The document outlines the timeline of initiatives by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) to promote the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methodology in India between 2006-2012. Key events include SDTT launching a large SRI program in 2007, increasing farmer outreach across multiple states, organizing numerous national and state-level symposiums, establishing an SRI Secretariat in 2009 to coordinate activities, and partnering with state governments and other organizations to further scale up SRI adoption. By 2012, over 90,000 farmers across 11 states were covered under the SDTT-supported SRI program.

1. Timeline of SDTT – SRI Initiatives
Date/Period Event/Activity
2006 Sir Dorabji Tata Trust piloted the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methodology with
two NGO partners in Eastern India under its existing livelihoods portfolio.
17-18 November The first ever National SRI Symposium in India was held in Hyderabad. The event was
2006 organised by the Directorate of Rice Research and the WWF-ICRISAT Project.
2007 The number of NGO partners in the SDTT-SRI programme increased to five with a
coverage of 11,000 small and marginal farmers in rain-fed conditions in a few States of
India.
3-5 October 2007 The Second National SRI Symposium was organised in Agartala, Tripura. Hosted by the
State Government of Tripura and co-sponsored by SDTT and WWF, the other sponsors
included DRR, DRD, CRRI, NABARD and ANGRAU. This symposium brought together
people from a diverse set of institutions, indicative of the support SRI was receiving,
then. More than 250 participants attended the event.
October 2007 SDTT launched the SRI India Google e-group to exchange ideas and foster discussions for
promotion of SRI.
December 2007 SDTT sanctioned Rs. 10.94 crores for a three year SRI Programme.
19 December The first State Level SRI Symposium -cum- policy dialogue in Chhattisgarh was organised
2007 in Raipur. This included a one day orientation workshop on the Madagascar System of
Rice Production i.e. the SRI methodology. The event was facilitated by Jan Swasthya
Sahayog (JSS), Bilaspur.
2008 In Odisha, the State Government circulated a Government Order for promotion of SRI in
the entire State.
2008 82 districts were covered under the SDTT supported SRI programme in the States of
Uttarakhand, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh and Madhya
Pradesh. The number of NGO partners increased to 127 and farmer outreach to 37,000.
1-3 December The Third National SRI Symposium was organised at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural
2008 University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu with the theme, “Policies, Institutions and Strategies
for Scaling-Up: Mainstreaming SRI for achieving foodsSecurity while reducing water
conflicts”. This event was co-sponsored by SDTT.

2. 29 December The first State level SRI Symposium in Bihar was organised by BASIX. More than 135
2008 participants attended the programme in Patna.
19 February 2009 The first State level SRI Symposium for Assam was organised by RGVN in Guwahati.
Supported by SDTT, more than 65 participants from various institutions and stakeholders
involved in promotion of SRI attended the event. The Agriculture Minister also attended
this meet.
4-5 March 2009 The first State level SRI Symposium for Jharkhand was organised by SPWD with support
from SDTT. Various NGOs, representatives from the Government, NABARD, research
institutions, agricultural universities, SRI farmers and eminent academicians attended
the event.
2009 In addition to the existing 8 States, 2 new states - Maharashtra and Manipur took up the
initiative taking the total number of states covered under the SDTT initiative to 10. The
programme was also boosted by covering 65000 farmers through 163 partner
organisations. Against an average area of coverage of 0.23 acres during 2008, the
average area increased to 0.33 acres during Kharif 2009 despite the water shortage
situation across the country.
June-2009 The SRI Secretariat was established in Bhubaneswar, Odisha to monitor the activities of
the SRI partners and coordinate the SDTT-supported SRI programme.
Kharif 2009 On-farm research on SRI directly through partner organisations was taken up by the SRI
Secretariat during Kharif 2009. The research trials were initiated on five aspects in the
farmers’ fields of four partner organisations in Odisha, West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
18-19 September A national level meet of SDTT-SRI Partners was organised in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
2009
September 2009 A detailed MIS developed by the Secretariat was finalised during the partners meet.
November 2009 The SRI Secretariat made an extensive study report by exploring the opportunity of
drought conditions during Kharif 2009 to study the performance of paddy cultivated
under SRI and the common management practices (CMP). The study was done by
collecting data from 482 plots, covering 241 farmers spread over 7 States.
23-24 November The first State level SRI Symposium for Maharashtra was organised by Rural Communes
2009 in coordination with SDTT, the Department of Agriculture (Govt of Maharashtra) and
YASHADA, Pune.
December 2009 to A review of the SDTT SRI Programme was undertaken by three prominent scientists, Dr.
January 2010 B.C. Baruah, Dr. M.C .Diwakar and Dr. C.S. Prasad who gave positive feedback on the
initiative.

