Rice is a staple food in India. Once a plank for bragging rights, this pride of place

Riooce bowl: SRI can increase rice yields by 64% from current levels

for rice in Indian diets is gradually turning into a burden. The root cause for concern is the stagnation in the annual growth in rice productivity at 0.5%. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), India needs to increase its rice production by 2.5 million tonnes a year to meet its requirement in 2050. Put another way, rice output needs to increase by 92% from the current 140 million tonnes to meet demand in 2050. If production fails to keep pace with demand, rice prices will continue to rise at an uncomfortable rate and the government will have to increase its dependence on imports. A food security issue is looming.

Yet, the leviathan agricultural research apparatus is shockingly cavalier about the silent wave sweeping rice-growing regions of the world: the system of rice intensification (SRI). Developed 20 years ago by Father Henri de Laulanie, a Jesuit priest in Madagascar, SRI is a ‘designer’ innovation in which younger and fewer seedlings are transplanted with wider spacing and no continuous flooding.

By merely changing how plants, soil, water and nutrients are managed, SRI can increase rice yields to up to 15-20 tonnes per hectare. Given that India’s average rice yield is 3.1 tonnes per hectare, SRI has the potential to bring about a manifold increase in rice productivity and production—that too with fewer inputs and at a lower cost. Says Dr Biksham Gujja, Policy Advisor, Living Waters Programme, WWF International: "A change in mindset is required. The green revolution was a high-input, seed-centred approach. Farm practices were never given importance, which SRI does."

Cost savings and greater productivity improve profitability. Studies show that the net returns per hectare of rice farmers who adopted SRI was 67% higher than those who followed the conventional method. A farmer in Andhra Pradesh achieved a rice yield of 17.3 tonnes per hectare. Although such super yields are more of an exception, an increase of around 2 tonnes per hectare—64% more than current levels—is achievable.

If the establishment is looking away from this revolutionary method, it’s because of inertia, reluctance to stray into new territory and vested interests. Says Gujja: "Seed companies have been deploying SRI methods to grow seeds for years, but didn’t encourage its use in rice cultivation."

Other countries too went through a similar phase. SRI was met with hostility by the western agricultural establishment when it first breached the borders of Madagascar around 1999. It was derisively described as ‘agronomic UFOs’ (unconfirmed field observations). However, now, criticism is muted, as farming communities from China to Peru have begun to root for SRI.

Much of the credit for this change can be attributed to the global SRI evangelist Norman Uphoff, Director of the US-based Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIFAD). He briefed the Prime Minister’s Office recently to emphasise the urgency for SRI in India. Says Uphoff: "An increase of two tonnes per hectare is all that is needed to meet the food needs of most countries."

"Only after the Uphoff briefing is a sceptical Indian Council of Agricultural Research waking up to SRI. Even then, the inclination is to discredit it," says Ravi Chopra, associated with two NGOs popularising SRI in India, Pradan, in the plains, and People’s Science Institute, across the Himalayan ranges.

SRI has been included in the National Food Security Mission, which talks about increasing rice production by 10 million tonnes by 2012. Admits Dr BC Viraktamath, Project Director, Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad, ICAR: "SRI has to be encouraged."

The pace of change could use a concerted push. So far, SRI has found acceptance in scattered areas in just three states: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Says Viraktamath: "About 100,000 hectares is under SRI, which can be scaled up to 500,000 hectares in the next five years." Still, that’s only 1.1% of the total rice area under cultivation, though SRI is said to have a presence in 130 of the 500 rice-growing districts.

Today, the policy response is piecemeal. For instance, some governments are looking to give a subsidy on weeders, which currently cost around Rs 1,800; some governments are looking to motorise it. For a truly transformational impact, SRI needs a ground-swell of support. That means training and building awareness among farmers, agricultural extension workers, policymakers and scientists. Says Gujja: "There is a crying need for a well-thought out, comprehensive policy initiative on SRI, with national-level, time-bound targets."

SRI’s potential to alter Indian agriculture can extend beyond rice. "We are trying this system for other crops, like wheat and madua (ragi)," says Chopra. Experiments with wheat in Dehradun saw yields increase from 18 quintals per hectare to 21 quintals per hectare. Similarly, traditional methods of growing sugarcane, another thirsty crop, require 10 tonnes of seed buds per hectare, SRI methods require only one tonne; as for the yield, it can increase from 65 tonnes per hectare to 144 tonnes. For India, intensification ought to be a war cry.