1. Delivering Food Security Without Increasing Pressure on
the Environment: Reports from the Field on Improving
Agricultural Productivity & Food Security in the Lower
Mekong River Basin in the Context of Climate Change and
ASEAN Food Security
DR. ABHA MISHRA, NORMAN THOMAS UPHOFF, SURESH LOKHANDE,
BISHAL BHARI
abhamishra@ait.asia ( http://www.acisai.ait.asia/ )
3rd International Conference on Global Food Security
Cape Town, South Africa, 3-6 December 2016

2. CONTENT
1. Background
2. Introduction to SRI-LMB
3. Geographical areas & Partnership,
4. Implementation Consortia and
Programme Management Structure
5. Major Activities
6. Results achieved so far
7. Way Forward

3. Recommends investing in smallholder
agriculture focusing on the following
five components:
1. Conservation and enhancement of
soil health
2. Sustainable management of water
resources and launching a “more
crop and income per drop of
water”
3. Extending appropriate technologies
and inputs
4. Providing the needed credit and
insurance
5. Ensuring assured and remunerative
marketing opportunities
A vision for the rice sector
“Food-secure, better
nourished and prosperous
rice farmers, producers
and consumers in the
Asia/Pacific region who
benefit equitably from a
vibrant, innovative and
transformed rice sector
that is more productive,
efficient and
environmentally
sustainable by 2030”.
Rice, the common staple food in
ASEAN
1. Closely linked to food security .
2. Need to produce more food with
fewer resources, restore natural
resources and increase the resilience
of farming systems.
3. Strengthen communication between
researchers, extension agents and
farmers on the promotion of GAP
4. Identify and address emerging issues
to food security (Introduce Climate
smart Agriculture in AMS– pilot testing
of technologies and practices, such
as Conservation Agriculture, System
of Rice Intensification, organic
agriculture)-AIFS Framework SPA
(2015-2020)

4. working in 33 districts of 11 food
insecure provinces

5. Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB)
60 million
population in LMB
60% rice area is
rainfed
75% calories from
rice
5
! Small land holding (90%)
! Average age of farmers 50+
! More than 60% are women
! Grow only one crop of rice
! Increasing households loans
! Low rice productivity
! Costly farming technique are
not applied
! Declining profit (due to rising
cost of production and
stagnating yields)
! Increasing out-migration of
farmers
! Youth leaving agriculture
Challenge
Making farming
economically and
socially attractive in a
rapid changing
environment, such as
climate change
Options
Smallholders
either move
out or
become
efficient,
smart, and
attractive
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

6. " Transplanting
younger and fewer
seedlings/hill or
direct seeding with
low seed rate
" maintaining wider
spacing
" Avoiding continuous
soil saturation
" Applying compost
as much as possible
" Offers low cost solution
" Doesn’t require external
inputs
" Practices are amenable to
farmers experimentation
" Follows agro-ecological
principles
" Strengthen livelihoods
6SRI: a ’menu’ for change and
transformation
Capturing farmers' imagination by enabling them
to get higher yield with reduced external inputs,
and fueling their capacity for innovation
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

7. Sustaining and Enhancing the Momentum for Innovation around the System of
Rice Intensification in Lower Mekong River Basin (SRI-LMB)
http://www.sri-lmb.ait.asia/
7
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT
Royal University
of Agriculture
National
University of Laos
Hanoi University
of Agriculture
Rajabhat
University

8. CAMBODIA
Implementing consortia
include NGO, GO,
academics
LAOS
Implementing consortia
include NGO, GO,
academics
THAILAND
Implementing
consortia include
NGO GO, academics
VIETNAM
Implementing consortia
include NGO, GO academics
P1
Provinces
Districts
Oxfam FAO
P2 P3 P1 P3P2 P1 P2 P1 P2
UQ
Australia SRI-Rice
USA
Local
consortia
National
consortia
Regional
consortia
ProgrammeImplementation
consortia

9. Different sets of practices applied at
farmers’ fields
Crop
management
practices
Conventional
practices
(CP-Baseline)
SRI-Transition
(SRI-T)
SRI-Demonstration
(SRI-D)
Seedling age 40-60 day-old
(established by
baseline)
39-20 day-old 8-19 day-old*
(8-15 day-old for
Cambodia and
Thailand)
Seed rate 100-150 kg/ha 20-30% less than CM 5-20 kg/ha
Transplanting
spacing
Crowded, 10 x 10
cm
10 x 15 to 19 x 19 cm 20 x 20 – 30 x 30 cm
or more
Planting/hill >5-6 4-5 seedlings/hill 1-3 seedlings/hill
Soil condition Flooded (or no
effort in
maintaining
aerobic soil
condition
Relatively aerobic soil
condition with respect
to CM either through
shallow water level or
through intermittent
drying
Maintaining aerobic
soil condition at
least for a week
during tillering stage
9
! Three treatments and 4 replications
(minimum) for each experiment
! Data collection and analysis (average)
by farmers at three growth stages
(tillering, flowering, and harvesting)
! Data recorded by farmers using
farmers diary
! Data were compiled by district trainer
and subsequently by provincial
coordinator
Design and data handling at field
level
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

