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.
The Lutheran World Federation Myanmar and its partners in the Alliance of Churches Together (ACT Alliance) have been working in Kayin state since 2017 to improve the capacities of communities and families to practice sustainable livelihoods. In 2019, the programme introduced a more climate-resilient method of rice cultivation called the “System of Rice Intensification (SRI)”.
This study assessed the energy use efficiency (EUE) and cost benefit of alternative rice cultivation methods in the summer rice growing season of Central Myanmar. The results revealed that irrigation water, chemical fertiliser and labour takes up most of the total energy input in transplanted (T3) and direct seeded practised by farmers (T4); while farmyard manure (FYM), irrigation water and labour takes up most of the total energy input of the SRI (T1) and the modified SRI (T2) methods. The modified SRI (T2) method had the highest EUE due to the significantly low total energy input consumed and statistically similar total energy output and decreased energy input consumption. The authors conclude that the EUE of rice cultivation in Myanmar can be improved in an environmentally friendly manner.
"Recently, I traveled with a group of ACT leaders to two of the participating communities to see the program in action. ..The FFS was focusing on how to adapt planting techniques in the face of climate change. One technique is called the System of Rice Intensification, which uses less water than customary rice planting in Myanmar usually does. This is critically important in areas with water challenges, which is most of southeastern Myanmar. We talked to four farmers who had been introduced to this technique in 2019. I was excited to hear them report that their first harvests had yielded three times as much rice as usual. This is great news for families, since they have more rice to eat or sell. And it’s great news for Myanmar, which is among the world’s top rice exporters. Many rural families make a living selling rice. As climate change makes rainfall less predictable and consistent, climate adaptive agriculture is growing in importance."
Myanmar's Network of SRI Friends facebook group has over 350 members! While the posts are written in Burmese, non-Burmese-speakers can see the beautiful photos of the SRI trainings and progress with SRI in Myanmar!
Over the past 12 months, Kyaw San Tin has been receiving training on new cultivation techniques known as system of rice intensification (SRI) that have been introduced by Tat Lan, a programme sponsored by the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT). Initially Kyaw San Tin was hesitant to use SRI. But after trialling the system last year and comparing the yield from SRI with that of traditional farming techniques, he is now so convinced of the benefits that he has rented an extra acre this year so he can use SRI across four acres in total.
“Last year I was afraid to take the risk of using all my farmland with the new technique. But when I cultivated one acre I found out that it saved a lot of money and labour, and the production was good too,” said Kyaw San Tin, who lives in Minbya Township’s Chit village.
"...Saw Htoo Baw did not keep his newfound knowledge a secret and had discussed his plans with 5 neighbouring farmers. Out of these, 4 farmers adopted certain SRI technique in the first year itself bringing a total of 20 acres of paddy cultivation under SRI method. Even with these modest changes, Saw Htoo Baw was able to earn a reasonably higher income than he normally would, though the production output did not increase much. Other farmers were also happy with the success of their trials. These results are promising and would be of interest to many farmers and also to government agricultural departments since it is low input, easy to learn, and improves income in a relatively short time without burdening the system or the environment..."
PRESIDENT U Htin Kyaw visited a 200-acre integrated farm operated by U Than Myint, local farmer of Moegaung village in Toungoo, Bago Region. Accompanied by Union Ministers Dr Pe Myint and Dr Aung Thu, the President met with local farmers from the farm and heard the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) presented by U Than Myint... In his address, the President called for creativity and diligence to bring about a better generation in a shift to agricultural mechanisation. After the meeting, the President observed SRI-oriented model farmlands and farming implements.
Burmese language video on transplanting and Inter-cultivation with SRI: 'စပါးအစွမ်းဖွင့်စိုက်ပျိုးရေး' အပိုင်း (၂) ကောက်စိုက်ခြင်း၊ ပေါင်းထိုးတမန်းနှိုးခြင်း. This is part of a series of 3 SRI videos on the C4RD channel (YouTube), which features Thein Su, Myanmar's most active SRI trainer.
