The Sustainable Rice NDC Alliance continues to support its core aim of implementing high-yield low-emission rice agriculture by elevating rice-related NDC commitments. SRI-2030, the Alliance secretariat, is now focusing its support on Africa, although it will continue to support all nations pursuing sustainable rice production.
The Alliance continues to work directly with governments to design rice roadmaps with a current focus on West African nations. These are practical implementation plans combining agricultural policies such as National Rice Development Strategies or Climate Smart Agriculture frameworks with climate policy commitments as in countries’ NDCs.
Events: A Focus on Finance meeting was followed by a panel on Food and Agriculture in Dubai in November 2023. Other recent activities include co-hosting a February workshop in Nairobi on African Paddy Rice Greenhouse Gas Mitigation. and an April webinar with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to examine how the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) can contribute to climate and development objectives of the Bank’s goals.
Meet Djaja Baldé, a determined farmer from Sintchä Benfica, whose adoption of improved rice production techniques is transforming her family’s future. Wit
Black farmers in Jubilee Justice’s program grow the crop using SRI. They’re also reclaiming rice farming as their foodways in the heart of Louisiana, about 100 miles north of Baton Rouge, lies the rain-soaked farm that lured Konda Mason is the founder of Jubilee Justice, a nonprofit that helps small-holder Black farmers in the South grow specialty rice with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a “dry-land” method developed in the 1970s and 1980s. Instead of growing rice in flooded paddies to prevent weeds from overtaking the crop, SRI farmers treat rice like a vegetable, irrigating it as needed and using other weed control methods.
For Mason, rice represents a way to transform lives and reclaim the past, offering a path toward racial, economic, and climate justice.Jubilee Justice’s rice program, called the Black Farmers Cohort, currently consists of 10 farmers from Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Kentucky
Identifying rice management interventions to reduce methane emissions while improving productivity is critical for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and food security. We leverage site-based data to model combined rice yields, methane emissions, and water productivity for 83 sites across the Red River Delta, Vietnam. We test three rice management interventions with our coupled crop-soil model, characterized by Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and other System of Rice Intensification (SRI) principles. Our simulations are forced with historical as well as future climate conditions, for a high-emission climate scenario centered on 2050.
We evaluate the efficacy of these interventions for combined climate change mitigation and adaptation under historical and future climate change. Two SRI interventions significantly increased yields (one by over 50%) under historical climate conditions while also reducing (or not increasing) methane emissions. These interventions also increase yields under future climate conditions although climate change decreases absolute yields across all management practices. Generally, where yield improved, so did crop water-use efficiency. However, impacts on methane emissions were mixed under future climate conditions. SRI principles combined with high-yielding varieties, implemented for site-specific conditions, can serve climate change adaptation and mitigation goals.
The theme of this second webinar (Oct. 24) in the SRI Global Research Network Series is "The Integration of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) with Intercropping." Event speakers were: 1. Francesco Carnevale Zampaolo (SRI-2030, UK) spoke on "Compatibility between Conservation Agriculture and the SRI" 2. Tavseef Mairaj Shah (CinSOIL GmbH & Hamburg University of Technology, Germany) spoke on "iRice - Intercropping Beans with Rice under the SRI as an Innovative Agroecological Approach" For more info, visit the SRI Global Research Network: https://sri-research.org
Periodic rice health inspections are an essential part of agricultural production management in Vietnam, especially in advanced models like high-quality, low-emission rice. For the model in Cần Thơ, periodic inspections ensure rice meets high-quality standards as well as helping optimize cultivation practices to minimize emissions. This approach not only brings economic benefits but also contributes to environmental protection. Thanks to advanced techniques such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), efficient water management, and the use of organic fertilizers, the rice is not only thriving but also helping to reduce harmful emissions. The 1 Million Hectare Rice Program in Cần Thơ promises to bring about positive changes and create new opportunities for farmers and Vietnam’s agricultural sector. -- Vijafarm Limited Company
Lonah Anyango Okumu, a 63-year-old Kenyan farmer from Kisumu in the Western region, transformed from a housewife to a successful rice farmer over four decades.Today, Lonah has grown into one of the biggest commercial farmers, not only in Kisumu, but the entire Western Region. Through education and adoption of SRI and other innovative farming techniques, she increased her yields significantly, improving her family's livelihood and educating her seven children to university level. Her success has inspired other women in her community to become landowners and farmers, revolutionising gender roles in agriculture.
