India plants rice over an area of about 43 million ha and produces around 125 million tonnes of rice, which is over 43 percent of national food grain production. The average yield remains low at around 2.85 t/ha.
Over the last few years, there has been much talk of a new method of crowing crops called the System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.
Farmers in a Bihari village named Darveshpura are being feted for coming up with astonishingly high yields - one Sumant Kumar has grown 22.4 tonnes of rice on one hectare of land, using only farmland manure and without any pesticides. Another small farmer from a nearby village, broke the Indian record for growing wheat.
Are we really poised on the edge of another Green Revolution?
A detailed study by researchers led by Palaniswami K have reported in the EPW that the SRI method does seem to have increased yield and reduced the use of water in select locations. This team used data from 13 rice-growing states in India to come to this conclusion.
It will be interesting to see if this is more than just a flash in the pan...
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LINKS & REFERENCES:
* Palaniswami K (2013): DOING DIFFERENT THINGS OR DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY? EPW, http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2013_48/08/Doing_Different_Things_or_Doing_It_Differently.pdf
* Vidal, John (2013): INDIA'S RICE REVOLUTION, The Guardian, 16Feb13 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/16/india-rice-farmers-revolution
* Siddiq, EA (): BRIDGING THE RICE YIELD GAP IN INDIA, FAO - http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6905e/x6905e09.htm
* SDTT-SRI - http://sdtt-sri.org/
Over the last few years, there has been much talk of a new method of crowing crops called the System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.
Farmers in a Bihari village named Darveshpura are being feted for coming up with astonishingly high yields - one Sumant Kumar has grown 22.4 tonnes of rice on one hectare of land, using only farmland manure and without any pesticides. Another small farmer from a nearby village, broke the Indian record for growing wheat.
Are we really poised on the edge of another Green Revolution?
A detailed study by researchers led by Palaniswami K have reported in the EPW that the SRI method does seem to have increased yield and reduced the use of water in select locations. This team used data from 13 rice-growing states in India to come to this conclusion.
It will be interesting to see if this is more than just a flash in the pan...
-----------------------------------------
LINKS & REFERENCES:
* Palaniswami K (2013): DOING DIFFERENT THINGS OR DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY? EPW, http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2013_48/08/Doing_Different_Things_or_Doing_It_Differently.pdf
* Vidal, John (2013): INDIA'S RICE REVOLUTION, The Guardian, 16Feb13 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/16/india-rice-farmers-revolution
* Siddiq, EA (): BRIDGING THE RICE YIELD GAP IN INDIA, FAO - http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6905e/x6905e09.htm
* SDTT-SRI - http://sdtt-sri.org/
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