Summary of SRI in Rwanda

SRI AFRICA May 21, 2021 0 Comments

International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) brought two people from the Madagascar NGO Association Tefy Saina to Rwanda in 2006 to extend SRI methods in conjunction with the Support Project for the Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture (PAPSTA); fifty farmers were trained in SRI methods in the original training. By 2008, an additional 2000 farmers had reportedly been trained by IFAD projects in two areas. In Kibaza, rice yields increased under SRI from 4 t/ha to at least 6 t/ha, for a total production of 135 tonnes. In Rwabutazi, yields rose from 4 t/ha to at least 7 t/ha, for a total production of 401 tonnes in 2008. According to IFAD reports, the Rural Sector Support Project (RSSP) began replicating SRI in the marshlands of Rwanda in 2009.. A video produced in 2011 documented the additional spread of SRI from Rwanda into Burundi.

Progress and Activities

2011-2012 Updates
  • Rwandan Farmers Featured in Video about the Spread of SRI in Eastern and Southern AfricaCelestin explaning SRIDeclan McCormack, Flooded Cellar Productions, produced a video on SRI “learning routes” across Madagascar, Rwanda, and Burundi, and how the SRI methods are being spread by farmers themselves. The video follows the spread of SRI by way of an initiative funded by IFAD in which farmers from Madagascar traveled to Rwanda for four months during 2008 to teach SRI methods. Shown at left is Celestin, one of the early adopters of SRI following the training, who is featured in the video. Rwandan farmers in turn shared what they learned about SRI in cross visits with Burundi farmers. (The video is available on YouTube’s FloodedCellar channel).
2008-2009
  • First SRI Results Reported in RwandaClaus Reiner, the country program manager in IFAD’s Eastern and Southern Africa Division, reports that SRI methods have proved to be productive in the PAPSTA project (Support Project for the Strategic Transformation of Agriculture), supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

    Cultivation in two areas has shown the potential of SRI. In Kibaza, rice yields increased from 4 t/ha to at least 6 t/ha, for a total production of 135 tonnes. In Rwabutazi, yields rose from 4 t/ha to at least 7 t/ha, for a total production of 401 tonnes in 2008. The total number of rice farmers in both marshlands together was 2,000 by the end of 2008. Reiner notes that further increases appear possible because the SRI methods are not yet being fully utilized. (see Bavugamenshi presentation at the Jan. 2009 IFAD meeting). Problems in growing rice in the marshlands include access to seed, marketing and equitable distribution of irrigation water.

    Benoit Thierry, IFAD Country Programme Manager for Madagascar, reported that replication of SRI in the marshlands of another project in Rwanda, the Rural Sector Support Project (RSSP), had already begun in during 2009 (see March 2009 IFAD newsletter).

2006
  • Malagasy Experts Train Rice Producers in Rwanda
    Knowledge of SRI was brought to farmers in these areas by the president and secretary of Association Tefy Saina, Sebastien Rafaralahy and Justin Rabenandrasana, whom IFAD brought to Rwanda from Madagascar in 2006 under the Support Project for the Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture (PAPSTA). Fifty rice producers and Rwandan technicians were trained in SRI methods by the two Malagasy experts.

Reports and Articles

Presentations

Videos