WEEDBLAZER merupakan alat pembasmian gulma presisi pada lahan padi SRI menggunakan laser. WEEDBLAZER menggunakan baterai akumulator sebagai sumber daya. WEEDBLAZER dilengkapi dengan panel surya untuk pengisian ulang daya baterai sehingga memungkinkan alat beroperasi dalam jangka waktu lama, selama terdapat energi matahari yang dapat diserap oleh photovoltaic. --PKM KC 2024 IPB University
WEEDBLAZER is an autonomous precision weeding tool for SRI rice fields made as a prototype by students at IPB University in Indonesia. It uses an accumulator battery as a power source and is equipped with a solar panel for recharging the battery. WEEDBLAZER works with the deep learning object detection algorithm that allows the laser to precisely shoot the centroid point of the detected weed. It is hoped that WEEDBLAZER can increase the efficiency of weed eradication without damaging and polluting the environment.
Validación de tecnologías del Sistema Intensivo del Cultivo de Arroz (SICA) sobre prácticas agrícolas arroceras para mejorar la productividad y el uso eficiente de agua.. Parcela Piloto SICA - Comunidad de Buenos Aires, Corregimiento El Bebedero del Distrito de Tonosí, Provincia de Los Santos.
SRI-Rice's insight:
Validation of SRI (SICA in Spanish) to improve productivity and efficient use of water in rice production. SICA Pilot Plot - Community of Buenos Aires, Corregimiento El Bebedero of the District of Tonosí, Province of Los Santos, Panama. .
It’s late summer and the rice is high and ready for harvest. Nazirahk Amen of Purple Mountain Grown in Maryland (USA) has been growing rice for almost a decade and today he is harvesting one of the seven varieties that he grows and sells. Find our more about how he has adapted the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for conditions on his farm in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
The Community of Hope Agriculture Project (CHAP) is implementing Climate Smart Agriculture under the Livelihood Innovation Food Security Entrepreneurship (LIFE) Project with funding from Irish Aid through Concern Worldwide Liberia. The project, which began in Grand Bassa, Liberia, during 2023 and extended to Rivercess in February 2024, is currently working with 25 smallholder farmers per community, which comprises a total of 214 smallholder farmers who are being introduced to the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for rice cultivation.
Since the introduction of the SRI in Grand Bassa County, farmer groups like the one in Crayton Estate, have been able to grow rice twice in a year with less external inputs. The resulting SRI adoption has proven sustainable for farming thus far and is achieving high yields. In addition to SRI methods for production, CHAP has created a market for the SRI farmers’ out-grower scheme across the country in support of the “I love Liberian rice” domestic rice production in keeping with the Ministry of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), which includes cultivation of 50,000 ha of lowland rice across the country from 2023 to 2030.
The theme of the first event in the SRI Global Research Webinar series is “Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)”
Date: 9.00 – 10.30 AM (UTC-4), August 22, 2024
Speakers:
Chusnul Arif (IPB University, Indonesia) will speak on “Managing Water in SRI Paddy Fields to Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Maintain Yield“
James Dahlgreen (SRI-2030, UK) will speak on “Harnessing the Climate Credentials of SRI Through Top-down Interventions”
By joining the SRI Global Research Network, you can learn about upcoming webinars in this series and access the Network's newsletter and SRI research database. (visit sri-research.org.for details)
PARIS, FRANCE / ACCESSWIRE / Cornell University and CarbonFarm are announcing the launch of the ClimateRice Initiative. ClimateRice leverages satellite-verified carbon credits to scale the adoption of climate-resilient rice production practices based on the System of Rice (SRI) Intensification, reducing methane emissions by 50%.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) has outdoored its System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technology and potentials of recently released Rice Varieties. At a day’s visit for farmers at Botanga in the Kumbungu, the efficiency, and the benefits of the SRI technology was introduced to the farmers in the area […]
Understanding the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) begins with a distinction between its principles, which are general, and the practices that give effect to these principles when applied, which are and adapted for particular situations. This makes SRI more like a menu than a recipe. It is not something to be promoted by rote learning, glossing over the reasons for its principles and practices of SRI, but rather something that emerges from an understanding of agronomic processes.
