SRI Global News: Nov. 2024 - Jan. 2025 *SRI-Rice -- System of Rice Intensification

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 method

The official launch of the RICOWAS project « Scaling up climate-resilient rice production in West Africa », took place on January 18, 2023 in Bamako, Mali. The project is financed by the Adaptation Fund (AF) and implemented by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) with the collaboration of the Regional Center of Specialization on Rice, hosted by the Institute of Rural Economy of Mali (CRS-Riz/IER), the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (WECARD) and the Cornell University, for a 14M USD budget over a 4-year period. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a major component of the project.

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).

Recientemente viajé a Parral y San Carlos en las regiones de Ñuble y Maule de Chile, donde se produce el arroz del país. Tuvimos la oportunidad de visitar varios de los proyectos que el Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA) ha estado trabajando con el Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) para mejorar la sostenibilidad de la producción de arroz desde 2017.

Más de 200 agricultores, técnicos, investigadores y otras partes interesadas de la cadena de valor del arroz participaron en las jornadas de campo celebradas. Los socios han estado trabajando para validar y adaptar el Sistema de Intensificación del Arroz, o SRI (por sus siglas en inglés), durante siete temporadas de cultivo.