Lucy Fisher-SRI Networks Around the World Where to Next?

1. SRI Networks Around the World
Where to Next?
Lucy Fisher
SRI International Network and Resource Center (SRI-Rice)
IP/CALS Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Final Workshop
Sustaining and Enhancing the Momentum from Innovation and
around the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in the Lower Mekong Rive Basic (SRI-LMB)
November 1-2, 2018

2. Progress of SRI Around the World
SRI has been validated in
~60+ countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas
-and an estimated 10-20 million people are using
SRI methods

3. SRI NETWORKS
SRI is an eco-digital commons –-
--an international network of thousands of farmers and other stakeholders
practicing or supporting a form of “open-source agronomy” for rice cultivation

4. GLOBAL SRI NETWORKS Founded Based at Formal? Online?
SRI-Rice 2010 Cornell University No Website/FB/TW/blog/newsletter
SRI Research Network 2016 Cornell University No Zotero database / website
SRI Equipment Forum 2012 Cornell University No Facebook
REGIONAL SRI NETWORKS
SRI Latin America 2009,’12 &’17 Originated in Cuba; moved to IICA (Costa Rica) No Facebook
Africa 2019 Jomo Kenyatta Univ. of Ag. And Tech (No) Website (new)
NATIONAL SRI NETWORKS
Bangladesh (SRI NBB) 2006 Bangladesh Rice Foundation (originally) ? No
Cambodia 2004 Govt. (MAFF) – no longer a network Yes Previous website
India (National SRI Consortium) 2007 Peoples Science Institute (NGO) No Google Group (JaiSRI)
Indonesia (Ina-SRI) 2008 Institut Pertanian Bogor No Yahoo Group (only)
Japan (J-SRI) 2007 University of Tokyo Yes Website
[Madagascar (GSRI) – now closed] 2008-2012 [Group of NGOs and Ministry of Agriculture] No [Website]
Malaysia (SRI-MAS) 2011 University Kebangsaan Malayisa Yes Website/fb/WhatsApp
Nepal (SRI-Nepal) 2002&’15 Virtual No Facebook/twitter
Philippines (SRI-Pilipinas) 2002 NGO (virtual) ? Yahoo Group
Sri Lanka (Merged with Agroecol.) 2008&’15 Rajarata University Yes No
Taiwan (CA-SRI) 2016 Business (Caremed, Inc.) Yes Website

5. Workshop to Enhance Cooperation and Sharing
among SRI National Networks in Asia
The Leverage Business Hotel-Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
18-19 October 2018

6. There’s a lot of SRI networks!
 What do the networks need?
 What do the networks have to offer each
other?
 How can we better connect them to
support each other?
 What things can the networks do together
that they can’t do by themselves?

7. NATIONAL SRI NETWORKS
Several Examples

8. SRI NATIONAL AND REGIONAL DISCUSSION
GROUPS
-- not too much interaction between networks
India (57%)
Indonesia (24.54%)
Philippines (11.04%)
Latin America (4.91%)
Nepal (1.23 %)
Fisher, 2013 network study

9. PHILIPPINES NATIONAL SRI NETWORK: SRI-Pilipinas
How they operate:
1) Weekly radio show
2) Hotline advertised in local and national newspapers
3) One-day or season-long trainings on request (SMS module or in person)
4) Provide primer, videos, SMS-delivered provided on request
5) Listserv
At least one contact in
all 81 provinces.
Of the 1,633 towns in
the Philippines, 872
have at least one
Hotline contact

10. JAPAN
J-SRI Network
J-SRI website
 Founded 2007 at University of Tokyo
 About 300 members; ~ 60 meet every other month
 Most projects are in SE Asia

11. TAIWAN –
Society of Conservation Agriculture –
System of Rice Intensification (CA-SRI)
The new
website!
 Founded: 2016
 Based at: Caremed (medical equipment supply business)
 Membership: ~60 people, convene: 2X/year
 Projects: 2 field projects with 2 ha in 2016. 1 project with 13ha in 2017
Also published "稻作革命SRI (System of Rice Intensification)," the Chinese language
version of Norman Uphoff's 2016 book SRI Frequently Asked Questions"

12. GLOBAL NETWORKS
SRI International Network and Resource
Center (SRI-Rice)
SRI Equipment Network
SRI Research Network

13. http://sririce.org
Gets ~ 4,000 visitors per month from ~ 90 countries

14. SRI-Rice provides free online SRI resources and advice
SRI-Rice Website
http://sririce.org
Facebook (English)
https://www.facebook.com/SRIRice/
Facebook (Spanish)
https://www.facebook.com/SicaAmericaLatina/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/SRIRice
Video Library
https://www.youtube.com/user/sricornell/playlists
Presentations (mostly ppt)
https://www.slideshare.net/SRI.CORNELL/presentations
SRI Highlights (monthly newsletter)
http://www.scoop.it/t/system-of-rice-intensification-sri
Research Database /Library
https://www.zotero.org/groups/344232/sri_-_system_of_rice_intensification_research_network/items
SRI Equipment Innovators Forum
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SRI.innovators/

15. Things that are more difficult for SRI-Rice to
provide from the global level
 Requests for trainers and training in specific countries / regions
 Requests for information on where to acquire appropriate
equipment from Asia, Africa, and Latin America
 Requests for information on developing domestic /
international markets for rice produced with SRI methods
 Regional networks could help maintain this information!

