Conservation agriculture (CA) and the system of rice intensification (SRI) are agroecological methods aimed at improving crop yields by enhancing soil health. CA's core principles include minimizing soil disturbance, maintaining soil organic cover, and promoting crop diversification, which can effectively complement SRI practices. The Food and Agriculture Organization is promoting the integration of CA and SRI, focusing on developing mechanical solutions for farmers to implement these practices effectively.

1. Conservation Agriculture and the
System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
As with SRI, Conservation Agriculture (CA) is an agroecological method of raising crop
yields through enhancing and protecting soil and plant health. These two methodologies
work well together, and can enhance each other’s efficacy.
CA has three
core principles
1. Minimize or eliminate
soil disturbance
How CA works
Bare soils, monocropping and conventional tillage practices degrade soils by causing erosion, plow pans, disruption
to soil biota, loss of soil organic matter and mining of nutrients favored by the monocropped plant. CA addresses
this by focusing on agricultural practices that make soil health the basis for crop production.
CA and SRI
working
together
CA can offer to maximize the beneficial effects of SRI while minimizing soil disturbance and improving soil health.
A few examples of CA and SRI include:
Raised bed with
rice stubble after
harvest
Raised bed
with rice straw
being returned
as mulch
2. Maintain soil organic
cover at all times
No-till, mechanized CA rice
production in
North Korea.
(Source: Amir
Kassam)
No-till SRI rice
followed by notill vegetables on
raised beds and
furrows in Sofia,
Madagascar.
(Source: Amir
Kassam)
Vegetable
production
after SRI rice
harvest with
rice straw
mulch
3. Crop diversification through rotations,
associations, and sequences
Rice being transplanted
into un-tilled paddy
Rice
growing
through
mulch
cover
Wheat being
directly drilled into
un-tilled rice stubble
SRI rice nursery
Hand transplanting
via ride-on
tractor attachment
Rice close-up
Precision, mechanized SRI using dry
soil transplanting
and permanent
beds in the
Punjab Region
of Pakistan.
(Source: Asif Sharif)
Close-up of hand
transplanting attachment
Mechanization
challenges and
opportunities
Conventional irrigated rice soil cultivation relays on soil puddling, where soil structure is intentionally destroyed –
this contradicts the CA principles. On the other hand, SRI and CA can integrate, as SRI focuses on creating organic
matter-enriched and aerated soil – even for irrigated rice. Successful examples for SRI/CA integration are based on
permanent raised beds, soils covered by mulch, and including the rotation with another crop. Machines need to be
able to transplant single seedlings in precise spacing either into mulched surface or on clean soils (as seen in the
photos above). As the combination of SRI and CA is a new concept, there is currently a lack of good machine prototypes being developed and made available for farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
What‘s next?
FAO (www.fao.org/ag/ca) and SRI-Rice (www.sririce.org) are collaborating to promote the integration of CA and SRI,
a new concept. This includes the new development of specific mechanized equipment -- including transplanters
and direct-seeders -- to facilitate the spread of CA/SRI geographically, focusing primarily on small-holder farmers,
and second on medium and larger scale farmers.
The Food
and Agriculture
Organization
of the
United Nations
Poster 5.indd 1
Contact: Amir Kassam (FAO), amir.kassam@fao.org; Josef Kienzle (FAO), josef.kienzle@fao.org;
Erika Styger (SRI-Rice, Cornell University), eds8@cornell.edu;
www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/en - www.sririce.org
The SRI
International
Network and
Resources Center at
Cornell University
10/30/13 11:31 AM