A Global Perspective on Intensification in Relation to Achieving Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation

Norman Uphoff, Cornell University

Inception Workshop, AIT, April 9, 2013

Asian Center of Innovation for

Sustainable Agricultural Intensification

Need to Change the Concepts and the Practices of ‘Intensification’

So far this strategy has been based on:

• Intensification of ENERGY inputs – increased mechanization

• Intensification of CHEMICAL inputs -- inorganic fertilizer and agrochemical crop protection

• Intensification of WATER inputs – widespread irrigation

• Intensification of CAPITAL inputs – ever-increasing investment

In the 21st Century, We Face Changing Conditions for Agriculture

• Costs of ENERGY inputs are now higher and availability is less certain; also see negative environmental externalities

• Costs of fossil-fuel-based CHEMICAL inputs are rising, and we are seeing adverse effects on soil and water quality

• The amounts and reliability of WATER for agriculture are becoming more problematic, limiting and costly

• Climate change presents many hazards incl. increasing pest & disease problems

The World -- and particularly Asia -- Needs ‘a New Intensification’

• Rather than continue with a strategy of achieving MORE OUTPUT form MORE INPUTS

• We need to learn how we can produce MORE OUTPUT with REDUCED INPUTS – relying more on nature’s processes than on our own

• This is not possible within MECHANICAL frameworks – zero-sum, even negative-sum

• It is possible within a BIOLOGICAL matrix ---- positive-sum, capitalizing on sun’s energy

• There is need for a major shift in paradigms

What has been the greatest paradigm shift for humankind?

• Arguably this was the shift from a Ptolemaic (geocentric) understanding of the universe to a Copernican (heliocentric) conception

• The ‘new intensification’ will redirect our thinking and actions in agriculture from their current EGOCENTRIC orientation, that regards us humans as the primary actors

• To a more HELIOCENTRIC orientation that appreciates the power and productivity of natural systems which give rise to the processes and potentials of biology

We humans are part of nature and need to learn to cooperate with it

• The supposedly impossible challenge of producing ‘more from less’ has been shown to be possible by our experience with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) developed in Madagascar and now being used increasingly widely around the world

• SRI increases yields and provides other advantages not by increasing external inputs but by changing the management of existing resources: plants, soil, water and nutrients

• Little need to elaborate for this audience

Before 1999: Madagascar 1999 China, Indonesia 2000-02: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cuba, Gambia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Thailand (15 at Sanya conference, 2002) 2003: Benin, Guinea, Mozambique, Peru 2004-05: Senegal, Pakistan, Vietnam 2006: Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Iran, Iraq, Zambia

2007: Afghanistan, Brazil, Mali

2008: Rwanda, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ecuador, Ghana, Japan

2009: Malaysia, Timor Leste

2010: Kenya, DPRK, Panama, Haiti

2011: Colombia, Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania

2012: Burundi, Dominican Republic, Niger, Nigeria, Togo (total of 51)

2013: >50 countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America where benefits of SRI management have been seen

PANO – Vietnam celebrated over a million small-scale farmers who are embracing a technique that grows more rice with less seeds, fertilizer, water, and pesticides in an event at Thai Nguyen University on October 18th.

The technique is called ‘system of rice intensification’ or SRI for short, which is a package of agricultural techniques for hand-planted rice that helps farmers reduce their costs while increasing their production. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that by the summer-autumn crop this year, there are 1,070,384 farmers using SRI on 185,065 hectares (457,110 acres) in their rice fields. The number of farmers using SRI practices in Vietnam has tripled since 2009. . . .

