System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
My journey of experiments with nature seriously started 2 years back, Just because i used to hear stories about paddy cultivation from father and tenant farmers from my childhood. Rice cultivation is one of the chapters which is close to my heart. Hence i would like to devote this blog to my learning on paddy cultivation.
To me my first global view of paddy cultivation, i got when i was probably X std (16/17 years). in one of the popular Kannada newspaper agricultural supplement, I read that farmers in China are getting 80-100 Quintals (1 Quintal = 100 Kilo Grams) of Paddy / acre of land / annum. Extrapolating the yields into money was not difficult, Quickly i saw that Chinese farmer was growing 3-4 times an Indian farmer and was getting proportional profits helping his living standards. Hence that set my benchmark we need to grow more, How much? 3-4 times!!
Not to be mean, Apart from the profit and loss of the farmer, imagine the food security farmers are providing to the country. As you can imagine still our finance minister just prays for good monsoon to keep the inflation down. Agricultural output is still the backbone for our economy, with the inflation spiraling its all the more important now to grow more.
With this brief background i set my search for the technique to grow more paddy. When i stepped in as a layman all sorts of information started bouncing around me like use this chemical to grow more, use this pesticide to control this disease. this can harm you this much etc. etc.
Then on youtube one Sunday early morning i stumbled upon SRI video promoted by a International NGO. I saw all the 3 parts of the video without a break. at last i said i got what i was searching for. A simple, meaningful, logical, applicable method of cultivation. The process is so simple and applicable that you dont have to say let me try and see. with a little bit knowledge on the botany and science, WOW how come we didn't think about this. but its swim upstream as its difficult to convince people around you who have been doing the paddy from ages.
After all this, let me try to tell you what it is all about.
SRI Fundamental Principles
1. Utilize early vigor of young seedlings.
optimum care and nutrition has to be provided at the early start. it goes with a Kannada saying "Belayuva siri yanu, molake yelle nodabohudu" translation says harvest can seen in the early days of the plant. As initial post germination phase of few days are important for the plant to establish itself, maximum nutrition or care should be given. Implement better nursery techniques to grow healthy seedlings and plant them in the fields in the early stage. That is between 8-12 days in nursery.
2. Reduce competition from light and nutrients.
Give adequate spacing between the plants to allow healthy growth. Have a minimum spacing of 25 cms x 25 cms between the plants.
3. Leave then alone, Reduce external inputs.
Allow the plant to establish itself and grow to its potential naturally, Help them when it is needed only. Restrict the unnecessary application of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
Only weeding has to be done regularly.
4. Keep soil from becoming anoxic (without oxygen).
do not flood the fields and pool the water, its totally a misconception amoung farmers that paddy are aquatic plants, in fact they are resistant to flooding or water logging. but they dont prefer it.
By water logging air doesn't reach the roots and it can decay decreasing the output.
Drain the fields only water once in a week allow the air to penetrate the soil. This will greatly help in term s of reducing your fertilization cost.
5. Promote Healthy root growth.
By regular weeding on the fields with the mechanical weeders (spiked rollers) they will uproot the unwanted weeds in between the plants and also will aerate the soil for better root propagation. This has to be done every 15 days.
6. Increase soil microbial activity by enhancing Soil Organic matter.
Use plenty of organic material to fertilize your soil, they in turn will promote the growth of microbial activity and in turn help you with breaking down the constituents of the air into growth promoters.
These are the SIX fundamental governing principles of SRI, rather than giving out the actual steps what to do when for which below, i will refer you to some dedicated sites for more information.
By adopting this method people have increased there productivity from 50% to 300%. I feel this can be farely adopted to other crops as well. This time i am experimenting this on my paddy fields will let you know about the improvement in the yield in my case in Nov. But till then based on these fundamental concepts keep thinking, experimenting and blogging.
Let me know your comments on this above article.
Happy Experimenting,
Best Wishes,
Suraj
