Presented by: Abha Mishra Title: Farmer Adaptation of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the Lower Mekong Basin Region Date: October 12, 2015 Venue: Cornell University Sponsored by: SRI-Rice, Cornell University

1. Farmer Adaptation of System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
Methods in the Lower Mekong Basin Region
Dr. Abha Mishra
Co-Director, ACISAI Center, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand,
Team Leader, SRI-LMB
SRI-Rice, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 12 October 2015
12-10-2015

2. SRI @ AIT
SRI at AIT
Why SRI at AIT
 Global interest
 Major attraction at farmers‘field;
 Asia: largest producer of rice;
 Asia: largest consumer of agricultural water;
 Asia: 50-70% farmers are engaged in rice farming;
 Asia: Food security is linked to rice production;
SRI: Provides larger ambit to address the multiple issues
associated with sustainable agricultural development in the
context of climate change

3.  Out of 65 millions inhabitants, 60 millions
reside in LMB
 Agriculture, fishing and forestry employs
90%
 Rice cultivation in 10 million hectare out
of which 6 million hectare is rainfed
 wide spread poverty in the region, mostly
smallholder farmers who are engaged in
rice farming in rainfed area are poor
 Costly farming techniques are not applied
with the given level of uncertainty
 Rice contributes 75% towards people per
capita calorific supply
 Food insecurity
 Productivity of rice is low
12-10-2015
Why LMB region

4. Characteristics of the rainfed areas
Household characteristics
 Av. Landholding is 1-2 ha
 Average age of farmers is 50+
 More than 70% are women
 Grow only one crop of rice in wet season with very limited
diversification
 Subsistence type rice farming in Cambodia and Laos where as in
Thailand rice is grown for export and now also in Vietnam
 Average rice yield is 2-3 t/ha
 Increasing households loans
 Increasing out-migration of farmers
 Food insecurity
12-10-2015

5. WBI workshop and genesis of the
SRI-LMB
 Goal
• Development of adaptive measures to
protect against climate change so as to
address the food security and livelihood
issues of rainfed smallholders farmers in
lower Mekong river basin (LMB) countries
 Action
• Develop local, national and regional
platform for joint initiative and coordinated
actions
• Increase crop yield, productivity and
profitability on sustainable basis at
smallholders farmers’ field in rainfed areas
of LMB region. Partners stimulate and
support local innovation through farmers
participatory action research
http://www.ait.ac.th/research/workshop-reports/AIT-WBI-Workshop-
Report.pdf/view#.VWafG820jjA
12-10-2015

6. SRI
‘Menu’ for change
Capturing farmers imagination by enabling them to get higher
yield with reduced external inputs, and fuelling their capacity
for innovation
 Offers low cost solution
 Doesn’t require external
inputs
 Practices are amenable to
farmers experimentation
 Follows agro ecological
principles
 Transplanting younger
and fewer
seedlings/hill
 maintaining wider
spacing
 Avoiding continuous
soil saturation
 Applying compost as
much as possible
12-10-2015

7. SRI-LMB @ACISAI Center, AIT
Regional innovation platform for linking local to
global actors and institutions to meet the goals of food
security and environmental sustainability through
generating and providing innovative solutions under
the overall concept of sustainable agriculture
intensification.
AIT Research Strategy (2012-
2016)
12-10-2015

8. Sustaining and Enhancing the Momentum for
Innovation around the System of Rice Intensification in
Lower Mekong River Basin (SRI-LMB)
http://www.sri-lmb.ait.asia/
Royal University
of Agriculture
National
University of Laos
Hanoi University
of Agriculture
Rajabhat
University
12-10-2015

9. working in 30 districts of 10 food
insecure provinces
12-10-2015
 Increase productivity
 Reduce input cost
 Make rice cultivation
profitable

10. Implementation structure
and methodology
12-10-2015

11. SRI-LMB
Working in collaboration
Farmers
Researcher
Trainers
Local consortia
Ministry
Farmers group
Regional consortium
12-10-2015

12. PMU CAMBODIA
Implementing
consortia include
NGO, GO,
academics
PMU LAOS
Implementing
consortia include
NGO, GO, academics
PMU THAILAND
Implementing
consortia include
NGO GO,
academics
PMU VIETNAM
Implementing consortia
include NGO, GO
academics
P1
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
D
1
D
2
D
3
Provinces
Districts
Oxfam
policy dialogue
FAO
Action research
implementation at
national level
(Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam)
P
2
P
3
P1
P
3
P2 P1
P
2
P
1
P
2
UQ
Advisory support
on FFS based action
research
SRI-Rice
Advisory
support on SRI
Local
consortia
National
consortia*
Regional
consortia*
12-10-2015

