Local farmer involved in SRD's System of Rice Intensification project

On the 10 - 13 January 2012, an SRD project team travelled to Bac Kan province to meet with farmers and local authorities for initial research to review stakeholders' perspectives on SRI application, on relevant factors relating to the application and expansion of the method. This is part of the "Farmers piloting the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) toward climate response in Bac Kan province" project, funded by Cordaid.

This project will build on the success of a previous SRD project; "Strengthen and develop farmer rice seed systems", which ran for three years in eight districts in Bac Kan province, with the aim of improving farmer capacity in sustainable rice seed production, and advocating for policy changes in recognition of farmers' roles in rice seed production. This project integrated the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

approach, with significant results - rice yields increased 20-30% and income of participating farmers increased 15 - 25%, ensuring increased livelihoods for local people. The final evaluation of the project recommended that SRI be more widely applied throughout Bac Kan province.

SRD's upcoming project will target 120 farmer households over five districts in Bac Kan province. The project aims to build the capacity for the local staff and farmers in managing SRI effectively, to enable famers to develop models of SRI for sustainable agriculture, and to develop further recommendations for scaling up rice planting areas applying SRI in Bac Kan, in order to enhance climate change adaptation and mitigation capacity for poor farmers in the province.

As with SRD's previous project in Bac Kan province, gender will be integrated into all aspects of the upcoming project; the project will work with ethnic women and men to build women's leadership and address their real needs. The previous project showed 90 per cent women's participation in the Farmer Field Schools, leading to improvements in women's confidence, and recognition of women's roles in the community.

On 13 January, the SRD team, and the local partner, the Department of Plant Protection and Cropping (PPSD) held a planning workshop for the "Farmers implementing SRI in responding to Climate Change in Bac Kan province" project in Bac Kan town. Approximately 50 farmers, extension staff and local government leaders from across the districts in Bac Kan province participated in the workshop.

At the workshop, Mr Nguyen Ba Quan from Bac Kan PPSD presented on the challenges and opportunities of implementing SRI in Bac Kan province. Challenges to successfully implementing SRI include the lack of official policy on SRI, and the lack of direction from authorities. Famers also have long established habits in how they farm and cultivate their crops, and it can be hard to encourage changes.  However, the SRI approach offers many opportunities. "SRI is a great advance for the rural poor", stated Mr Quan. "Implementing the technique does not require significant initial economic input, so poor farmers are able to use this approach."

Mr Nguyen Ba Quan, Department of Plant Protection and Cropping, presenting at the workshop

Mr Truong Quoc Can, Communications, Research and Advocacy Manager of SRD, commented that one noticeable benefit of the technique is its simplicity to implement. "After just two or three seasons, farmers are confident to implement the method by themselves", he said. "SRI is also a flexible process, so farmers are able to adapt the techniques and utilize selected practices appropriate for local conditions, but not necessarily applying the whole fixed package."

Representing the Provincial Government, Mr Dang Van Son, Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture  shared that province leaders and DARD fully supports the experimental of SRI, as a very promising technique to improve rice yield in the province. He encouraged farmers and the project team to continue collecting evidence of the success of the SRI approach. He believes that within one year of implementing SRI, sufficient data will be collected to demonstrate the success of the method.