SRI – solution to productivity in the context of climate change

Bac Kan, 8th March 2012 – “Sharing the analysis outcomes of the system of rice intensification (SRI) application” workshop was held at the People’s Committee of Ba Be District, Bac Kan Province with the participation of Deputy Director of Bac Kan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Mr. Dang Van Son, heads from Bac Kan’s Department of Science and Technology, Department of Plant Protection and Institute for Food Crop, etc. The workshop focused on discussing the outcomes achieved after the first year of SRI experiment in Ba Be, Cho Moi and NaRi District and the further aim of expansion over the provincial area.

Speaking at the opening remark, Mr. Dang Van Son said that the province has started to apply the scientific innovation as well as to support farmers with the agricultural inputs to cope with the increasingly intense and frequent natural disasters and diseases. The province also subsidizes the pure rice variety in order to improve the habit of indigenous rice variety cultivation and therefore reduces the dependence on outside sources of rice variety as well as to avoid the variety degradation in the context of climate change. Additionally, he highly valued the “Farmers piloting the system of rice intensification towards the climate change in Bac Kan” project implemented by the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) from early 2012 to date for enhancing the farmers’ capacity to apply scientific innovation over the pure indigenous rice variety.

More than 40 participants of the workshop were provided with a chance to visit piloting field of farmers in Ban Ngu village, Cao Tri commune, Ba Be District. Farmers were guided to pilot SRI in various pure rice varieties and to select the best type of soil for overall expansion of the provincial area. The farmer’s capacity has been significantly enhanced by the project to be on-field scientists. Initially, SRI has contributed to the increase of productivity by 30% and worked perfectly with some pure indigenous rice varieties, especially Bao Thai variety. Speaking in an on-site meeting, farmers participating in the project said that the SRI application is still facing some challenges in terms of advocating to change the cultivation habit from the traditional practice into SRI.

On-field scientist

At the workshop, Mr. Ngo Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Plant Protection, gave a presentation on the uniqueness of SRI in the context of climate change. For instance, SRI contributes to increase the resistance of rice plants to extreme weather conditions thanks to the stable deep root compared to the traditional practice. Moreover, SRI is more adaptable to drought thanks to the reduction of irrigation by 30%. Ultimately, SRI also helps to reduce a significant amount of methane, one of the greenhouse gases, because water is kept less regularly within the field compared to the traditional practice.

At the closing of the workshop, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, Duty Director of SRD assured farmers that the model would be expanded. She also thanked the support of the local authorities and wished for further cooperation on both sides to deliver SRI to more and more farmers to better cope with the changing climate.

-SRD-