Rice Intensification, at the Sri Lovely Organic Farm, in Kampung Lintang Belantik, Sik, Malaysia. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry recommends that undergraduate students continue to work, seizing opportunities in the agricultural sector such as cultivating organic rice to generate income. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry II Che Abdullah Mat Nawi said demand for organic rice was increasing and yields a good return while using minimal seed and water compared to conventional farming methods. He said he would hold talks with the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in an effort to attract young people to the sector.
On 29 June 2018, SRI-Mas (a Malaysian agroecology NGO) was awarded by the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Project (GEF-SGP) to carry out a two-year project titled “Upscaling agrobiodiversity-based rice farming systems through the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Malaysia”.
The project aims to protect and promote agrobiodiversity by upscaling the practice of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and FFSs in Malaysia through an ecosystem-based approach guided by three key principles: environmental capacity, social capacity and institutional capacity. It will initiate an alternative institutional structure (from farm to market) for agroecological-based rice production and supply chain. It will focus on institutional arrangements through which agricultural extension services play critical roles in enhancing the visibility of sustainable rice value chain.
February 15, 2019, marked the first Local Farmers, Local Food (LFLF) gathering ever held in Malaysia. This one-of-a-kind event is a gathering of farmers, education professionals, doctors, indigenous peoples, and activists representing eleven of the country’s fourteen states, as well as an international body of volunteers. It was hosted by Sri Lovely, the first and only certified organic rice farm in all of Malaysia, tucked away in the jungle of Kedah, (jelapang padi—Malaysia’s “rice bowl”) and the first Slow Food Community in Malaysia and South East Asia. Captain Zakaria Kamantasha—the CEO of Sri Lovely— has a mantra “if you do good, you get good back”. This mentality seeps into his farming practice in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method, a more sustainable way of rice production, and his involvement in starting the first Slow Food Community in Malaysia.
For the final day of Thank a Farmer month, we want to acknowledge the work of ‘Captain’ Zakaria Kamantasha and his crew at the Sri Lovely organic rice farm in Kedah, Malaysia, which recently became the first registered Slow Food Community in South East Asia. Following the principles of SRI (System of Rice/Root Intensification), Sri Lovely grow various types of traditional Malaysian rice, including some dying indigenous species from a local seed bank. It is the only certified organic rice farm in Malaysia — but the man who started it all hopes that this will not be the case for long.
Communities in the mountainous northern areas of Sarawak can look forward to cleaner water, sustainable rice farming methods and improved forest protection. There are plans over three years to raise awareness on food and water protection, boost biological diversity and improve eco preservation in the rural areas of Ba’kelalan and Long Semadoh.
The project, a joint partnership between CIMB Islamic Bank and World Wildlife Fund Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia), involves a RM1.5mil fund. [In addition to dealing with eroision] the project aims to promote the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) among Ba’kelalan farmers [to] make rice farming more sustainable. This will lessen the need to develop more areas for rice fields.
UKMRecent and upcoming SRI activities associated with the SRI-Mas network can be found in: Sabah-- Organic SRI farmers of Tambatuon, Sabah have been planting organic SRI for sometime, and are being closely monitored by the community-based organization PACOS and SRI-Mas (Captain Zakaria and Haji Marzuki). Sarawak-- An initiative to train farmers in Sarawak in eastern Malaysia is planned for July 17-19, 2017 (organized by Langit, SRI-Mas and UKM). Perak-- An initiative to promote organic SRI is being organized by Salehuddin Yahya of SRI-Mas. This is part of a larger state plan to promote agrotourism. Kedah-- The model organic SRI farm in Sri Lovely, Kedah, now has six hectares of SRI rice ready to be harvested in June 2017. Two other areas will be planted with organic SRI in August, 2017. Kelantan-- Salwati of SRI-Mas will be organizing organic farming courses which include organic SRI in Kampung Takang in mid-2017.
Projects for Happiness” is an initiative that invites Malaysian undergraduates to design grassroots projects that are innovative, creative and sustainable. The Enactus Universiti Utara Malaysia team was awarded “The Best Project” for their organic farming initiative called 4Nature which is focused on using the System for Rice Intensification (SRI) to empower farmers in Kedah and Perlis. With SRI, farmers have been able to increase their harvest yield to 15 tonnes per hectare while reducing water usage by 50%.