10. Data handling at country and regional
level
! System Architecture
Query Data
INTERNET
Input Data
Download Output File
Save data into DB
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT
10

11. Key Findings 11
VARIABLES:
# Improved Livelihood
• Productivity (yield), tons/ha
• Profitability (net return), US$/ha
• Labor productivity, kg of rice yield/man-day of labor
# Resource Use Efficiency
• Water productivity, kg of rice yield/m3 of water input
• Inorganic fertilizer use efficiency, kg of rice yield/kg of inorganic fertilizer
• Total energy input (Chemical, Mechanical and Biological), GJ/ha
# Climate change mitigation
• Greenhouse gas emissions – (CH4, N2O, CO2), tCO2 eq./ha
• GHG emissions (Rainfed and Irrigated scenarios)
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

12. Key Learnings: Improved
Livelihood
# Produc'vity:
Paddy
yield
(t/ha)
# Profitability:
Net
income
(US$/ha)
# Labor
Produc'vity:
kg
of
rice
yield/man-­‐day
labor
12
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

13. Productivity (Paddy yield (t/ha)
13
4.02
4.51
6.30
4.70 4.89
3.16 3.28
4.11
2.19
3.06
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Lao PDR Regional
Paddyyield,tons/ha
Paddy Yield, tons/ha
SRI Baseline
53%
30%
110%
66%
19%
More than 60%
yield increase
Key Learnings: Improved Livelihood
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

14. Profitability: Net income (US$/ha)
14
1000
494
384
838
679
187
376
73
704
400
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Lao PDR Regional
NetReturn(US$/ha)
Net Return (US$/ha )
SRI Baseline
70%
19%
428%
31%
434%
Much needed
financial support
to poor household
Key Learnings: Improved Livelihood
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

15. Labor Productivity: kg of rice yield/man-
day labor
15
Key Learnings: Improved Livelihood
38
60
82
49
55
21
74
31
77
33
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Lao PDR Regional
LabourProductivity,KgRice/dayof
labor
Labour Productivity, Kg Rice/man-day of labor
SRI Baseline
At regional level,
55 kg rice per
man-day labour
80%
161%
-19% 66%
-35%
% change w.r.t. to
baseline
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

16. Key
Learnings:
Resource-­‐use-­‐
efficiency
# Water
produc'vity:
kg
of
rice/m3
of
water
(Molden
et
al.,
2010)
# Mineral
fer'lizer
use
efficiency:
kg
of
rice/kg
of
mineral
fer'lizer
# Total
energy
input:
(GJ/ha)
(Chamsing
et
al.,
2006)
• Mechanical:
manual
and
machine
• Chemical:
organic
and
mineral
fer'lizer,
pes'cide,
herbicide
• Biological:
seed
16
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

17. 17
Key Learnings: Resource-use-efficiency
0.36
0.27
0.30
0.24
0.29
0.30
0.21
0.20
0.12
0.18
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Lao PDR Regional
WaterProductivity,kg/m3ofwater
Water Productivity, kg /m3 of water
SRI Baseline
19%
110%
53%30% 59%
Water Productivity: kg of paddy/m3 of
rainfall water
Efficient use of
natural resource
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

18. 18
25.0 19.3
31.0
208.6
31.4
8.5
29.2
12.1 10.1 11.4
0
50
100
150
200
250
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Lao PDR Regional
Inorganicfertilizeruseefficiency,Kg
Rice/kgofinorganicfertilizer
Inorganic fertilizer use efficiency, kg Rice/kg of inorganic fertilizer
SRI Baseline
Key Learnings: Resource-use-efficiency
Mineral fertilizer use efficiency: kg of
paddy/kg of mineral fertilizer
At
regional
level,
31
kg
of
paddy
per
kg
of
mineral
fer'lizer
Wu
2013:
21.4
kg
of
rice/kg
of
NPK
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

19. 19
Key Learnings: Resource-use-efficiency
Total energy input: GJ/h
7.44
9.46 9.12
2.25
7.07
15.58
6.48
14.29
8.66
11.25
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam Lao PDR Regional
TotalEnergyInput,GJ/ha
Total Energy Input, GJ/ha )
SRI Baseline
-52%
46%
-36%
-74%
-37% Major
contribu'on
to
reduc'on
in
cost
of
cul'va'on
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

20. Key
Learnings:
Climate
change
mi'ga'on
20
• Greenhouse gas emissions – (CH4, N2O, CO2), tCO2
eq./ha
• GHG emissions (Rainfed and Irrigated scenarios)
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

