There’s no denying that rice is the staple food of Asia and part of the Pacific. World wide over 90% is produced and consumed in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently 524 million tons of rice is consumed throughout the world with a projected increase to over 700 million tons by 2025 (Hossain, 1995). This is absolutely mind boggling! In major Asian countries rice consumption will increase faster than the population growth. It’s definitely time for us to revisit the traditional rice irrigation methods which many farmers still cling to and how these methods are impacting our environment.
For hundreds of years Indonesia has practiced traditional farming methods of rice production which involves transplanting three week old seedlings and then flooding the ricefields – a system of irrigation known as ‘Subak’. Many fertilizers and chemical pest control agents are used to ensure a healthy harvest. The consequence of this system is nitrogen run-off, which has and continues to have devastating effects on our eco-system and our health. According to Emily Mathews and Alien Hammond in their paper: ‘Critical Consumption Trends & Implications: Degrading Earth’s Ecosystems’, fertilizer is the dominant source of nitrogen. “On average, only half of the nitrogen is taken up by plants, due to saturation, or local weather conditions, or because nitrogen is applied at an inappropriate point in the plants’ growing cycle. As a result, nitrogen runs off the soil.” What happens next? It’s not a pretty sight. Nitrogen run-off contributes to the phenomenon of ‘eutrophication’ – a depletion of oxygen in water which results in the growth of algae, decomposition of other aquatic plants and the death of deep dwelling fish. The water becomes scum-covered and foul smelling as well as unfit for drinking. Nitrate contamination of drinking water is a serious health threat. Some studies indicate that adults risk contracting a variety of cancers and young infants may develop the potentially fatal ‘blue baby syndrome’, where their red blood cells cannot function properly, and fail to deliver sufficient oxygen.
With all of these detrimental implications of chemical fertilizers used in traditional farming methods, it is no wonder that even PPLA – a division of the Department of Indonesian Permaculture has gotten on board with SRI (System of Rice Irrigation).
“The government has been spending about 200 trillion yearly on subsidized fertilizers and they just can’t do it any more. With SRI, no fertilizers are needed and the yield is much greater than with conventional irrigation methods,” says Chakra Widia, a Permaculturist and farmer who has been using SRI on his own ricefields since 2005.
“The key which is very important in SRI is to start with the best seed. There’s a traditional method I use for seed selection. First you get a tall jar and fill it with water, then put a fresh duck egg in and begin adding salt up to 1.5 kilos until the egg rises to the top. Remove the egg and put the seeds in the water. The seeds that sink to the bottom are the best. By selecting a good seed it reduces the energy required for managing pest control,” says Widia.
Chakra Widia estimates that 15 – 20% of farmers on Bali are utilizing SRI. Even so, many farmers are still resistant to switching to a newer system, especially those who have fertile land and a good water supply. Farmers, who are struggling with the lack of water like in Karangasem and other arid areas, are more open to switching to SRI. In Katik Lantang, Singakerta, farmers decided to switch to the SRI method. As a result, rice production went from 7.4 tons per hectare to 12.2 tons per hectare with SRI.
“SRI rice is much heavier than other rice, because there are fewer empty grains. It’s also much healthier because the roots are stronger and go much deeper compared to conventionally farmed rice,” say Widia.
But what may be an even greater motivation for reluctant farmers to make the switch, is the fact that the profit is much greater with SRI. A 2007 study showed that the final profit based on one hectare using SRI was Rp6.040.600 compared to Rp3.694.300 profit from conventional farming methods.
Oxfam Australia has also seen great benefits from utilizing the SRI method. They are currently supporting farmers in Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and India to grow rice using the SRI method. The results so far are astonishing — in many cases, yields have doubled and production costs halved. The rippling effect of this is that fewer farmers are in debt and families have more food to eat throughout the year.
There are some pitfalls of SRI though. Since rice is the same family as grass, SRI crops can be riddled with weeds and difficult to manage. Some farmers complain that it’s much harder for them to harvest SRI, because the roots are a great deal more resilient than traditionally farmed rice crops.
“The main pitfall we have positively identified is damage from root-feeding nematodes when farmers switch to aerobic soil conditions. But that depends on the existence of such populations in the soil already. Most nematodes are not root-feeding but rather, are beneficial or neutral. SRI also requires more labor during the learning phase, but becomes labor saving over time,” says Dr. Norman Uphoff, a professor in the Department of Government and the former director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development.
The benefits of using the SRI method far outweigh the pitfalls. For example, when SRI was introduced to farmers in eastern Indonesia under a Japanese-funded project, farmers were advised to cut their applications of fertilizer (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus) by 50% compared to what was recommended by the government. With this reduction in fertilizer use and a 40% reduction in water use, farmers’ yields increased by 78% (3.3 tons/hectare) on average. These data are from 12,133 on-farm comparison trials covering a total area of 9,429 hectares (Sato and Uphoff, 2007).
Dr. Uphoff contends that SRI has a much greater capacity to support rice biodiversity and the future of rice farming everywhere.
“When traditional varieties are used with SRI methods, they give usually a very good yield response, almost matching what (High Yielding Varieties) HYVs can produce. Since most consumers prefer the taste, texture, etc. of traditional varieties and are willing to pay a higher price per kg, the net income from local varieties can become higher than from planting higher-yielding ‘modern’ varieties, which have been pushing out local varieties and reducing rice biodiversity,” asserts Dr. Uphoff.
According to Dr. Uphoff, there are approximately 30,000 farmers in Indonesia practicing the SRI method; over 100,000 in Cambodia; over 50,000 in Myanmar; 223,000 last year in Vietnam; and around 5,000 in Laos; The Philippines is the most uncertain, with an estimated 20,000 farmers using SRI.
“These are all matters of ‘degree’ rather than ‘kind’ because many are not using all of the recommended practices. Even so, they get benefits of higher yield, using less water, lower costs, etc. So far we are only scratching the surface of SRI’s potential, in my view,” says Dr. Uphoff.
In practice, SRI involves some combination of the following changes in rice cultivation practices. These practices are as follows:
Transplant seedlings at a very young age – 8 to 12 days old, at most 15 days old, instead of the usual age for seedlings of 3-4 weeks or more.
Raise seedlings in unflooded nurseries, not planted densely and well-supplied with organic matter. There is an option of direct-seeding, but transplanting is most common.
Transplant seedlings quickly, carefully and shallow – taking care to have minimum trauma to roots, not inverting plant root tips upward which delays resumption of growth.
Transplant seedlings at wider distance and singly -- rather than in clumps of 3-4 plants -- and in a square pattern, usually 25x25 cm, giving roots and leaves more space to grow.
Do not continuously flood the soil – soil saturation causes plant roots to regenerate and suppresses soil organisms that require oxygen; either apply small amounts of water daily, to keep soil moist but not saturated, or alternately flood and dry the soil.
Weed control is preferably done with a simple mechanical hand weeder. This aerates the soil as it eliminates weeds, giving better results than either hand weeding or herbicides.
Provide as much organic matter as possible to the soil – while chemical fertilizer gives positive results with SRI practices, the best yields will come with organic fertilization. This does more than feed the plant: it feeds the soil, so that the soil can feed the plant.
From Norman Uphoff’s responses to ‘Frequently asked questions about SRI’.
For more information about SRI, please visit: http://ciifad.cornell.edu/SRI/
