Summary of SRI Activities in Guinea

SRI AFRICA May 21, 2021 0 Comments

In 2003, Dr. Peng Jimeng, deputy director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center introduced hybrid varieties and SRI methods in Guinea. In 2012, a Peace Corps Volunteer and her colleague from the National School of Agriculture and Livestock (ENAE) in Lower Guinea attended a three-day SRI workshop that was held in early September 2012 in Ouémé, Benin. Following the workshop, SRI training was held at the Kanakan’s National Agriculture school, which trained 60 students and professors with the intention of incorporating SRI into field trainings.

Also in 2012, Dr. Mamadou Billo Barry, scientific director at the Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinée (IRAG), made a presentation and gave an interview on the potential for adoption of the SRI in Guinea at the Regional Workshop on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and organized by the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD), the National Center of Specialization for Rice (NCOS-Rice Mali) and SRI-Rice (Cornell University) within the framework of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP). Due to growing interest in SR in Guinea following the workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the project Improving and Scaling up the System of Rice Intensification in West Africa, which resulted from the workshop, was formally launched in January 2014. The first phase of the project is running from January 2014 – June 2016. For more information about the SRI-WAAPP project view the project website and the project brochure. The SRI-WAAPP National Facilitator for Guinea is Mamadou Billo Barry, based at L’Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinée (IRAG). A 2016 map (right) shows SRI-WAAPP sites in Guinea.

Progress and Activities

2017 Updates
  • arrowPeace Corps SRI Training in Yorokogueyah[January 30, 2017] Peace Corps Guinea’s thirteen Agroforestry Extension trainees arrived in Guinea in December 2016, and participated in two training sessions on the System of Rice Intensification in January 2017. At the training site in Yorokogueyah (Dubreka), Hillary Mara, Guinea RPCV ‘14 and SRI-Rice team member, led an introductory session on the basic principles of SRI as well as background on the importance of rice cultivation in Guinea. Trainees engaged on technical, biological, and socio-economic aspects of SRI. Trainees then practiced improved seed sorting methods. A nursery was prepared and about 12 days later, trainees had the hands-on experience of transplanting young seedlings following SRI management techniques. Trainees experimented with using both rakes and ropes as markers. The trainees leave for their respective communities in early February and will soon begin to identify possible partners and sites for testing SRI with community members in the coming rainy season.
2016

 

  • arrowFarmers Impressed by Peace Corps SRI Plots Near Dubreka[November 30, 2016 ] Rainfed lowland rice planted by Peace Corps volunteers during an SRI training in Dubreka, Guinea in early August have reached maturity, demonstrating impressive growth and tillering (photo at right). Peace Corps Agroforestry Program Manager, Kalifala Fofana, notes: “The farmer near the field is appreciating it at every occasion. If I look at each rice plant coming only from a single seedling, it is amazing!” Hillary Mara, SRI team member, will be leading another SRI training for Peace Corps volunteers in Guinea this December.
  • arrowSRI Training for Extension Agents, Farmers, Community Leaders, and Peace Corps Volunteers[August 24, 2016] Hillary Mara, graduate student in the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs, spent 6 weeks in Guinea during mid-2016 training field agents and staff at the NGO NARSEME (Nature ressources pour les services écosystémique et les moyens d’existence), farmers, rural community leaders, and Agroforestry Peace Corps volunteers in the SRI methodology.

    In the small rural community of Madina Oula, Kindia region, Martin Kourouma, Head of Project Development with NARSEME, and Mara shared the SRI information with NARSEME field agents, key farmers and resource people in the community. Following sessions on SRI theory and seed sorting, they worked with farmers to build demonstration and comparison plots, and a nursery for SRI seedlings. This work, which was replicated in the nearby town of Badet Kanty, was followed later with transplanting and weeding sessions, including the use of a rope-marker for plant spacing and a upland rice weeder, appreciated for its remarkable efficiency. Mara remarked, “Farmers were especially intrigued by the 95% reduction of seed: as the only purchased input for small holder rice farming, this represents a significant reduction in expenses for farmers and is very appealing to subsistence farmers.” During August, Mara also traveled to the Peace Corps training site in Dubreka and led a training for over 20 Agroforestry volunteers. (See article and photo album.)