At first I thought there were few young researchers at the third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD3) on 5-8 April 2016 in South Africa. That was until I met Febri Doni. He is currently doing research in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the Malaysian region and is a member of Malaysian Agroecological Society for Sustainable Resource Intensification (SRI-MAS).
It is said that ‘rice is grown on women’s backs’. Globally, around a billion people cultivate rice, of which 50 to 90 percent are women. With conventional practices, they perform backbreaking tasks like seedling removal, transplanting and weeding in bent posture and under wet conditions for more than 1000 hours per hectare. In addition, they are exposed to chemicals. But the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) enables farmers to work under healthier conditions while creating various other physical and social benefits. The consequences are significant, as we learn from women in India, Malaysia and Cambodia.
BA’KELALAN, Jan 31: The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a sustainable farming project supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) in partnership with CIMB Islamic, began in Ba'Kelalan and has now expanded to four additional villages...
The SRI rice farming project stands as a shining example of how collaboration between local communities, corporate partners, and conservation organisations can create a lasting positive impact on both people and the environment. According to WWF-Malaysia, this expansion reflects the positive impact and widespread acceptance of SRI as it promotes chemical-free farmers and employs targeted methods to reduce pests like the golden apple snail....
KOTA KINABALU: A food security project that saw communities from two villages in Sabah yielding 28 tonnes of rice from 32 varieties is set to scale up ...with programs in Kg Lapasan Ulu and Kg Tinuhan in Tuaran being expanding to include nearby Kg Wangkod and Kg Timbou. This will increase participation in Projek Padi to 121 farming families on 194 acres. Facilitated by Forever Sabah (FS) with a Yayasan Hasanah Special Grant, citizen scientists from these villages worked with participating farmers to assess the results of organic and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods... "Although the long-established way of planting and managing rice planting seems easier, it is not comparable to SRI and organic methods as the latter produces more yield for us.”
[Subtitled in English] A partnership between the communities of Kg Lapasan Ulu and Kg Tinuhan in the Tuaran District, the Sabah Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) and Yayasan Hasanah is revitalizing paddy production with SRI on almost 50 acres of village lands in the Tenghilan area. This Paddy Project is supported by Yayasan Hasanah and Ministry Of Finance Malaysia.
SRI-Rice's insight:
This video includes good, detailed instructions on how to carry out organic SRI.
LAWAS: A total of 27 farmers from Long Langai in Ba Kelalan, Sarawak, are on the right track in producing environment-friendly rice using chemical-free farming method called System of Rice Intensification. WWF-Malaysia, with support from CIMB Islamic Bank, has been working closely with farmers in there to promote sustainable rice farming using SRI since 2018. The project adds value to the ecosystem services such as the provision of clean water for irrigation, by minimising upstream land use changes such as unsustainable logging or large-scale forest conversion to agriculture. The SRI method also helps to reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment by eliminating agrochemicals, which helps keep the rivers clean.
In 2015, the Sarawak Agriculture Department introduced SRI to Ba Kelalan under the Agriculture Research Centre to study the potential to transform Ba Kelalan into an organic valley.
The system of rice intensification (SRI) is an agroecological approach to rice cultivation that seeks to create optimal conditions for healthy plant growth by minimizing inter-plant competition, transplanting widely spaced young single seedlings, and optimizing favorable soil conditions with organic amendments, increased soil aeration by weeding, and controlled water management. This review discusses the roles of beneficial microbes in improving rice plant growth, yield, and resilience when SRI practices are used, and how these modifications in plant, soil, water, and nutrient management affect the populations and diversity of soil microorganisms. Mechanisms whereby symbiotic microbes support rice plants’ growth and performance are also discussed.