13. 4th post FFS site (2 FT)
3rd post FFS site (2 FT)
2nd post FFS site (2 FT)
1st post FFS site (2 FT)
4th post FFS site (2 FT)
3rd post FFS site (2 FT)
2nd post FFS site (2 FT)
1st post FFS site (2 FT)
4th post FFS site (2 FT)
3rd post FFS site (2 FT)
2nd post FFS site (2 FT)
1st post FFS site (2 FT)
FPAR sites
FPAR sites
FPAR sites
FPAR structure at the local level
Each province has three districts and each district has 4 FPAR sites12-10-2015

14. Farmers participatory
action research findings (
year 2014)
12-10-2015

15. More than 120 sets of experiments
@ 62 FPAR sites in 2014
Cambodia & Thailand In five provinces
- 13 districts were rainfed and 2
were irrigated
- Broadly two options were
explored using experiments:
SRI demonstration (SRI-D) as
a ‘test site’ and (2) Integration
of SRI practices with existing
cultivation practices as
learning plot for location
specific adaptation (SRI-T)
- And compared with existing
conventional management
practices (CP) in target area set
up as a farmers’ practice.
15 districts, 3 in each province 12-10-2015

16. Implementation through FFS
approach
Season long training &
structured learning
sessions at different
growth stages
SRI seedbed Wetbed12-10-2015

17. Farmers applied different sets of
practices
Crop management
practices
Conventional practices
(CP)
SRI-T
(SRI-I & SRI-LAP)
SRI-D
Seedling age 40-60 day-old (established
by baseline)
39-20 day-old 8-19 day-old*
(8-15 day-old for
Cambodia and
Thailand)
Seed rate 100-150 kg/ha 20-30% less than CM 5-20 kg/ha
Transplanting
spacing
Crowded, 10 x 10 cm 10 x 15 to 19 x 19 cm 20 x 20 – 30 x 30
cm or more
Planting/hill >5-6 4-5 seedlings/hill 1-3 seedlings/hill
Soil condition Flooded (or no effort in
maintaining aerobic soil
condition
Relatively aerobic soil
condition with respect to
CM either through
shallow water level or
through intermittent
drying
Maintaining
aerobic soil
condition at least
for a week during
tillering stage
12-10-2015

18. Experimental method for field
testing and data handling
Design and data handling at
field
• Three treatments and 4
replications (minimum) for
each experiment
• Data collection and analysis
(average) by farmers at three
growth stages (Tillering,
flowering, and harvesting)
• Data recorded by farmers using
farmers diary
• Data were compiled by district
trainer and subsequently by
provincial coordinator
• Data collection process was
backstopped by researcher
12-10-2015

19. Data handling at national and
regional level
• System Architecture
INTERNET
Input Data
Download Output File
Save data into DB
Query Data
12-10-2015

20. 12-10-2015

21. Analysis
Quantitative analysis
• ANOVA (significant difference)
• Meta analysis (regional trend)
• Cluster analysis (adoption response)
Qualitative analysis
• Group discussion (at local, national, and regional level)
• Farmers’ response
• Feedback from ministries, national & regional stakeholders
12-10-2015

22. FPAR results from more than
120 sets of experiments
involving 3200 farmers
12-10-2015

23. Higher productivity and fertilizer use
efficiency in SRI
kggrain/kginorganicfertilizerapplied
Yield Fertilizer use efficiency
Ton/ha
With reference to CP
 100% and 60% yield increment in SRI-D and SRI-T respectively
with reference to CP
 46.27% and 36.22% increment in fertilizer use efficiency
12-10-2015

24. Meta trend
SRI-I and SRI-LAP
and SRI-D indicated
significantly higher
yield benefit with
respect to
conventional practices
12-10-2015

25. Meta trend in rainfed areas
Positive and
significant large
effect size
confirmed the
benefit of applying
SRI practices even
in rainfed
environment.
12-10-2015

26. Higher productivity with less
input use
Cambodia Thailand
• Seed = 40% seed cost
saving
• Water = no difference
• Pesticide = 1/3rd cost
saving
• Seed = 93.27%
• Water = 2-3 irrigation
saving (only for irrigated
dist. (Tron and Pichai)
• Pesticide+ fungicide =
208 US$/ha (77% less
compared to last season)
12-10-2015

