Presenter: B.C. Barah Audience: 3rd National SRI Symposium, TNAU, Coimbatore, India Subject Country: Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, India

1. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) : A pro-poor option for household food security and resource conservation B. C. Barah bcbarah@yahoo.com 3 rd National Seminar on System of Rice Intensification 1-3 December 2008 at Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore

7. Research on SRI

9. On-farm surveys: Tamilnadu (4 districts) & Andhra Pradesh (3 districts) BCB HYperlink on AP and Taminadu.pptx

10. Rice bowl is shrinking in Tamilnadu Inverted Pyramid of Growth Rates of Rice Yield (%) 1965 to 1979 2.37 1980 to 1989 4.69 1990 to 2002 1.01

12. RESULTS Pro-poor and small farmer orientation of Indian agriculture Farmer category % of total % rice farmers Small, Marginal, Very Marginal Farmers (No.) > 82% >84% Small, Marginal, Very Marginal Farmers (Area) < 39% 54% Medium Farmers (No.) 17% 15.6% Medium Farmer (Area) 48% 40% Large Farmers (No.) 1% 0.7% Large Farmers (Area) 13% 6%

13. Water Saving

14. Relative Gains due to SRI (per hectare) Tamilnadu Particular Coimbatore Kanchipuram Ramanathapuram Tanjore SRI Non -SRI SRI Non -SRI SRI Non -SRI SRI Non -SRI Seed cost in Rs. 504 1,800 187 2,250 562 2,160 217 1,575 Labour use (hrs) 192 267 242 216 182 226 179 236 Labour cost (Rs.) 9,546 12,705 7,988 11,990 4,960 9,111 10,715 11,524 Yield (tons/ha) 6.52 6.07 6.54 5.41 5.10 4.25 5.06 4.76 Total cost (Rs/ha) 16,774 20,283 16,604 18,938 11,589 15,953 16,699 19,010 Gross income (Rs.) 33,329 34,848 34,233 32,325 27,745 25,216 31,575 31,653 Net income (Rs.) 16,555 14,564 17,629 13,386 16,155 9,263 14,875 12,643 Cost (Rs./q) 261 335 257 350 229 376 331 400 B:C Ratio 1.99 1.72 2.06 1.71 2.39 1.58 1.89 1.67 No. of irrigations 24.73 34.33 24.73 34.07 25 32.07 20.27 32.67 % Saving 28% 27% 22% 38% % Adoption of SRI 45% 18% 20% 59%

16. Comparison across 4 Districts Conventional SRI Difference Average yield (t/ha) 5.12 5.65 +10% Net income (Rs./ha) 12,466 16,363 +31% Water (no. irrigations) 33.3 23.7 -29% Labor inputs (hrs/ha) 235 199 -15% Costs (Rs./ha) 18,400 15,400 -17% Costs (Rs./quintal) 428 303 -29% Net returns (Rs./ha) 9,263 12,984 +41%

17. SRI adoption relative to yield difference and cost reduction with SRI in Tamilnadu District % SRI area to total rice area Yield (t/ha) % Cost saving SRI Normal % per acre per quintal Coimbatore 48.8 6.52 6.15 6.1 22.3 29.9 R amnath-pu ram 29.2 5.51 4.71 17.0 19.7 41.4 Kanchi-puram 20.5 6.50 5.45 19.3 23.7 47.5 Tanjore 59.4 5.06 4.75 6.7 81.9 94.2

18. Adoption and cost reduction by farm size under SRI in Tamilnadu District Farm size % SRI area to total rice area Yield (t/ha) % cost saving per SRI Normal % acre quintal Coimbatore Marginal Small Medium Large 54.2 50.3 51.9 38.8 6.20 6.48 6.42 7.00 5.85 6.09 6.01 6.65 6.0 6.3 6.8 5.3 25.9 24.6 27.3 11.6 33.5 32.5 36.0 17.4 Ranathapuram Marginal Small Medium 33.3 22.8 11.8 5.25 5.09 5.16 4.20 4.20 4.29 25.0 21.3 20.4 14.8 24.4 17.4 43.5 51.0 41.4 Kanchipuram Marginal Small Medium Large 33.3 22.6 14.9 11.1 6.83 6.48 6.42 6.30 5.78 5.43 5.37 5.25 18.2 19.4 19.6 20.0 18.0 21.4 25.0 30.3 39.4 44.9 49.5 56.3 Tanjore Marginal Small Medium Large 50.0 65.6 63.7 58.3 5.10 5.18 4.95 5.03 4.65 4.85 4.68 4.80 9.7 6.7 5.8 4.7 79.8 77.5 102.5 68.0 97.5 89.5 114.1 75.6