Thein Su, an independent consultant who previously taught at Yezin Univeristy, has been carrying out SRI training, research and public outreach initiatives in Myanmar for over a decade. Most recently, he prepared an updated SRI Farmer Handbook (also available on slideshare) which he uses in conjunction with his extension efforts. Thus far in 2020, he has held 22 trainings for 1,695 farmers, primarily in Sagaing Region, but also in Magwe Region and Southern Shan State. During 2019, Thein Su trained 1,000 farmers in 80 SRI training sessions and, during 2016-2018, 1,550 farmers attended one of 27 field learning days he lead.
Thein Su also presented an SRI webinar during November, which is available as a YouTube video. For more information on his SRI efforts, see both Thein Su's Facebook page and the Facebook Group "Network of SRI Friends," an active online Burmese language group with over 1,700 members.
...I tried one acre of rice growing by using climate-smart agriculture (CSA) techniques including System of Rice Intensification (SRI) this year and am planning to expand in five acres in next year” said a village farmer Daw Yin Yin Htay from Loke Taung village in Labutta township. A Farmer Field School (FFS) programme is being implemented in 20 villages of Labutta township including Loke Taung village to promote CSA techniques on rice and green gram cultivation. The FFS is implemented by FA in collaboration with Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI) and technical support by Department of Agriculture in Labutta township.
Daw Yin Yin Htay, an FFS participant and Lead Farmer of the group explained “I have been growing rice for more than 20 years in my life. Traditionally, we broadcast seed at about 2.5 to 3 baskets per acre. In SRI, it requires only 12 tins of seed for an acre. It is very cost-effective.” She started using SRI from July 2019 after learning from the FFS.
A paddy plantation trial under the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has successfully concluded in Mandalay Region. Ayeya Min paddy was grown over 7 acres using SRI according to U Kyaw Win, a local farmer from Ahyaemasoe Village, Kyaukse District. SRI is a methodology aimed at increasing rice yields. “Earlier, we planted paddy normally. But, this year, we planted the paddy using the SRI method because we were interested in SRI and the weather conditions were favorable. We want to urge local farmers to grow paddy using SRI,” he added. Growing paddy with SRI can help farmers save on seeds, fertilizers, and water, he said. “Earlier, paddy production cost over K200,000 per acre. Using SRI, it will cost just K150,000 per acre,” he added.
A demonstration of rice planting machines, and the donation of rice transplanting and seed cleaning machines to the Department of Agriculture Research (DAR), was held at the DAR research field in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday. At the event, Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Dr. Aung Thu witnessed a demonstration of the seed cleaning machine, the leveling of farm land with machinery, and the planting of rice using SRI (System of Rice Intensification) system with Minoru RX61 rice transplanting machine. (It) creates six planting rows, and the distance between rice seedlings can be adjusted from 6 to 12 inches and can carry 23 seedling trays containing 448 seedlings.
Authors: U Thein Su and Norman Uphoff Title: System of Rice Intensification (SRI) This 39-page Burmese language book has information on SRI in Myanmar that is authored by U Thein Su. There is additional material translated from Norman Uphoff's book on SRI FAQs.
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method, a low water, labour intensive planting method using young singly space seedlings and hand tools, will be introduced in Shwebo District, Sagaing to grow Shwebo Pawsan premium rice strains by United Nilar Agribusiness Co. Ltd. and the Sagaing Region Agricultural Department. The SRI method is designed to reduce reliance on pesticides and to increase yields by keeping fields continuously saturated to promote aerobic soil organisms, by optimally spacing plants to maximize light exposure and by transplanting seedlings by hand when they are less than two weeks old and have only shallow roots to reduce shock to the plants. To cultivate the Shwebo Pawsan variety in the Sagaing Region, the Agricultural Department and the United Nilar Agribusiness will apply SRI to 20 acres of paddy fields in Shwebo Township, and 10 acres each in the townships of Tabayin Ye-U, and Wetlet.
This SRI (System of Rice Intensification) training is an exciting development for families throughout Myanmar/Burma. This method of rice growing is organic, uses less water and produces greater crop yields when compared with traditional rice growing methods. Thanks for helping train 71 Shan farmers in this exciting method of rice growing!
SRI-Rice's insight:
It's good to see that more groups are getting involved with SRI in Myanmar!
To get content containing either thought or leadership enter:
To get content containing both thought and leadership enter:
To get content containing the expression thought leadership enter:
You can enter several keywords and you can refine them whenever you want. Our suggestion engine uses more signals but entering a few keywords here will rapidly give you great content to curate.
Your new post is loading...