Put in simple straightforward terms, SRI management elicits the growth of more robust and more productive plants, i.e., phenotypes, from a given crop variety, i.e., genotype. Application of SRI’s principles and practices evokes the fuller expression of plants’ genetic potential than do most currently prevailing practices, such as high plant density, continuous flooding, and ignoring the contributions of the soil biota and the implications of profuse root growth. This paper enumerates and elucidates the agronomic principles and practices of SRI, considering how and why they achieve the effects that are widely and consistently observed.
Climate change and climate variability create hurdles for food security and agriculture- based livelihoods, and acts as an obstacle to the economic growth of the people of Manipur, India.
The Directorate of Environment has introduced the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to reduce GHG emissions and improve agricultural productivity in Phayeng village where a project to transform the village to a carbon-positive eco model village is in progress. Twenty-one farmers covering about 12 hectares of land were selected based on their interest and field conditions for a pilot study of SRI. Recent changes in the climate are affecting the Phayeng ecosystem services in terms of agricultural sectors and food insecurities.
A high potential is seen in SRI to help secure livelihoods and to enhance resilience to expected adverse impacts of climate change. SRI can be applied with both irrigated and rain-fed rice systems. The most vulnerable people and vulnerable economic sectors like agriculture will be given attention on priority basis.
Rockflower is excited to report significant progress in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) project, which is aimed at transforming rice farming in the Oti Region of Ghana. The project is being undertaken in collaboration with One Africa Research Development and Extension Programme (OARDEP).
Since the project's inception, OARDEP has successfully increased the number of participating farmers to 141, with an emphasis on including women and girls, who now make up 85% of the participants. This expansion is critical in a region where 87% of the population engages in agricultural, predominantly rice cultivation. The project now encompasses five communities—Bala, Mate, Avegeme, Todome, and Abrani.
"Mainstreaming SRI in Southeast Asia: From Trichoderma to th SE Asia Regional Network" is a PowerPoint presentation by Febri Doni delivered at the Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto" Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series, Cornell University, on September 4. 2024. [SEE VIDEO OF THIS EVENT HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbfv80I8h_w ]
This study assesses the impact of three cultivation methods (wetland, SRI, and direct seeding) on the biochemical properties and bacterial communities within the rice rhizosphere across three key growth stages: tillering, flowering, and maturity. The results deepened our understanding of how different cultivation practices influence plant-microbe interactions and their implications for overall rice productivity and soil health. Soil organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), dehydrogenase, substrate-induced respiration (SIR), and metabolic quotient (MQ) were assessed along with high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing of rice rhizosphere soils.
The rice rhizosphere soil under the SRI registered the highest SOC, MBC, and dehydrogenase followed by wetland and least in direct seeded aerobic cultivation. Cultivation methods caused notable shifts in the abundance of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Chloroflexi, while crop growth stages affected the abundance of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes. Based on these results, the SRI method brings higher diversification to the rhizosphere bacteriobiota, as well as greater incorporation of carbon into the soil and increased dehydrogenase activity compared to the wetland and aerobic rice.
The impact of climate change on methane (CH4) emissions from rice production in the Coimbatore region of Tamil Nadu was studied utilizing the closed-chamber method for gas collection and gas chromatography analysis. This study identified differences in CH4 emissions between conventional cultivation methods and the system of rice intensification (SRI). Experimental data were subsequently used to guide parametrization and validation of the DeNitrification–DeComposition (DNDC) model.
