Poster Presentation at the 4th International Rice Congress Presenter: Lucy Fisher Title: Development of Small-Scale Equipment for the System of Rice Intensification Venue: BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand Date: October 27-31, 2014

1. Development of Small-Scale Equipment for
the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
Lucy Fisher and Erika Styger
SRI International Network and Resources Center (SRI-Rice)
International Programs, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
P391
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is an agroecological, knowledge-based methodology for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice by changing the
management of plants, soil, water and nutrients while reducing requirements for external inputs. The use of SRI methods, which originated in Madagascar in the
1980s, has spread to over 50 countries in less than 15 years. SRI, which requires less water, seed, and agrochemicals, has increasing appeal for farmers, policy-makers
and researchers as a climate-smart methodology that helps farmers adapt to as well as mitigate climate change. See http://sririce.org for more information.
A bottleneck to adoption of SRI is access to efficient, cost-effective, small-scale equipment, especially in areas where labor is in short supply or increasingly expensive.
Development of appropriate equipment is also important for scaling up SRI, which is at present largely practiced by smallholder farmers. Much of the commercially
available rice production equipment needs to be adapted to use with SRI methods, which often diverge from most conventional rice production practices by
involving: 1) wider spacing, 2) precise planting in a grid pattern, 3) younger seedlings (8-12 days), 4) addition of organic matter, and 5) reduced flooding.
INNOVATIONS IN WEEDER DEVELOPMENT
Mechanical weeders are important for SRI in order to
● Aerate the surface soil - which improves root health
● Reduce drudgery and labor requirements - since reduced flooding
recommended for SRI can allow additional weed growth.
While farmers have been quite innovative in dealing with weeds through basic
manual designs such as the cono-weeder and multi-row mechanized weeders,
adaptations are needed that consider:
● use by women, ● soil type / edaphic conditions
● water availability and control, ● weed type and pressure,
The lack of access to weeders in many areas needs to be addressed. The
unavailability of suitable larger, mechanized weeders also discourages scaling
up for larger-scale farmers. Below are examples of farmer innovations as well as
weeders that are commercially available in some areas / countries.
FARMER INNOVATION MECHANIZATION
BASIC DESIGNS
Conoweeder
Japanese paddy weeder
Bicycle weeder (India) Weeder for inter-cultivation with 9 inch rows (Pakistan)
GENDER ISSUES IN WEEDING: MORE OR LESS LABOR?
• In many parts of the world, women are tasked with
weeding.
• SRI can increase labor if weeding is done by hand,
since using less water can increase weed growth.
• Manual and motorized weeders reduce time and
energy needed for weeding. Mrunalini and Ganesh ¹
showed a 78% reduction in women’s labor for weeding
when the conoweeder (right) is used.
• However, both equipment design and extension
services need to be more gender-sensitive to increase
widespread adoption of weeders by women.
• The use of the mechanical weeders also makes
weeding more acceptable to men… which in turn
further reduces the burden of weeding for women.
The conoweeder can
reduce labor for
women.
MECHANIZED TRANSPLANTERS REDUCE LABOR, BUT…
Common transplanters must be modified for use with these SRI practices:
• Planting in a square pattern - often
25X25 cm or more
• Single, young seedlings –most
transplanters cannot consistently grab
less than 3 seedlings.
• Young seedlings – For 8-12 day old
seedlings, transplanters must be
modifed to use trays in which seedlings
are separated, or by growing seedlings
in mats with transplanter adjustments.
Mechanized hand-transplanting (left) has
been successfully used with SRI methods
in Pakistan and the USA.
MARKERS HELP PLANT IN A SQUARE PATTERN
SRI methods include planting young, single seedlings in a square
pattern, often 25X25 cm. A variety of markers have been devised by
farmers to help ensure proper spacing that is needed for mechanical
weeding (in both directions). These can be made out of rope, wood,
bamboo, bicycle wheels, metal, etc . In some areas, rakes or roller
markers can be purchased, but farmers more often construct their own.
DIRECT SEEDING – AN OPTION FOR SRI?
SRI methods can be adapted for direct-seeding
equipment although setting machines to
maintain spacing within rows can be
problematic. Drum seeders (right) and small-grain
direct seeders need to be adapted for
precision-spacing and 1-2 seeds/hill.
Line seeding with subsequent thinning has
reported to be economically feasible in a few
areas in India, Sri Lanka and Senegal.
SRI EQUIPMENT INNOVATORS EXCHANGE
The SRI Equipment Innovators Exchange is a Facebook-based forum for
those involved in the design and adaption of equipment to share their
ideas and get input on improving their weeders, transplanters, markers
and other manual and motorized equipment used for use with SRI.
See https://www.facebook.com/groups/SRI.innovators/
SRI-Rice, the facilitator, also sponsors global SRI equipment workshops.
¹ Mrunalini A., and Ganesh M. 2008. Work load on women using cono weeder in SRI
method of paddy cultivation. ORYZA 45(1): 58-61.
4th International Rice Congress (IRC2014), 27 October - 1 Nov, 2014, Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC)