Management of rice production systems to increase productivity

application. This study has proven that in fact the yields of current cultivars
could be doubled or even tripled with simple changes in management
practices such as transplanting younger seedlings, better water control, and
spacing.
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The next step in this research is to disseminate the improved
technologies and to define ways for introducing and facilitating adoption of
the technologies. For SRI to be effectively introduced, some community‐based
interventions such as formation of irrigation water user groups to synchronize
irrigation and drainage should be established among other things.
Adoption of low‐input varieties in the upland and SRI in the lowland
both has the potential to triple yields in each of these rice ecologies; upland to
3 t/ha and lowland to 6 t/ha or even 8 t/ha. If by 2005 low‐input varieties are
adopted in the 10,000 ha cultivated of upland rice in 2000, and SRI is adopted
in the 8,000 ha of cultivated lowland rice area, independent of projected
population growth, the rice deficit will be reduced from 83% to 45%.
However, if the area under cultivation in the upland and lowland are
increased by just 50%, with the benefits derived from the improved
technologies, a deficit of only 20% will need to be provided with importations.
This will require only 20% of the projected US$20.3 million (US$4 million)
needed to import rice in 2005.
Despite the importance of these findings, implementation and adoption
of the identified technologies by farmers will remain the weak link unless
future activities are designed to disseminate and promote the technologies.
The knowledge gap that exists in SSA as a result of insufficient attention
attached to the dissemination and extension of improved research
technologies needs to be bridged through research and extension efforts.