Comparative Study of Rice Yield Production for Conventional Paddy Rice and Systems of Rice Intensification
Food security in Kenya is at stake due to decline in farm productivity with a combination of an ever increasing population and worsened by global warming. Improvement of agricultural productivity may not be realized soon as rice farmers currently uses traditional method of flooding rice which has been reported to yield low rice. There is need for a deliberate use of new agricultural technologies that improves productivity of rice farming. System of Rice intensification (SRI) provides an opportunity of yield improvements in rice production. This study was undertaken in Ahero Irrigation Scheme to compare yield production of conventional and SRI rice production for IR 2793-80-1 cultivar. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. SRI experiments recorded higher number of effective tillers with experiment having a spacing of 20cm by 20cm and transplanted at 8-11 days gave 321 per m2 as compared to 226 effective tillers/m2. Seed yield/plant was highly significant in SRI (39.61 g) as compared to a traditional paddy system (17.32 g). Transplanting rice seedling at the age of 8 to 11 days and at 20cm by 20cm spacing recorded highest seed yield/ha of 4.7 t/ha as compared to traditional flooding which recorded 2.7 t/ha. These results imply that planting young rice seedlings improves grain yield because of increase in number of tillers per square meters, plant height and better plant rooting ability.