SRI Global News ++ March - May 2025 System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

La création de rizières écoles est une composante importante du projet Graines de Changement. Pour initier ce volet, Naturevolution s’est associée à l’association Tefy Saina pour effectuer une étude de faisabilité dans l’objectif d’étudier la possibilité de mettre en place un Système de Riziculture Intensive (SRI) dans les villages du pourtour du Makay. Cette initiative vise avant tout à sensibiliser et convaincre le plus d’agriculteurs possible de l’intérêt de ces nouvelles pratiques. Il est notamment question d’illustrer le gain en rendement afin que l’ensemble des rizières du village puissent être cultivées avec cette technique.

African Wildlife Foundation (AWF)-supported farmers in Kilombero are adopting conservation-friendly practices that boost agricultural yield and prevent deforestation. One of the biggest drivers of forest degradation in Africa is agriculture. As the population sand the demand for food increases, we are clearing more trees to make way for farmland. ...But the trade-off between forests and food is false. A community in Southern Tanzania is leading the way in embracing a new way of farming that not only protects the precious remaining forest resources, it also improves their incomes.

Dorotea Simo Magina, a 30-year-old mother of three lives in Kilombero District where she farms two acres of rice. For two years, she has been practicing a different kind of farming-- System of Rice Intensification. Using fewer seeds and less water, Dorotea has more than triple her harvest.

...technologies that raise farmers’ crop productivity while mitigating risk exposure are particularly valuable. This study assesses the impact of a variant of the system of rice intensification (SRI) on expected yields, yield variance (variability) and yield skewness (exposure to downside risk) in Tanzania. The appeal of the technology lies in its yield-enhancing potential, its low demand for complementary external inputs as well as its drought resistance features. Our empirical strategy relies on the estimation of marginal treatment effect (MTE) models. We find that, while the average effects on adopters suggest that SRI enhances yield and reduces the downside risk of crop failure, the marginal treatment effects indicate that only farmers with low resistance to adoption, benefit. Our analysis also highlights the importance of farmers’ climate perception for the adoption of SRI and the need for policies that increase climate awareness to ensure food security.

In  a bid to boost agriculture production, the government has managed to increase irrigation areas by 233,715 hectares in the past five years.

The National Irrigation Commission (NIRC), Acting Director General, Mr Daudi Kaali, noted "NIRC has been able to rehabilitate 179 irrigation schemes' infrastructures in a period of five years, most of these were supported through System of Rice Intensification (SRI)."

Access over 1,800 research items (1,300+ journal articles) about the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) through the SRI Research Network's online searchable library. The metadata as well as full-text non-subscription material is freely available. Full text subscription items can be accessed by joining the SRI Research Network.  Find out more about the Research Network (it's free!) here: http://sri.cals.cornell.edu/research/researchnetwork/ or contact SRI-Rice

The National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) supports more than 100,000 members across 60 associations. NASFAM, the GIZ programme KULIMA More Income and Employment in Rural Areas of Malawi (KULIMA MIERA) and the UK-funded PROSPER Markets project set up an incentive-based contract farming scheme with over 4,500 farmers in Karonga in Malawi’s Northern Region. The contract farming scheme incentivises farmers to produce the desired quality and quantities of rice. To qualify for participation in the contract farming scheme, farmers must be an active NASFAM member, have a minimum of one acre of land, and use System of Rice Intensification planting methods.

This study applied a Monte Carlo simulation approach to assess the economic feasibility of alternative rice farming systems in Tanzania while considering risk analysis for decision-makers with different risk preferences to make better management decisions. The rice farming systems in this study comprise rice farms using traditional practices and those using some or all of the recommended system of rice intensification (SRI) practices. Despite climate variability, in Tanzania, it is still possible for rice farmers to increase food production by using improved technologies, particularly SRI management practices. The findings of this study have vital policy implications for Tanzania′s government as it aims to end hunger and reduce poverty by 50% in 2025 through doubling agricultural production. Considering that rice is one of the crops targeted to drive Tanzania out of hunger and poverty, the results of this study suggest the benefits of investing in improved rice farming technologies, particularly SRI principles. The application of SRI practices has demonstrated the potential to increase rice yields and income of farmers.  Rivers and nine basins suitable for rice production in Tanzania could produce more rice.