The document discusses the need for a shift from conventional modern agriculture to agroecological approaches, specifically highlighting the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) as a more sustainable method that can increase productivity with fewer resources. SRI has demonstrated significant improvements in rice yields globally while reducing water and fertilizer use, thereby also enhancing resilience to climate change. The findings suggest that agroecological practices can lead to increased crop output, lower production costs, and greater environmental sustainability.

1. Agroecological Crop Management
for Increased Productivity --
Experience with Rice and Other Crops
Norman Uphoff, SRI-Rice
Cornell University, USA
6th International Seminar on Agricultural Policies,
Santo Domingo, 24 January 2013
Instituto Interamericano de Cooperation
para la Agricultura (IICA)

2. What is called ‘modern agriculture’ has been
very successful over past 50 years
The question arises, however: under the
present and foreseeable conditions of the
21st century, should we continue doing
more of the same in the agricultural
sector? Even if we can do it better ?
Should be we considering other strategies?
Shouldn’t we be developing ‘post-modern
agriculture’ to the extent that new ideas
and methods are empirically validated?

3. Changing conditions in the 21st century will
make doing more of the same less tenable
• Arable land area per capita is reducing as
• Populations continue to grow
• Land area is being lost to urban spread
• Land degradation is increasing year by year, so
• Land-extensive agriculture makes less sense
• Water supply for agriculture is declining:
• Competing demands for domestic use and industry
• Climate change is reducing amount and reliability
• Pests and diseases are likely to increase
In US, crop losses to insects increased from 7% to 13% at
the same time that farmers’ insecticide use increased by

4. • Future energy prices will surely be higher
than they were in the past century, raising:
• Production costs: fuel, fertilizer, agrochemicals
• Transport costs: long-distance trade more costly
• Climate change will become more adverse
• Its impact will be greatest in many LDCs
• Accessibility of technology remains big issue
• The Green Revolution by-passed most of the
world’s poor & hungry; we must meet their needs
• Agricultural productivity gains have slowed
• Our technology is giving diminishing returns

6. Is there any alternative?
Fortunately, there are other strategies that
deserve to be considered and evaluated
The current strategy achieved its epitome in the
Green Revolution, successful in much of Asia
and in various parts of Latin America
Core elements of the Green Revolution were:
• Developing ‘improved’ varieties (genotypes)
•Applying more agrochemical (synthetic) inputs
to increase soil fertility and give crop protection
(‘improved’ variety = more responsive to inputs)
•Applying and consuming more irrigation WATER
•Energy-intensive & capital-intensive production

7. Agroecological alternative
Rather than focus on changed/increased genetic
potentials, one seeks more/better EXPRESSION of
genetic potentials by altering crop management
[We don’t eat GENOTYPES -- we eat PHENOTYPES]
The impact that plants’ growing environments have
on their productivity has long been recognized and
is expressed in the equation: P = (∫)x G + E + [G x E]
•‘Modern agriculture’ has focused on G
•Agroecological methods focus more on E
Can we achieve enough by modifying E > G ?

8. We need to use our land/soil and water
resources more productively and sustainably
Can we achieve more productive PHENOTYPES
from any genotype by altering crops’ growing
environments, both above and below ground
We should consider experience with the System
of Rice Intensification (SRI) developed in
Madagascar, now known in Latin America as la
Sistema Intensivo de Cultivo Arrocero (SICA)
Its ideas and practices are enabling farmers in >50
countries to get more productive rice plants from
existing varieties -- whether local, HYV or hybrids

9. SRI/SICA management offers advantages to farmers:
Reductions in:
•SEED requirements (plant populations greatly reduced)
•IRRIGATION WATER (no more flooding of fields)
•Need for AGROCHEMICAL INPUTS (fertilizer, sprays)
•COSTS OF PRODUCTION (even possibly of LABOR)
Increases in:
•CROP YIELD (potentially very great increases)
•NET FARMER INCOME (more output with less cost)
•Resistance to many effects of CLIMATE CHANGE:
• Increased DROUGHT resistance
• Resistance to STORM damage (less crop lodging)
• More resistance to PESTS AND DISEASES
• Even some tolerance of extreme temperatures
•Need for BIOMASS, and possibly for more LABOR
These methods can be adapted to many OTHER
CROPS

10. Basic Concepts for SRI/SICA -- also for SCI:
• Establish healthy plants early (young) and carefully,
making efforts to promote their root growth potential.
• Reduce plant density, giving each plant more room to grow,
both above-ground and below-ground, to intercept more
sunlight and to obtain more soil nutrients.
• Keep the soil well-aerated and enriched with organic matter,
as much as possible, so that the soil can support better growth
of roots and more abundant, diverse aerobic soil organisms.
– Apply water sparingly in ways that can support the growth
of plant roots and of beneficial soil microbes, avoiding
continuous inundation and anaerobic soil conditions.
– Control weeds in ways that actively aerate the soil.
These practices when used together enable farmers to:
• Increase the size & functioning of ROOT SYSTEMS, and
• Enhance and diversify the populations of SOIL BIOTA.