19. Factors of production and cost in SRI at different location s, by farm size category

20. Net return and cost of production District Net return/ha Cost of production/qtl SRI Non-SRI % SRI Non-SRI % Coimbatore 12,413 10,748 15 314 397 -21 Kanchipuram 15,313 10,431 47 266 404 -34 Ramanathapuram 13,112 6,170 113 256 449 -43 Tanjore 11,098 9,703 14 376 461 -19

21. Net return and cost of production of rice under SRI in Tamilnadu District Farm size SRI Non-SRI % Change Coimbatore Marginal 11,327 9,942 14 Small 10,824 11,140 -3 Medium 9,980 10,567 -6 Large 17,524 n.a. n.a. Kanchipuram Marginal 18,168 n.a. n.a. Small 16,514 10,388 59 Medium 16,557 11,108 49 Large 10,013 8,150 23 Ramanathapuram Marginal 12,914 4,238 205 Small 14,149 6,256 126 Medium 12,273 6,988 76 Tanjore Marginal 11,689 10,342 13 Small 10,730 12,613 -15 Medium 10,929 8,820 24 Large 11,046 7,475 48

22. Comparison across Farmer Size *No data were reported from Kanchipuram; also the low average yield (4,238) reported from Ramananthapuram suggests some failures of marginal farmers’ conventional crops. Size of farming operation SRI (Rs.) Conventional (Rs.) SRI Advantage Marginal farmers (< 1ha) 14,466 8,174* 77%* Small farmers (1-2 ha) 13,053 10,100 29% Medium farmers (2-4 ha) 12,345 9,371 32% Large farmers (>4 ha) 11,030 7,813 41%

23. Benefit – cost ratio in Tamilnadu SRI farmers Non-SRI farmers Total cost (Rs./ha) 21,637 25,778 Total income (Rs./ha) 30,371 27,603 BCR 1.43 1.07 Gains due to SRI in Tamilnadu 1. Land 2. Labour 3. Water 4. Seed 5. Income 6. Cost of production 7. Perception 1. More rice produced from less land 2. Provides more employment (prominently family labour) 3. Alternate drying and wetting system saves substantial water 4. Phenomenal saving in seed (important for hybrid seed) 5. Increase in crop income and yields (income & food security) 6. Reduction in cost, due to saving on inputs 7. In the changing circumstances and eroding resource base, there is overwhelming response from farmers

24. Gains in SRI (selected parameters)

25. Farmers’ perception on SRI usefulness (% respondents) Perception on SRI advantages ( preference ) (% respondents) District Useful ( %) Coimbatore 73 Thanjavur 80 Ramanathapuram 54 Kanchipuram 100 Overall 78 Reason Coimbatore Thanjavur (Tanjore) Ramnatha- Puram Kanchi- puram Water scarcity 100 100 100 100 Clear yield advantage with SRI 100 100 100 100 Decline in yield of normal rice 26 53 0 0 Personal interest 80 80 46 67 Use of less seed 33 100 46 80 Neighbour success 53 40 0 0

27. Advantages of SRI quantified (i) Less seed in SRI (5 to 8 kg/ha as compared to 40 to 50 kg under conventional practices) reduces cost substantially. (ii) Uniformly high yield across the farm-size categories. Yields vary from about 5 to 7.5 ton/ha, as compared to 1.88 to 3.85 tons/ha under conventional practice across the four Tamilnadu districts (iii) Substantial water-saving due to alternate wetting and drying system, means that even with no improvement in yield, SRI is socially beneficial in areas where water is at a premium. Average water-saving varies from 16 to 49% in Andhra Pradesh, and 22 to 38% in Tamilnadu. The figure is identical across farm size, representing equity in water use. These savings can lead to substantial water economy at the state level, which is of societal relevance. (iv) Use of organic manure, green manure and biological fertilizers and less need to use fertilizer and other agro-chemicals enables SRI to be produced as an organic product . (v) Incidence of pest and diseases is less with SRI management due to sturdy and hardier stems and leave which resist specific insects.