OVER 1 MILLION VIETNAMESE FARMERS BENEFIT FROM SRI Tuesday, October 18, 2011 20:48 (GMT +7)

Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total

SRI area (ha) 1,133 7,267 57,400 117,267 204,467 252,467 301,067 941,068

SRI yield (kg/ha) 9,105 9,435 8,805 9,075 9,300 9,495 9,555 9,252

Non-SRI yield (kg/ha) 7,740 7,650 7,005 7,395 7,575 7,710 7,740 7,545

SRI increment (t/ha)* 1,365 1,785 1,800# 1,680 1,725 1,785 1,815# 1,708

SRI yield increase (%) * 17.6% 23.3% 25.7% 22.7% 22.8% 23.2% 23.5% 22.7%

Grain increase (tons） 1,547 12,971 103,320 197,008 352,705 450,653 546,436 1.66 mill

Added net income from

SRI use (million RMB)* 1.28 11.64 106.5 205.1 450.8 571.7 704.3 2,051 (>$300 mill)

* Comparison is with Sichuan provincial average for paddy yield and SRI returns # Drought years: SRI yields were relatively better than with conventional methods Source: Data are from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture.

CHINA: SRI extension/impact in Sichuan Province, 2004-10

INDIA: Results from Bihar state, 2007-2012

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION -- state average yield: 2.3 t/ha

2007 2008 2009 2010 2012

Climatic conditions

Normal rainfall

2 times flooding

Drought + rain in Sept.

Complete drought

Good rainfall

No. of smallholders 128 5,146 8,367 19,911 NR

Area under SRI (ha) 30 544 786 1,412 335,000

SRI yield (t/ha) 10.0 7.75 6.5 3.22* 8.08

Conv. yield (t/ha) 2.7 2.36 2.02 1.66* 2.9

,

SYSTEM OF WHEAT INTENSIFICATION -- state average yield: 2.4 t/ha

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2011-12

No. of smallholders 415 25,235 48,521 NR

Area under SWI (ha) 16 1,200 2,536 183,085

SWI yield (t/ha) 3.6 4.5 NR 5.1 Conv. yield (t/ha) 1.6 1.6 NR 2.7

* Results from measurements of yield on 74 farmers’ SRI and conventional fields

SRI benefits are more than an increase in yield:

• Water saving

• More tolerance of climate stresses

• Resistance to pests and disease

• Reduced costs of production

• Higher farmer income

• More environmentally-friendly

• Grain quality, shorter crop cycle, etc.

Other Benefits from Changes in Practices

1. Water saving – major concern in many places, also now have ‘rainfed’ version with similar results

2. Greater resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses – less damage from pests and diseases, drought, typhoons, flooding, cold spells [discuss tomorrow]

3. Shorter crop cycle – same varieties are harvested by 1-3 weeks sooner, save water, less crop risk

4. High milling output – by about 15%, due to fewer unfilled grains (less chaff) and fewer broken grains

5. Reductions in labor requirements – widely reported incentive for changing practices in India and China; also, mechanization is being introduced many places

6. Reductions in costs of production – greater farmer income and profitability, also health benefits

Drought-resistance: Rice fields in Sri Lanka, same variety and same soil 3 weeks after irrigation had stopped because

of drought – conventional rice field (left) and SRI (right)

Storm resistance: Dông Trù village, Ha Noi province,

Vietnam, after fields were hit by a tropical storm

Right: conventional field and plant; Left: SRI field

and plant

Same variety used in both fields:

serious lodging seen on right --

no lodging on left

Disease and pest resistance: Evaluation by the Vietnam National IPM Program, 2005-06 –

averages of data from on-farm trials in 8 provinces

Spring season Summer season

SRI plots

Farmer plots

Differ-ence

SRI plots

Farmer plots

Differ-ence

Sheath blight 6.7% 18.1% 63.0% 5.2% 19.8% 73.7%

Leaf blight -- -- -- 8.6% 36.3% 76.5%

Small leaf folder *

63.4 107.7 41.1% 61.8 122.3 49.5%

Brown plant hopper *

542 1,440 62.4% 545 3,214 83.0%

AVERAGE 55.5% 70.7%

* Insects/m2

Resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses: fields in East Java, Indonesia hit by both brown planthopper (BPH)

and by storm damage (typhoon): the rice field on the left was managed with standard practices; organic SRI is seen on right