11. NEPAL:
Farmer with
a rice plant
grown from
a single
seed using
SRI methods
in Morang
district

12. CUBA: Farmer with two plants
of same variety (VN 2084) and
same age (52 DAS)

13. IRAQ: Comparison trials at Al-Mishkhab Rice Research Station, Najaf

14. 300
SRI CK Yellow leaf
and sheath
250
Organ dry weight(g/hill)
47.9% 34.7%
Panicle
200
150 Leaf
100
Sheath
50
Stem
0
Stage IH H FH MR W R YRI H H FH M W Y
R R R
CHINA: Non-Flooding Rice Farming Technology in Irrigated Paddy Field,
Dr. Tao Longxing, China National Rice Research Institute, 2004

15. These effects are seen in a wide
variety of agroecosystems:
• Tropical environments
• Mountainous regions
• Arid/semi-arid regions
The scale of production ranges from:
• Smallholder farming systems, to
• Large, mechanized operations

16. INDONESIA
Caritas introduced
SRI methods in Aceh
in 2005 after tsunami
devastation – local
yields went from
2 t/ha to 8.5 t/ha
“Using less rice seed, less water and organic compost,
farmers in Aceh have quadrupled their crop production.”
‘Rice Aplenty in Aceh,’ Caritas News (2009)
Similar quadrupling of rice yields by poor, food-insecure
households have been documented similarly in Madagascar,
Cambodia, India (Madhya Pradesh)

17. AFGHANISTAN: Transplanting SRI field in Baghlan Province
@ 1600 m.a.s.l. in mountainous region with short growing season,
supported by program of the Aga Khan Foundation

18. AKF technician making a field visit in Baghlan province

19. SRI SRI Conv.
Year Users Yield Yield
2008 6 10.1 5.4
2009 42 9.3 5.6
2nd yr [7] [13.3] [5.6]
1st yr [35] [8.7] [5.5]
2010 104 8.8 5.6
2011 114* 10.01 5.04
* Some areas could not continue or
be measured because of Taliban
SRI yields were achieved
with reductions in water

20. MALI -- SRI nursery in Timbuktu region on edge of
Sahara Desert with 8-day seedlings for transplanting

21. SRI transplanting in
Timbuktu, Mali

22. Malian farmer in the
Timbuktu region
showing the difference
between regular and
SRI rice plants
SRI SRI Conv.
Year Users Yield Yield
2007-08 1 8.98 --
2008-09 60 9.01 5.49
2009-10 130 7.71 4.48
with 32% less water
Gao region: 7.84 t/ha
Mopti region: 7.85 t/ha

23. CHINA: SRI extension/impact in Sichuan Province, 2004-10
Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
SRI area (ha) 1,133 7,267 57,400 117,267 204,467 252,467 301,067 941,068
SRI yield (kg/ha) 9,105 9,435 8,805 9,075 9,300 9,495 9,555 9,252
Non-SRI yield (kg/ha) 7,740 7,650 7,005 7,395 7,575 7,710 7,740 7,545
SRI increment (t/ha) * 1,365 1,785 1,800# 1,680 1,725 1,785 1,815# 1,708
SRI % yield increase * 17.6% 23.3% 25.7% 22.7% 22.8% 23.2% 23.5% 22.7%
Grain increase (tons） 1,547 12,971 103,320 197,008 352,705 450,653 546,436 1.66 mill
Addl. net income from
1.28 11.64 106.5 205.1 450.8 571.7 704.3 2,051
SRI use (million RMB) * (>$300 mill)
* Comparison with Sichuan provincial average for paddy yield and SRI returns
# Drought years: SRI yields were relatively better than with conventional methods
Source: Data are from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture.

24. , INDIA: Results from Bihar State, 2007-2012
SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION -- state average yield: 2.3 t/ha
2007 2008 2009 2010 2012
Normal 2x Drought + Complete Good
Climatic conditions
rainfall flooding rain in Sept. drought rainfall
No. of smallholders 128 5,146 8,367 19,911 NR
Area under SRI (ha) 30 544 786 1,412 335,000
SRI yield (t/ha) 10.0 7.75 6.5 3.22* 8.08
Conv. yield (t/ha) 2.7 2.36 2.02 1.66* NR
SYSTEM OF WHEAT INTENSIFICATION -- state average yield: 2.4 t/ha
2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12
No. of smallholders 415 25,235 48,521 NR
Area under SWI (ha) 16 1,200 2,536 183,085
SWI yield (t/ha) 3.6 4.5 NA 5.1
Conv. yield (t/ha) 1.6 1.6 NA NR
* Results from measurements of yield on 74 farmers’ SRI and conventional fields