Ba’ Kelalan, LAWAS: A group of farmers here finally harvests their much awaited Adan rice, planted using chemical-free farming method called, System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
There is a demand to develop a transplanter specifically for system of rice intensification (SRI) cultivation in Malaysia. This SRI transplanter is different from conventional transplanters as there are special requirements for transplanting. The work focused on a transplanting mechanism that can be later attached to SRI transplanter. The mechanical design was established using a linkage mechanism, having a wheel that acts as a timing wheel to control the distance between transplanted seedlings. The linkage mechanism also controls the opening of the flapper to allow the seedlings together with the nursery soil to be dropped, and controls the stopper to prevent next seedling from sliding down the tray. The use of simple mechanism can be fabricated at low cost. The design was analysed using motion analysis software. Results show the design is suitable and can be fabricated without problem. The animation successfully shows the perfect movement of the mechanism during the transplanting process.
SRI-Rice's insight:
I hope that some of our readers can try this SRI transplanter out and get back to us with your results!
Trichoderma spp., highly interactive fungi that live in soil, root, and foliar environments and assist plants to resist various diseases and drought stress, have been reported to have positive effects on the growth of many crops. A field experiment to determine the ability of Trichoderma-based biofertilizer (TBF) to enhance the growth, physiological traits, and yield of rice under SRI management showed significant potential for TBF to increase a rice crop’s growth, physiological traits, and productivity. Trichoderma-inoculated rice plants exhibited significantly greater plant height, photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll a and b content, stomatal conductance, and tiller and panicle numbers. The grain yield of Trichoderma-inoculated rice plants was 30% higher, producing yields that were twice the current average in Malaysia. A simple, efficient method for producing TBF developed for SRI farmers, is reported in this article.
The number of tillers per plant varied significantly due to different methods of raising the seedlings for transplanting. The increment in the average number of tillers per plant was remarkably higher in the newly developed single seedling tray treatment than the conventional practice. Under the present day constraints of lower production of rice crops, this study depicted that using the newly developed single seedling nursery tray is one of the options to increase the number of tillers in SRI farming in order to increase the number of effective tillers, number of panicles, straw yield and grain yield of rice plants. The results from the experiment clearly revealed that younger seedlings raised by the newly developed single seedling tray method resulted to significantly higher number of tillers than in the conventional practice. Thus, the above SRI technique can be extended to the farmers to maximize total production of rice, ultimately contributing to food security.
SRI management has demonstrated positive effects on rice plants’ growth, resilience and yield, which has been attributed in part to symbiotic interactions between rice plants and the microbes that live around, on and inside them. A multifunctional symbiotic fungus Trichoderma asperellum SL2 was evaluated to assess its effects on the germination and growth of young seedlings and then the subsequent performance of rice plants. The results indicated that SRI growing conditions are more favorable for Trichoderma to contribute towards the growth, physiological traits, nutrient uptake, and yield of plants, whereas conventional management methods diminish or inhibit these effects.
SRI-Rice's insight:
F. Doni, C.R.C.M. Zain, A. Isahak et al. 2016. Relationships observed between Trichoderma inoculation and characteristics of rice grown under System of Rice Intensification (SRI) vs. conventional methods of cultivation. Symbiosis doi:10.1007/s13199-016-0438-3
• Rosenani Abu Bakar, Zahidah Abdul Razak, et al. 2015. Influence of oil palm empty fruit bunch biochar on floodwater pH and yield components of rice cultivated on acid sulphate soil under rice intensification practices. Plant Production Science 18(4): 491-500. doi:10.1626/pps.18.491 Rice is cultivated on acid sulphate soil in the coastal area of Peninsular Malaysia. Empty fruit bunch biochar (EFBB) was applied in a pot experiment under organic SRI practice the variety MR219. EFBB increased grain yield by 141 to 472% and was linearly correlated to the application rate of EFBB. Number of tillers as well as plant growth and yield parameters in EFBB amended soils were significantly higher than in soil without biochar. Moreover, the decline of Al3+ in flood water indicated that EFBB mitigated Al3+ toxicity. Soil water pH increased from 3.5 to 6 with increasing EFBB application rates.
SRI-Rice's insight:
These findings are especially important as there are extensive oil palm plantations in peninsular Malaysia... This pot study demonstrates that the application of EFBB combined with organic fertilization and intermittent irrigation has the potential to improve rice yield on acid sulphate soil.
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