  • arrowSRI-WAAPP Sites Expanded[May 2016] SRI continues to expand the areas of Guinea where rice is cultivated, as can be seen in the SRI-WAAPP project site map. The map, which is current as of 2016, shows 20 sites where farmers have received training in SRI since the SRI-WAAPP formally began in 2014. For more information, visit the SRI-WAAPP Guinea web page.

 

2013-2014
  • arrowRegional Project to Scale Up SRI Formally Launched[January 1, 2014] As one of 13 participating countries in the World Bank-financed regional project “Improving and Scaling up the System of Rice Intensification in West Africa” (SRI-WAAPP) that formally began in January 2014, Guinea participates in the project in regional workshops, trainings and meetings is undertaking nationally funded SRI activities through the WAAPP. Part of the larger and on-going West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP), SRI-WAAPP grew out of demands for technical and training assistance in SRI from most of the 13 countries, which resulted in a commissioned project development with an initial regional workshop to design the project in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in July 2012. The first phase of the project is running from January 2014 – June 2016. For more information about the SRI-WAAPP project view the project website and the project brochure. The project’s Regional Coordination Unit is a partnership between Mali’s National Center of Specialization in Rice (CNS-Riz) who houses the regional coordinator and SRI-Rice as the technical and strategic partner for this project, The SRI-WAAPP National Facilitator for Guinea is Mamadou Billo Barry, based at L’Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinée (IRAG). For more about SRI activities in Guinea through the SRI-WAAPP project, visit the project’s Guinea page. Since the project’s initial planning workshop in 2012, Guinea has participated in the numerous regional workshop (see reports for the various national and regional SRI-WAAPP activities).
2012
  • arrowSRI Trainings and Trials Undertaken Following West Africa SRI Training in BeninA Guinea Peace Corps Volunteer and her colleague from the National School of Agriculture and Livestock (ENAE) in Lower Guinea attended a three-day SRI workshop that was held in early September 2012 in Ouémé, Benin. The event was a collaboration between the West Africa Food Security Partnership, SRI-Rice at Cornell University, and the Conseil de Concertation des Riziculteurs du Benin (CCR-B), and was hosted at the Solidarité Agricole Integrée (SAIN) teaching farmer and research center in Kakanitchoé, Ouémé.

    Following the training, the Guinea participants to the workshop from ENAE conducted SRI trainings at the Kankan’s National Agriculture School. Over 60 agricultural students and professors attended.  ENAE plans to integrate SRI into its trainings, conduct SRI trials and install demonstration fields. During their internships, students at ENAE will then be able to transfer their knowledge and skills on SRI to the NGOs, development projects, agriculture centers and other organizations that host their internships.

  • arrowScientific director at the Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinée (IRAG) Attends SRI Workshop in Burkina Faso

    Dr. Mamadou Billo Barry, scientific director at the Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinée (IRAG), made a presentation and gave an interview (at right) on the potential for adoption of the SRI in Guinea at the Regional Workshop on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop, which was held July 26 and 27, 2012, was organized by the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD), the National Center of Specialization for Rice (NCOS-Rice Mali) and SRI-Rice (Cornell University) within the framework of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP). Based on information Dr. Barry learned at the workshop, he plans to set up trials in several plots in lowland periurban areas and also to engage with other governmental and non-governmental groups in Guinea.

2003 Activity
  • arrow SRI Introduced into Guinea along with Hybrid Varieties from ChinaFarmer with Hybrid grown with SRIChinese hybrid

    In 2003, Dr. Peng Jiming, deputy director of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center, while introducing hybrid varieties in this country also introduced SRI methods. The combination produced yields as high as 9 t/ha in a country where the current average yield is below 2 t/ha. The China National Hybrid Rice Center is introducing SRI methods in many areas that it is promoting its hybrid rice in Africa.

 

 

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