SRI Global News: May - July 2024 *SRI-Rice -- System of Rice Intensification

Studies were conducted in farmers' fields during 2019  in three provinces in southern Iraq to compare SRI methods with farmers’ conventional farming methods (CFM) in terms of grain yield and components of yield. The results of the study were presented by Khidhir Abbas Hameed at the Scientific Symposium held at Muthanna University, Iraq, on Jan. 13, 2020. In all cases, SRI had a more favorable effect on grain yield and components of yield when compared to CFM. SRI also produced higher grain yield: 25.6% in at Muthanna province, 24.5% in Najaf province, and 13.2% in Diwaniya province.

This study showed that SRI can produce higher yield (>25%) and better plant performance with increased resilience. At the same time, SRI reduces water requirements by >25%, which is important due to the severe water shortages in Iraq. As an environment-friendly, input-saving and yield-enhancing strategy, the Ministry of Agriculture of Iraq has included SRI as one of the components of its National High Yielding Rice Seeds Production Program.

[December 2021]

At the Central and West Asia Rice Center (CWA-Rice) annual meeting, a virtual training course on Sustainable Rice Production was held, which began with SRI. At the start of the 2021 rice season, the head of CWA-Rice Center decided to implement the SRI system with a unified experiment in three member-countries: Iraq, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.
During the past four rice seasons (2018-2021), the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture included SRI system in its annual scientific program at the Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station. The ministry also recognized Distinguished Rice Farmers who practice SRI rice-growing in Iraqi provinces, producing high-grade rice seed with nearly 100% purity.