27. Economic productivity
USdollargained/US$spent/ha
With reference to CP
 339.47% and 284.21% higher in SRI-D and SRI-T respectively
 Cost of cultivation included cost of labour and water as well.
Higher economic productivity with
SRI
12-10-2015

28. 1a (all inputs valued) Cambodia
rainfed
Thailand
rainfed
Thailand
irrigated
0.769±0.03 c
(0.05±0.01)
2.655±0.12 a
(0.4±0.01)
2.066±0.08 b
(0.05±0.01)
1b (labour inputs for
transplanting, weeding
and harvesting were
excluded from
Cambodia and cost of
water from Cambodia
and Surin province of
Thailand
2.10±0.06 b
(0.66±0.04)
2.9±0.13 a
(0.54±0.01)
2.06±0.08 b
(0.05±0.01)
With producer price @ 0.3 and 0.43 US$/kg paddy for Cambodia and
Thailand respectively
* Baseline @0.3 US$/kg in both countries
Economic productivity gain was
higher in rainfed
12-10-2015

29. 2a (all inputs valued) Cambodia
rainfed
Thailand
rainfed
Thailand
irrigated
0.769±0.03 c
(0.05±0.01)*
2.17±0.11 a
(0.4±0.01)*
1.79±0.08 b
(0.05±0.01)
2b (labour inputs for
transplanting, weeding and
harvesting were excluded from
Cambodia and cost of water
from Cambodia and Surin
province of Thailand
2.08±0.06 b
(0.66±0.04)
2.4±0.12 a
(0.54±0.01)
1.79±0.08 b
(0.05±0.01)
Average paddy yield at FPAR
sites
4.3±0.73 c 5.82±1.29 b 6.26±0.82 a
With domestic price @ 0.3 and 0.38 US$/kg paddy for Cambodia and Thailand
respectively
* Baseline @0.3 US$/kg in both countries
Economic productivity gain was
higher in rainfed
12-10-2015

30. Adaptation response from farmers
for SRI practices
ClusterProfilePlots
1
SOILCONDITIO
SEEDAGE
SEEDRAISE
SPACING
SEEDPERHILL
2
SOILCONDITIO
SEEDAGE
SEEDRAISE
SPACING
SEEDPERHILL
SRI practices F ratio
Seedling/hill 7307.98
Spacing 412.39
Seedling raising
method
398.12
Seedling age 80.23
Aerobic soil condition
at least for a week at
vegetative stage
0.358
159 cases 47 cases
Seedling/hill and spacing have the highest impact in group formation than
any other SRI principles
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31. Learning
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32. Factors affecting adoption
 Less input use, higher yield
and higher net return (+)
 Quality of grain (+)
 No lodging (+)
 Less pest and diseases (+)
 Unreliable weather and water
availability (-)
 Market instability and price
volatility (-)
 No incentive for good work (-)
 Transplanting & labour use
(Thailand) (-)
12-10-2015

33. Factors that will speed up SRI
adoption
• SRI with direct seeding with low seed rate (Thailand)
• Support for critical irrigation
• Better incentive and market stability
• Green SRI from farm to fork REGIONAL REVIEW & PLANNING WORKSHOP
REPORT
Siem Reap, Cambodia
02-03 June 2015
Sustaining and Enhancing the Momentum for Innovation
and Learning around the System of Rice Intensification
(SRI) in the Lower Mekong River Basin (SRI-LMB)
This project is funded by
the European Union
A project implemented by the
Asian Institute of Technology
the European Union
http://www.sri-
lmb.ait.asia/country/doc/Regional%20Review%20and%20
Planning%20Workshop-REPORT%20(02-
03%20June%202015).pdf
12-10-2015

34. Conclusions and way forward
• Efforts to make SRI knowledge and practices available on a wider
scale can raise productivity and incomes and in turn can address
food insecurity of the broad population of smallholders without
further deteriorating the environment.
• Economic productivity was higher in rainfed compared to the
irrigated systems therefore only a small investment is needed to
make the rainfed system more productive and resilient.
• Bringing poor smallholding farmers more directly into the process
of economic growth can offer more hope at both micro and macro
levels.
12-10-2015

35. Visit SRI-LMB at: http://www.sri-lmb.ait.asia/
CONTACT US
Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable
Agriculture Intensification (ACISAI) Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT) Gnd. Floor, Admin
Building PO Box: 4, Klong Luang Pathumthani,
Thailand 12120 Email : srilmb@ait.asia Phone :
+66-2-524-5823
Fax : +66-2-524-5828
12-10-2015