3. 20-21 March 2010 A State level SRI Symposium in Odisha was organised by CWS in Bhubaneswar. The
workshop was attended by around 700 farmers practicing SRI across the State with a
representation by Odisha’s State Agricultural Department.
12 April 2010 A State level SRI Symposium in West Bengal was organised by “BANGLAR SRI” – a
platform of various actors involved in SRI promotion in the State. The one-day event was
supported by SDTT and organised in collaboration with Bidhan Chandra Krishi
Viswavidyalaya (BCKV) and Directorate of Rice Development (DRD)-Patna in Kolkata.
17 April 2010 A State level SRI Symposium was organised for the 2nd time in Bihar by BASIX with the
objective of scaling up SRI in the Eastern region. The event was supported by SDTT.
25 May 2010 A State level SRI Symposium for Chhattisgarh was organised by PRADAN and JSS in
collaboration with SDTT, Department of Agriculture and IGKV Raipur in Chhattisgarh. 225
participants were present in this workshop – the 2nd of its kind in Chhattisgarh.
4-5 June 2010 A National level meet of SDTT-SRI Partners was organised in Puri , Odisha.
June 2010 The success of the SDTT initiatives prompted NABARD to launch a parallel programme on
SRI in the SDTT SRI Model. This programme with a budgeted allocation of 16 crores
spread across three years was implemented by NABARD through NGOs with the
technical support of the SDTT-SRI Secretariat.
Kharif 2010 The selected partner organisations continued on-farm research with ten aspects.
PRADAN Gaya and PRADAN Raigarh were also included as the new research partners.
30 July 2010 A National level workshop on the System of Wheat Intensification (SWI) was organised
by the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun with SDTT’s support.
14 September An Odisha Partners Meet was organised in Bhubaneswar. 85 participants from various
2010 partner NGOs of SDTT attended the event.
October 2010 The SRI Secretariat tested soil samples of the SRI promoted plots in collaboration with
the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), consecutively for three
years in order to work out the soil nutrient status for long term SRI promotion. For this
study, two contrasting regions, viz. Bihar and Uttarakhand having same cropping pattern
(Paddy-Wheat) and different agro-climatic conditions were selected.
25 November Deanna Jejeebhoy, Trustee of SDTT, Mumbai visited Bhubaneswar where discussions
2010 were held with the Director (Agriculture), Govt. of Odisha for scaling up SRI and to
establish convergences with the Government initiatives. A review and briefing of SDTT’s
SRI programme was also held.
26 November Ms Jejeebhoy also made a field visit to an SRI village in Nayagarh district, Odisha.