The validated model was then used to develop future CH4 emissions projections under various shared socio-economic pathways for the mid- (2021–2050) and late (2051–2080) century. The analysis revealed a potential increase in CH4 emissions for the simulated scenarios, which was dependent on specific soil and irrigation management practices. Conventional cultivation produced the highest CH4 emissions. The findings underscored an urgency to develop climate-smart location-specific mitigation strategies focused on simultaneously improving current water and nutrient management practices. This research also highlighted the critical interaction that exists between agricultural practices and climate change, and emphasized the need to implement adaptive crop management strategies that can sustain productivity and mitigate the environmental impacts of rice-based systems in southern India.
The Community of Hope Agriculture Project (CHAP), under the National Executing Entity (NEE-CHAP), is spearheading the Scaling up of Climate Resilient Rice Production Project organized by the Rice Production Improvement Consortium of West Africa (RICOWAS) in Liberia. In Liberia, RICOWAS targets 13,620 farmers across 2,641 hectares in six project zones. Training sessions, including a TOT in Montserrado County and five other project zones, focus on SRI and CRRP, aiming to strengthen the skills of extension service providers and farmers
A scientific symposium on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) was organized by Directorate of Agricultural Research on August 6, 2024, in the Birah Magrun sub-district of Dokan district (30 km west of Salymania Governorate). More than 75 government officials, technical staff, and rice farmers attended this symposium; ten farmers expressed a desire to try out SRI methods.Khidhir Abbas Hameed presented a seminar entitled “Positive Opportunities of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) under Current Conditions of Climate Change,” which included justifications for implementing SRI in the Kurdistan Region; overview of SRI principles/practices; and the with SRI methods in the Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station (MRRS) plots and on farmers' fields in central and southern Iraq.
SRI-Rice's insight:
The effort to bring SRI to Iraqi Kurdistan is especially welcome given the unrest in this region of Iraq over the past few years. This is the second SRI symposium in Kurdistan during the past year, the first taking place in Erbil in May 2024. Thanks to Khidhir Abbas Hameed, a long-time member of the global SRI community, for continuing to expand the borders of the SRI world.
Rice consumption in Angola, like in many other African nations, is rising due to shifts in eating habits and population growth. The surge in consumption combined with low domestic production and productivity has led to a consistent rise in rice imports. In 2021 the State Treasury of Angola spent over US$260 million on rice imports.
During a February 2024 African Paddy Rice Greenhouse Gas Mitigation workshop, Eng. Carlos Francisco Canza, Angola's focal point within the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) from the Rural Extension Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, learned about SRI. Elielda Lopes Fernandes, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) Manager for Food and Agriculture in Angola, was also interested in SRI, and with SRI-2030 knowledge materials, they transplanted the rice seedlings in early July 2024 following SRI principles, marking the first known experimentation of SRI methods in Angola.
Compatibility between Conservation Agriculture (CA) and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Find out more in this PowerPoint presented by Francesco Carnevale Zampaolo, July 24, 2024, at the 9th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, Cape Town, South Africa.
Green manuring–system of rice intensification (SRI)–blackgram (rice fallow pulses) cropping system is novel, and appears to be a sustainable approach, combining innovative farming techniques to optimize yields, improve soil health, and minimize environmental impacts. Field demonstrations were conducted on a farmer's field through the National Pulses Research Centre, Vamban, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, within the kharif rabi and summer seasons of 2019–20. The demonstration was conducted in 50 hectares with 92 locations of Ponnaniyar sub-basin.
The improved practice of SRI recorded higher plant height and other yield attributes, including yields from 7580 to 9400 kg ha−1. Concurrently, within the IPT framework for the GM–SRI–Rice fallow pulses cropping system, the yields for Rice fallow Blackgram were 590 to 730 kg ha−1. A remarkable 39.9 percent enhancement in system productivity through the adoption of IPT practicesas well as significantly higher water productivity, The green manure–system of rice intensification–rice fallow pulses crop sequences emerged as the more productive and sustainable option, displaying the potential to enhance soil productivity and fertility status compared to conventional rice–blackgram/groundnut cropping sequences. These systems present promising alternatives for farmers Tamil Nadu's Ponnaniyar sub-basin.
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For more information: See the NDC Alliance overview https://www.sri-2030.org/the-alliance or contact SRI-2030 (james@SRI-2030.org)