25. SRI methods in Bihar set a new world record
Paddy production: Bihar
panchayat breaks China’s record
New Delhi, Mar 20:
A gram panchayat in Nalanda district of Bihar has
surpassed the Chinese record of paddy production,
the Union Agriculture Minister Mr Sharad Pawar
informed Parliament today. “As per the reports
received from the state government, the yield of wet
paddy has been recorded at 22.4 tonnes per hectare
and that of dry paddy at 20.16 tonnes a hectare ...,”
Mr Pawar said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
The record yield was achieved under demonstration
on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) which was
organised at farmer’s field during kharif 2011, he
added. “It has surpassed the yield of 19 tonnes per
hectare which was recorded earlier in China.”

26. OVER 1 MILLION VIETNAMESE FARMERS BENEFIT FROM SRI
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 20:48 (GMT +7)
PANO – Vietnam celebrated over a
million small-scale farmers who are
embracing a technique that grows more
rice with less seeds, fertilizer, water, and
pesticides in an event at Thai Nguyen
University on October 18th.
The technique is called ‘system of rice intensification’ or SRI for short, which
is a package of agricultural techniques for hand-planted rice that helps
farmers reduce their costs while increasing their production. The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development reported that by the summer-autumn
crop this year, there are 1,070,384 farmers using SRI on 185,065 hectares
(457,110 acres) in their rice fields. The number of farmers using SRI practices
in Vietnam has tripled since 2009. . . .

27. COSTA RICA: mechanized SRI crop
in Guanacaste province with yield of
8 t/ha -- not using chemical fertilizer

28. Yield of 8 t/ha vs. 4.2 t/ha before
Mechanized system developed by Oscar Montero,
El Pedregal Farm, in Guanacaste province

29. PAKISTAN: Raised beds for
SRI formed on laser-leveled
fields in Punjab Province

30. Nursery mats
made from
soil, compost
and rice hulls

32. Transplanting machine – makes
holes at 9 inch spacing (22.5
cm), with precision-application of
small amounts of compost and
fertilizer

33. Laborers dropping 10-day seedlings into holes
which are then filled with water -- the whole
field is flooded just once after transplanting

34. Weeder/soil aerator
removing weeds and
breaking up soil crust
around plants at 9-inch
(22.5cm) intervals

35. Mechanically-transplanted and -weeded rice crop,
irrigated in furrows with siphon supply

36. Growing crop: @ 72 days
plants have up to 90 tillers

37. Results of crop-cut sample measurements for MSRI trial,
Asif Sharif farm, Dhariwal province, Punjab province, Pakistan, 2009
Rice variety: Omega (hybrid)
Crop-cut Samples
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 Ave.
Plant number m-2 19 18 21 22 15 18 19 20 21 22 19.5
Plant tillers m-2 397 410 450 370 270 315 312 353 389 279 364
Plant height (cm) 102 98 97 105 100 102 100 102 100 102 110.9
Panicle length 26 25 26 26 25 24 26 26 26 25 25.5
(cm)
Straw wt (g m-2) 3,200 3,300 2,150 2,500 2,100 2,800 2,400 3,300 2,000 3,300 2,705
1000 grain wt (g) 30 29 30 30 30 31 30 30 30 30 30
Grain yield m-2 (g) 1,159 1,523 1,243 1,210 2,192 1,530 743 1,274 1,067 901 1,284

38. COLOMBIA: Mechanical weeder
developed for mid-size SRI operations

39. Agroecological management
is seen to give crops some
buffering against effects of climate
change:
• Drought and water stress
• Storm damage – wind/rain
(resistance to lodging)
• Resistance to pests and diseases
• Also extreme temperatures
Also net reductions in GHG emissions?
• Large reductions in methane (CH4)
• Not offset by increase in nitrous oxide (N2O)

40. Other Benefits from Changes in Practices
1. Water saving – major concern in many places, also
now have ‘rainfed’ version with similar results
2. Greater resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses –
less damage from pests and diseases, drought,
typhoons, flooding, cold spells [discuss tomorrow]
3. Shorter crop cycle – same varieties are harvested
by 1-3 weeks sooner, save water, less crop risk
4. High milling output – by about 15%, due to fewer
unfilled grains (less chaff) and fewer broken grains
5. Reductions in labor requirements – widely reported
incentive for changing practices in India and China;
Drought-resistance: Rice fields in Sri Lanka,many places
also, mechanization is being introduced same variety
6. Reductions in costs of production – greater farmer
and same soil 3 weeks after irrigation had stopped because
of drought and profitability, also health benefits (right)
income – conventional rice field (left) and SRI

