Rethinking rice production practices

December 2, 2008
By MATT MCKINNEY
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)

Fertilizers and genetically modified seeds aren't the only answers to growing more food. In Cambodia, in response to calls for the country to grow more of its own rice, a major aid organization, Oxfam America, is pursuing a cheaper solution.

It is encouraging rice farmers to follow a list of a dozen or so rules -- things like plant seedlings closer to the surface, in rows, individually and not in handfuls at a time -- that taken together could double a farmer's harvest, according to Yang Saing Koma, a Cambodian agriculturalist who's helping wage a campaign against age-old techniques. The techniques give seeds more oxygen and more room to grow into larger plants with more rice kernels, he said.

"There is a big potential to increase rice production using existing practices but you have to change your mindset, your attitude," he said.

First developed by a Jesuit priest working with rice producers in Madagascar, the ideas have become known in Third World development circles as the "System for Rice Intensification," or SRI. Promotion of the farming technique has become a cottage industry for groups working with the world's poor, with everyone from Oxfam to Cornell University teaching SRI to farmers from Cambodia to -- literally -- Timbuktu.

"It's so easy that one of its problems is that people think you're pulling their leg," said Brian Lund, regional director for Oxfam America's office in Cambodia. "It can double the yield, but when your neighbor sees that he'll say, 'Right, you must have slipped out last night and put some fertilizer on that.'"

Farmers use less water, less fertilizer and fewer seeds, but in the end the amount of rice produced per acre is greater than traditional practices, say proponents. And with less fertilizer to buy, farmers save money.

Koma, in partnership with Oxfam, recruited 38 farmers in 2000 to try SRI practices. He said he has more than 100,000 farmers using the system today.

Neighbors Survey 'Rice Intensification' Gains

By Kong Soth, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 September 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

Experts from five countries recently traveled to Phnom Penh to learn more about a new way to grow rice, one that requires less chemicals and yields greater results.

Agriculturalists from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Pakistan spent five days in Cambodia to review the System of Rice Intensification, which is being developed in Cambodia by the Center for Study and Development in Agriculture.

"The farmers in some of these countries in Asia, they are very interested with the experience we have to encourage SRI," said Yong Sang Korma, director of the center, which is known by its French acronym, CEDAC. "By following natural principals, rice farms have higher production, while using their own resources more effectively and expending less chemicals or pesticides."

SRI differs from traditional growth methods, but proponents say the yield can be much greater. Under the system, rice fields are kept moist, but not saturated, and rice stalks, whose seedlings are planted early on, are spaced farther apart to promote the growth of roots.

South Tichaykunvuth, a farmer from Thailand, said agriculture there is divided among families, who produce for themselves, and agro-businesses, which farm for export abroad. Around 70 percent of Thai farmers use pesticides on their crops, he said, a situation that is similar to Cambodia now.

"The use of chemicals can impact crop soil or the way the produce tastes and smells," he said.

Laiv Pai Yin, of Malaysia's non-governmental Action Network Asia and Pacific, said the best choice for farmers in Southeast Asia was a reduction in pesticides.

"It is a real threat to environmental and human health," he said.

Cambodia has nearly 3 million hectares of agricultural land, but much of it is farmed through the use of chemicals. CEDAC works to encourage farmers to give up these habits and turn to natural fertilizer and other methods.

Yim Kim Sean, secretary of state for the Ministry of Environment, said he supports organizations educating people about agriculture. Only about 20 percent of Cambodia's farmers know the negative impacts of chemical use on the environment and human health, he said.

Cambodian has nearly 3 million hectares of agriculture land in daily profession Khmer people they likes to used chemical and pesticide ,and these produce are imported from Thailand and Vietnam. Since 2000 CEDAC it research agriculture locally have to encourage farmer to give up old habitat so they turn to used normal fertilizer more.

Agency Pushes to Boost Rice Yield

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 March 2008

The aid group Oxfam will distribute a video to promote a system of rice growing that improves yields, as the growing season approaches.

The System of Rice Intensification, or SRI, can improve rice yields by 150 percent, the group said Tuesday, creating a larger surplus that leads to more income and farm improvements.

At first, farmer Rum Mao did not believe in the new method. But, he said Tuesday, after practicing it, his yields were higher than in the past. He was pleased with the new system, he said, as it allowed him to sell more rice and earn a better living.

The group's information video, "Do You Speak SRI?," which it produced with the Cambodian Center for the Study and Development in Agriculture, will help farmers implement the method.