Modern improved

variety (Ciherang) –

no yield

Traditional aromatic variety

(Sintanur) - 8 t/ha

Irrigation method

Seedling age

Spacing (cm2)

Plant lodging (in percent) Partial Complete Total

Inter-mittent

irrigation (AWDI)

14 30x30 6.67 0 6.67

30x18 40.00 6.67 46.67

21 30x30 26.67 20 46.67

30x18 13.33 13.33 26.67

Ordinary irrigation

(continuous flooding)

14 30x30 16.67 33.33 50.00

30x18 26.67 53.33 80.00

21 30x30 20 76.67 96.67

30x18 13.33 80 93.33

% lodging of rice as affected by irrigation practices when combined with different ages of seedlings and different

spacings in trials done in Chiba, Japan (Chapagain and Yamaji, Paddy and Water Environment, 2009)

Resistance to cold temperatures: Yield and meteorological data from ANGRAU, A.P., India

Period Mean max. temp. 0C

Mean min. temp. 0C

No. of sunshine hrs

1 – 15 Nov 27.7 19.2 4.9

16–30 Nov 29.6 17.9 7.5

1 – 15 Dec 29.1 14.6 8.6

16–31 Dec 28.1 12.2# 8.6

# Sudden drop in minimum temp. for 5 days (16–21 Dec = 9.2-9.9o C )

Season Normal (t/ha) SRI (t/ha)

Kharif 2006 0.21* 4.16

Rabi 2005-06 2.25 3.47

* Low yield was due to cold injury to plants (see below)

Comparison of methane and nitrous oxide emissions (GHGs)

CT SRI

kg

CH

4 /

ha

0

200

400

600

800

1000

840.1

237.6

72 %

Treatment Emission (kg/ha) CO2 ton/ha

equivalent CH4 N2O

CT 840.1 0 17.6

SRI 237.6 0.074 5.0

SRI practices are being used beyond RICE:

Farmer-led innovations with civil society help in:

• Wheat (SWI) -- India, Nepal, Ethiopia, Mali

• Sugarcane (SSI) -- India, Cuba

• Finger millet (SFMI) -- India, Ethiopia

• Mustard/rapeseed/canola (SMI) -- India

• Teff (STI) -- Ethiopia

• Sorghum (SSI2) – Ethiopia

• Turmeric (STI2) -- India

System of Crop Intensification (SCI): maize, black gram, green gram, red gram, tomatoes, chillies, eggplant, sesame, etc. -- India, Ethiopia

WHEAT: SWI (left) vs. conventional plants in Bihar, India

Phenotypical differences in

wheat panicles with SWI practice

seen in Nepal

TEF: Application of

SRI concepts and practices to growing tef (STI) in Ethiopia, most popular grain

Left: transplanted tef Right: broadcasted tef

Conventional yield usually only 1 t/ha, STI = 3 to 5 t/ha;

with micronutrient amendments, yields

6 t/ha and higher

Good STI tef crop in Tigray province of Ethiopia

ICRISAT-WWF Sugarcane Initiative:

• 20-100% more cane yield, with

• 30% reduction in water, and

• 25% reduction in chemical inputs

“The inspiration for putting this package together is

from the successful approach of SRI – System of Rice Intensification.”

SUGARCANE: SSI cane plants seen in India –

SSI is now getting started in Cuba, known as SiCAS

What is creating these changes?

• Growth and health of ROOT systems

• Greater abundance, activity and diversity of beneficial SOIL

ORGANISMS

SRI practices promote the LIFE IN THE SOIL and

this life, in turn, can nurture us and feed us!

SRI is ‘not finished’ • It should be seen as still a work in progress

• We see learning, modification, and further expansion -- continuous farmer innovation

• SRI is NOT A TECHNOLOGY -- it is IDEAS

-- SRI is more like a menu than a recipe

• SRI mobilizes biological potentials and processes, rather than depend so much on

costly chemical inputs or new varieties

• Most important, SRI is farmer-friendly and environmentally-friendly – resistant to climate change and even mitigating this