4. 2010
14 December The Livolink Foundation was established and registered as a charitable trust under the
2010 Indian Trusts Act 1882 headquartered in Bhubaneswar. This new entity would host the
SRI Secretariat established by SDTT during 2009.
22-24 February A Partners Meet of the SDTT-SRI Programme was organised in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
2011 71 participants representing the Government, civil society organisations and partner
NGOs attend the event. Organised by the Livolink Foundation and the Peoples Science
Institute, the programme comprised of in-house discussions, a co-currently held
exhibition on SRI learning materials and implements as well as a one-day field visit to the
System of Wheat Intensification (SWI) areas of Haridwar District, Uttarakhand.
26 February 2011 A State level SRI Symposium for West Bengal was organised by “Banglar SRI” in Kolkata.
March 2011 A comparative Study on Practices for Productivity Enhancement in SRI paddy over the
conventional method was undertaken by the SRI Secretariat.
7 March 2011 The second State level SRI symposium for Odisha called, "Jaiba Jivika" was organised by
CWS in collaboration with the Agriculture Department, Govt. of Odisha, Trocaire, SVA,
XIMB supported by SDTT. The workshop was attended by 400 SRI farmers from the State.
29 April 2011 The second State Level SRI symposium for Manipur was organised by the Development
and Relief Department of RNBA in Imphal.
23-24 May 2011 A State level SRI symposium for Maharashtra was organised by Rural Communes.
26 May 2011 The third State level SRI symposium in Chhattisgarh was organised by PRADAN in
collaboration with Department of Agriculture, SAMETI (NFSM), Govt of Chhattisgarh and
SDTT in Raipur.
June 2011 SDTT launched a web portal on its exclusive SRI Programme.
21 June 2011 A one-day consultative workshop on inputs to the 12th Five Year Plans of the Planning
Commission, Government of India, titled, “Upscaling SRI and other Innovative
Technologies” was supported by SDTT. 28 participants attended this event organised by
the Livolink Foundation at Bhubaneswar.
July 2011 The membership base of SRI India Google Group reached the 450 mark. It is now a
vibrant forum for exchange of ideas on promotion of System of Rice Intensification.
August 2011 Coverage of farmers in the SDTT-SRI programme for 2010-11 reached 90,436 in 10873.5
hectares spread across 109 districts in 11 States of the country.
7 September A State level SRI Symposium on “Upscaling System of Crop Intensification for Achieving

5. 2011 Food Security in Uttarakhand and Bundelkhand” supported by SDTT was organised by
the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun.
24 October 2011 A book on Growing Crops with SRI Principles was published by the SRI Secretariat,
Bhubaneswar.
23-25 January A three day SDTT-SRI Partners Meet was organized by Livolink Foundation and PRADAN
2012 at Bodh Gaya, Bihar. The event was attended by 93 participants representing SDTT, NGO
partners, officials from Government of Bihar, ICAR and successful SRI farmers. In-house
discussions and a days’ visit to observe field based interventions on SRI, SCI, SWI and DBI
in Gaya District formed part of the event.
January 2012 to An evaluation of the SDTT SRI Programme is undertaken by Mr Ved Arya, CEO-SRIJAN,
February 2012 New Delhi and his team along with Dr Pravat Roul, Professor, Orissa University of
Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar.
20 February 2012 A meet on Leveraging Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) in the context of
South Odisha Development Initiative was organized at Bhubaneswar. 22 participants
attended the event organized by Livolink Foundation.
5-6 March 2012 A State Level Meet of SDTT-SRI Odisha partners was organized by Livolink Foundation at
CYSD, Bhubaneswar, for reviewing progress of programme activities and future SRI
interventions for Odisha.
20 March 2012 A State Level Workshop on “Agriculture in Assam: SRI and Issues for Sustainability” is
organized by Seven Sisters Development Assistance (SeSTA) in collaboration with
PRADAN and RGVN at Guwahati.
May 2012 A Book on “Innovative Technologies in Agriculture and Rural Development” is brought
out by Livolink Foundation, Bhubaneswar. The document seeks to scale up innovative
ideas and experiences from a select compilation of rural innovations taken up by various
civil society organizations, research institutes and other agencies from different parts of
the country.
12 June 2012 A State Level SRI Symposium in Manipur is organized by RNBA in Imphal. This is the third
such symposium in this state supported by SDTT.
16-17 June 2012 A two day Consultative Meet on Research Issues in System of Rice Intensification was
organized in Bhubaneswar, supported by SDTT and organized by Livolink Foundation. 20
participants representing partners NGOs working on on-farm research in the SDTT-SRI
programme and notable scientists associated with DWM and OUAT, Bhubaneswar
attended the event for finalization of the on-farm SRI research design, technical and
social aspects affecting adoption in SRI.

6. June 2012 The SRI Secretariat collaborated with the State Government in Odisha, whereby an
amount of Rs 3 crores was sanctioned by the Government for SRI promotion in the state
through SDTT’s SRI partners. The programme has been taken up by ATMA in
convergence with the State Plan/RKVY.