Spreading the system of rice intensification across East and Southern Africa
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a set of good practices that introduces a new way of farming rice to smallholders. By using less seed, land and water, the new system significantly increases yields in most cases, but at the same time intensifies work requirements at some stages.
The remarkable results obtained by farmers who adopt SRI on their land have generated
processes of spontaneous replication. However, disseminating this new rice farming system
has its challenges: resistance by farmers who hold on to their traditional ways; geographical
and infrastructure constraints (such as frequent droughts and poor irrigation systems or
unreliable supply of irrigation water); inadequate access to inputs such as seeds, organic
fertilizers, and mechanical tools; and a need for extra labour (and which may be in conflict
with other labour requirements arising at the same time; this is often critical as SRI requires a
lot of precision in terms of the timing and type of labour at different stages of production).
The success of the SRI experience and its capacity for adaptation to different contexts has led
IFAD to promote the new system in its programmes and projects. Since 1997, IFAD has
successfully facilitated the spread of SRI knowledge to several countries throughout East and
Southern Africa.