System of Rice Intensification facts for kids
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a special way to grow rice. This farming method helps farmers grow more rice in the same field. It uses less water and needs more careful work. Farmers plant younger rice plants, spaced out more. SRI also uses special tools for weeding by hand. A French priest named Henri de Laulanié started this system in Madagascar in 1983. Later, schools like Cornell University helped test and share SRI around the world.
Contents
How SRI Works: Main Ideas
The ideas for SRI began in the 1960s. Father de Laulanié wrote down notes on how to grow rice better. The main ideas of SRI are:
- Keep soil moist, not flooded: Rice fields are kept damp, but not always full of water. This helps the roots grow stronger. It also keeps the soil full of helpful tiny living things.
- Space plants out: Rice plants are planted alone and spread farther apart. This lets their roots grow more. It also gives every leaf more sunshine.
- Plant young seedlings carefully: Rice plants are put into the ground when they are very young, less than 15 days old. They should only have two leaves. Planting must be quick and gentle. This stops the roots from getting hurt or the plants from going into shock.
SRI Spreads Around the World
A person named Norman Uphoff helped SRI spread from Madagascar to many other places. He was in charge of a special group at Cornell University. In 1993, Uphoff met people from a group in Madagascar that was trying SRI. After three years, farms in Madagascar that used to grow about 2 tons of rice per hectare started growing about 8 tons per hectare!
Uphoff believed SRI worked well. In 1997, he began telling groups in Asia about it. By 2013, Uphoff thought that between 4 and 5 million small farms were using SRI.
Does SRI Really Help Farmers?
People who believe in SRI and those who don't still talk about its claims. Many questions about it are still being looked at. Wageningen University wrote about how hard it is to measure if SRI works. They said that even if the technical parts are argued, SRI is a real thing that helps people.
The big question is: Does SRI grow more rice and make the soil healthier than older, trusted ways of growing rice?
Success Stories with SRI
People who support SRI say it grows more rice, saves water, costs less, and helps farmers earn more money. They say it has worked in 40 countries. Uphoff wrote that SRI "can double rice yields without needing many outside products. It also helps the environment and fairness."
A special magazine issue about SRI showed new findings that support it.
In 2011, five farmers broke the old record for rice yield. A young farmer named Sumant Kumar set a new world record. He grew 22.4 tons of rice per hectare using SRI. This beat the old record by 3 tons. In 2014, S Sethumadhavan from India grew almost 24 tons of rice per hectare using SRI.
Why Some People Doubt SRI
How well SRI works is still debated. Some people who don't believe in SRI say that claims of high yields are not based on good science. They say there aren't enough details about how the tests were done. They also say there aren't enough reports in scientific journals. Some have even said that SRI only works because of the special soil in Madagascar. But, as of 2016, there are over 700 articles and reports about SRI in international science journals.
Related pages
Images for kids
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Planted field
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Fields left almost dry
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Farmer
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Planted field
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Fields left almost dry
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Farmer
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Rice field
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Nursery
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SRI field
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Crop with weeds
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Weeding
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Weeding
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Weeding
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Weeding