21. 21
Countries Irrigated Rainfed
SRI Baseline % change
w.r.t.
baseline
SRI Baseline % change
w.r.t.
baseline
Cambodia 2.20 1.54 43 1.76 1.09 61
Laos 1.17 1.74 -33 0.73 1.3 -44
Thailand 1.86 2.52 -26 1.42 2.07 -32
Vietnam 2.35 2.92 -20 1.9 2.48 -23
Regional 1.9 2.18 -13 1.45 1.74 -16
Greenhouse gas mitigation (t CO2 eq./ha)
Key Learnings: Climate change mitigation
Feb 2017,
priced one
ton of
carbon
dioxide
equivalent
(tCO2e) at
5.53 USD.
Ref: http://
greenliving.love
toknow.com
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

22. Production efficiency of different
systems
Variables Irrigated
(SRI)
Baseline Rainfed
(SRI)
baseline
Yield (t/ha) (2014-15) 6.26 4.5 5.82 3.06
Economic productivity (dollars earn/dollars
spent/ha) with farm-gate price
2.06 0.05 2.9 0.54
22
Organic SRI rice Inorganic SRI rice FP
Paddy Yield (t/ha) (2016) 3.92 4.62 3.4
Cost of production (US$/ha) 560 US$/ha
(0.14$/kg)
744 US$/ha
( 0.16$/kg)
828 (0.24$/kg)
Net return (US$/ha) 636 470 217
Economic productivity 1.13 0.63 0.26
10% premium (10% of cost of
production of 1 kg paddy)
0.014$/kg✔✔ 0.016/kg✔ 0.024/kg
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

23. Exploring the potential for the strategy of farmer’s
collective action (CA) to accelerate scaling-up
SRI and market development
23
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24. Farmers’ Collective Action
$ WHAT WE HAVE
Informal farmers’ group (involving 12,000 farmers) evolved through the process
of experiential capacity building activities
$ WHAT WE NEED
An intervention to have multifunctional farmers’ organization including farmers'
companies and farmers cooperatives that would focus on:
1. Production planning, input-output services with an objective to accelerate
adoption of ecologically sound SRI and Conservation Agriculture
2. Post harvest management including marketing and value addition
3. Institutional arrangement for capturing economies of scale for
commercialization of rainfed agriculture through mutually beneficial
partnership with private sector
24
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

25. The main objective of FO managed CA would be:
$ Farmer empowerment for equitable development
$ Reduce farmer’s cost of production
$ Gain access to high quality inputs through FO managed input-output
services
$ Reduce farmer’s transaction costs
$ Develop FOs as farmer’s share-holding business enterprises
$ Create more local employment opportunities
$ Make FOs as platform for integrating line departments (Department of
agriculture, etc.)
25Farmers’ Collective Action
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

26. Farmer’s Collective Action 26
District level
Federation
Province level
Farmers
Federation
District level
Federation
District level
Federation
V1 V2 V3 V4 V4V1 V2 V3 V1 V2 V3 V4
Possible FO structure
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27. What FO would do as a part of Collective Action?
$ Collective planning and decision-making
$ Input-output services management
$ Coordinated time of planning (reduce gap between first and last farmer)
$ Planting varieties with same maturation
$ Seed production
$ Same package of technology/practices
$ Soil testing on mass scale
$ Experiential capacity building
$ Participatory performances assessment and target setting
$ Develop partnership with private sectors
27Farmer’s Collective Action
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28. Conclusions
28
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29. SRI and Collective Actions
$ SRI has demonstrated that it is a high yielding, climate-smart, low cost
practices with higher factor productivity (land, labors, water, chemicals,
and seed).
$ SRI can lead the way to poverty reduction and can make smallholder
farming attractive, efficient, and smart
$ With SRI, the economic productivity is higher in rainfed areas compared
to irrigated areas
$ Collective action is needed by farmers' organization to capture the
economies of scale and to commercialize the rainfed agriculture and
sustain the benefits
$ National and international actors including private sectors’ support
would be needed to support this development
29
Abha Mishra, ACISAI, AIT

30. Contributors
30
$ 12,000 farmers
$ 77 ministries staffs
$ 16 researchers
$ 30 project staffs
$ MOE, Thailand; MAF, Lao PDR; MAFF, Cambodia; MARD, Vietnam
$ Rajabhat University, Thailand; Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia;
Hanoi University of Agriculture, Vietnam; Nabong College of Agriculture,
Lao PDR
$ FAO, Oxfam, SRI-Rice Cornell University USA; University of Queensland,
Australia; ACISAI, AIT
$ European Union
Visit SRI-LMB at: http://www.sri-lmb.ait.asia/
http://www.acisai.ait.asia/
Programme summary at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu4f1JXOT9cfeature=youtu.be