16. SRI EQUIPMENT NETWORK
SRI Equipment Innovators Exchange (a Facebook Group
with 350 Members)
2014 Equipment Workshop
Asian Institute of Technology

17. The System of Rice Intensification
(SRI) Global Research Network
There are
1,439 SRI
research
items in the
database!
There are
1,104
journal
articles
from Africa,
Asia, Europe
and the
Americas
216 research
items from
China
152 research
items from
Indonesia
123 research
items from Africa
589 research items
from India

18. SRI Principles and Practices
1. Early and healthy
plant establishment
2. Minimize
competition between
plants
3. Build fertile soils
rich in organic matter
and soil biota
4. Manage water
carefully, avoid flooding
& water stress, create
aerated soil
• High number
of tillers and
panicles
• Good grain
filling
• Prolific deep
root growth
• Delayed root
senescence
Higher yields
1 plant/ hill
Wider spacing
Young seedlings
(8-12 days old)
Use manure, compost,
crop residues
AWD for irrigated rice
(mechanical weeder to aerate soil)
Slide: E. Styger

19. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
YEAR
250% Increase Over
the Last 10 Years
Cumulative Number of Countries With Journal Articles

20. Location of SRI research authors in China

21. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
(Africa) 1 2 1 0 4 0 2 1 0 5 7 8 9 6 10 16
Indonesia 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 6 4 10 7 12 3 9 20 13
India 0 0 0 4 5 5 15 26 27 23 33 44 63 78 64 71
China 4 26 24 12 13 6 4 8 4 6 6 13 14 20 18 15
NumberofJournalArticles
Year
Number of Journal Articles by Year and Country
China India Indonesia (Africa)

22. 24 24
19
18 18
17
13
12
10
9
7 7
5 5
4 4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 3 3
NumberofJournalArticles
Year
Total Number of Journal Articles by Country (Excluding
China, India, Indonesia)

23. What does the Global SRI Research Network
need from national and regional networks?
We can pick up and curate research in online journals,
but we need help from national and regional networks
to find:
 Research that is not published online
 Research published in languages other than English
 Research carried out by farmers and NGOs that does
not appear in academic publications
 Etc.

24. Why do we need a Global
SRI Research Network?
to easily locate SRI research (1,000+ items)
(journals articles, theses, etc.)
to share new research with colleagues
to gain access to expensive subscription
articles
to work out priorities / SRI research agenda
to share/learn about better research methods
avoid duplicating research
to facilitate multi-country collaborations

25. The SRI
Research
Network

26. REGIONAL NETWORKS
Still some work to do!

27. Regional Networks
 Latin America
- Started with listserv in 2009 with Cuban leadership (internet connectivity too hard!)
- Latin America SRI workshop (Costa Rica, 2011)
- listserv replaced by Facebook group run from Costa Rica (2013)
- 2017 workshop reestablished the regional network with a second regional workshop.
- Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which has a regional
SRI project since 2015, has an important leadership role in the SRI America Latina
Network.
 Africa
- While the 13 country World Bank-funded SRI-WAAPP project in W. Africa was
effective, the project is now closed. A West Africa SRI facebook exists that includes
some participants
- SRI Africa Information Center formed in 2018 (www.sri-africa.net);
hopes to expand to SRI Africa Network
 Asia
- A WhatsApp group was formed in 2015 for SE Asians from the national networks to
get to know each other.
- A meeting to form an SRI Asia regional network was held in Johor Bahru, Oct. 2018.
Conveners were ACISAI Centre at AIT and SRI-MAS in Malaysia.

28. Workshop to Enhance Cooperation and Sharing
among SRI National Networks in Asia
The Leverage Business Hotel-Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
18-19 October 2018

29. All types of networks should be engaging
in creating a MORE ENABLING POLICY
ENVIRONMENT
Because.. some governments and donors still have an
unfavorable opinion that is preventing the SRI
movement from getting the support they need to
scale up

30. Creating a more favorable policy
environment for SRI will happen when:
 Farmer demand is substantial AND government officials,
donors, and others are made aware of it
 Consumer demand for rice grown with SRI methods increases
AND government officials, donors, and others are aware of it
 The agricultural research community is aware of SRI research
findings and develop a favorable opinion of SRI
Or, in general we want…
 ..policymakers, donors, researchers and the general public
to recognize there is a demand, develop a favorable opinion
about SRI, and be motivated to take action.

31. How to work towards creating a more
favorable policy environment worldwide?
 Bringing farmer voices to the forefront through stories,
interviews, news clips, etc.
 Educating the general public about SRI through more
positive articles / media about SRI ..and with a wider
distribution.
..and cover specific issues of interest like women, youth,
climate change.
..educate journalists about SRI so they will cover it.
 More quality research (carried out and) presented at
more conferences and events where researchers convene
More presentations at important global events such as
COP2_.

32. And a few more ideas…
 Address specific issues governments are interested in.
 Consumer education by SRI rice traders, journalists and
others
 A strategic plan to reach and convince policymakers,
donors, government officials and the general public with
a positive message about SRI…
…and our SRI networks are capable of doing these things.

33. Thanks!