41. Storm resistance:
Dông Trù village,
Ha Noi province,
Vietnam, after
fields were hit by
a tropical storm
Right: conventional
field and plant;
Left: SRI field
and plant
Same variety used
in both fields:
serious lodging
seen on right --
no lodging on left

42. Disease and pest resistance: Evaluation by
Vietnam National IPM Program, 2005-06 –
averages of data from on-farm trials in 8 provinces
Spring season Summer season
SRI Farmer Differ- SRI Farmer Differ-
plots plots ence plots plots ence
Sheath blight 6.7% 18.1% 63.0% 5.2% 19.8% 73.7%
Leaf blight -- -- -- 8.6% 36.3% 76.5%
Small leaf 63.4 107.7 41.1% 61.8 122.3 49.5%
folder *
Brown plant 542 1,440 62.4% 545 3,214 83.0%
hopper *
AVERAGE 55.5% 70.7%
* Insects/m2

43. Modern Traditional
improved aromatic
variety variety
(Ciherang) (Sintanur)
– no yield - 8 t/ha
Resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses: fields in
East Java, Indonesia hit by both brown planthopper (BPH)
and by storm damage (typhoon): rice field on left was
managed with standard practices; organic SRI is seen on right

44. Resistance to cold temperature: Yield and
meteorological data from ANGRAU, A.P., India
Season Normal (t/ha) SRI (t/ha)
Kharif 2006 0.21* 4.16
Rabi 2005-06 2.25 3.47
* Low yield was due to cold injury (see below)
Period Mean max. Mean min. No. of sunshine
temp. 0C temp. 0C hrs
1 – 15 Nov 27.7 19.2 4.9
16–30 Nov 29.6 17.9 7.5
1 – 15 Dec 29.1 14.6 8.6
16–31 Dec 28.1 12.2# 8.6
# Sudden drop in minimum temp. for 5 days (16–21 Dec = 9.2-9.9o C )

45. Comparison of methane gas emission
1000
840.1
800
kg C H 4 / ha
600 72 %
400
237.6
200
0
CT SRI
Emission (kg/ha) CO2 ton/ha
Treatment
CH4 N2 O equivalent
CT 840.1 0 17.6
SRI 237.6 0.074 5.0

46. Agroecological management
is seen to apply to other crops
• Finger millet
• Wheat
• Sugar cane
• Mustard/canola
• Tef
• Legumes
• Vegetables
• Other

50. Wheat: SWI (left) vs. conventional plants in Bihar, India

51. SWI results in Mali, 2009 – 1st year
• Seed reduction: 94% (10 vs 170 kg/ha)
• Yield increase: 10% (2.2 vs 2.0 t/ha)
• Labor reduction: 40%
• Irrigation water reduction: 30%
• Problems: mortality, spacing was too
great (25cm x 25cm  20 x 20 cm)
Numbers of tillers
Panicle length: SWI: 10.2 cm Traditional: 4.2 cm
18.4 3.7

52. Phenotypical
differences in
wheat panicles
with SWI practice
seen in Nepal

53. Tef: Application of SRI
concepts & practices
to production of tef
(STI) in Ethiopia
Left: transplanted tef
Right: broadcasted tef
3-5 t/ha vs. 1 t/ha

54. STI tef crop in Tigray province of Ethiopia

55. Sugarcane: SSI cane
plants seen in India –
SSI is now getting
started in Cuba,
known as SiCAS

56. Cuba: 1st SiCAS trial 2012 2 months
4 months 8.5 months

57. SicAS sugarcane
@ 10.5 months
Eventual yield
estimated @
150 t/ha

58. Summary of results reported from farmers' fields for
System of Crop Intensification (SCI)
which applies SRI concepts and methods to other crops
Crops Yield increases
Finger millet 3 to 4x
Legumes 50-200%
Maize 75%
Mustard 3 to 4x
Sugarcane 20-100%
Tef 3 to 5x
Turmeric 25%
Vegetables 100-270%
Wheat 10-140%
SCI crops are mostly rainfed -- but 30% water saving
with wheat and sugarcane, and 66% with turmeric

59. All this experience indicates that we have
many opportunities for raising agricultural
productivity in ways that are cost-effective,
environmentally-friendly, and robust
‘Post-modern agriculture’ is not backward
-- it is the most modern agriculture
It is guided by advances in microbiology, soil
ecology, epigenetics, and systems thinking
Much remains to be studied and evaluated,
but our challenge is to understand and explain
what already exists -- rather than discover or
invent something that is new

60. For more information on SRI/SCI:
SRI International Network and
Resources Center (SRI-Rice)
Website: http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu
based at Cornell International Institute
for Food, Agriculture and Develoment
(CIIFAD), Cornell University, or contact
Norman Uphoff: ntu1@cornell.edu