EFFECT OF THE SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI) ON ...

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4.4 Difficulties associated with SRI Farmers often only follow a few of the steps of the SRI concepts and leave out the other concepts which make SRI difficult to compare within a given area to another area (Sinha & Talati, 2007). Moser & Barrett (2003) reports that the very high yields observed around the world are due to farmers managing all the concepts of SRI and using them together. But SRI is not always easy for farmers to adopt which as stated by Sinha & Talati (2007) could be prescribed three main factors: 1. “Lack of irrigation facilities” (Sinha & Talati, 2007) 2. “Absence of sound on-farm water management due to poor infrastructure and technology” (Sinha & Talati, 2007) 3. “Lack of expertise and risk-taking ability among farmers. In rainfed areas it is difficult to adopt SRI if there is no facility available for protective irrigation, in the event of monsoon failure. On the contrary, too much rain also makes it difficult to drain the fields“. (Sinha & Talati, 2007) Management and minimization of water are often the most difficult steps for farmers to reach and understand (Moser & Barrett, 2003). Furthermore the success of SRI depends on land levelling which can be costly and applying SRI on large fields seems therefore more ideal than on small fields (Moser & Barrett, 2003) which then might leave out small scale farmers. SRI can be characterised as a LEISA (Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture) system where high labour inputs are often necessary (Moser & Barrett, 2003) which is one of the many weaknesses appointed by many authors (e.g. Moser & Barrett, 2003; Dobermann, 2004). Other identified constraints are the access and availability of organic materials and the labour involved in transporting and applying it (Dobermann, 2004). Koma (2007) though reports that it is not all SRI farmers in Cambodia who manage all the steps of the SRI concepts but even when only managing some of the factors involved in SRI they are still able to increase their yield per hectare and a reduction in the amount of seeds used. 5. Rice in Cambodia 5.1 The history of rice in Cambodia Rice is grown throughout the world in various ways depending on climate and soil and is the major food source for millions of people. In Cambodia rice has been cultivated since before the 8 th century (Mak, 2001) and is still a very important crop in Cambodia. Table 3 summarizes the fate of rice in 26
Cambodia during modern times. In 1940 Cambodia was the third largest exporting country of rice in the world (Tong et al., 2007) and still during the 1960ies Cambodia was a leading partner in rice production in the world and continued to be so for many years (Koma, 2008) but civil wars later blocked any further development (Tong et al., 2007). Table 3. Average rice production, harvested area and rice yield in Cambodia from 1961 to 2006. Derived from IRRI (2006). Year Area (ha) Production (t) Yield (t/ha) 1963 2.182.000 2.383.000 1.09 2006 2.516.000 1 6.264.000 2.49 1 According to Koma (2008) the total grown area in Cambodia with rice is app. 3.1 million ha with a potential of total agricultural production of app. 6.7 million ha. 5.2 Rice cropping systems In Cambodia rice based farming systems often include lowland rice, dry season rice and early wet season rice (Mak, 2001), depending on location and access to water. The main rice cropping systems vary a lot especially regarding the water table. Figure 4 highlights the difference in water depth. The different rice cropping systems can be characterized as the following: • Upland rice or dryland rice: grown without water, normally related to areas with shifting cultivation (Greenland, 1997). Upland rice can often be intercropped with e.g. cassava, but often severe weed problems occur (De Datta, 1987). • Irrigated rice: The water table in the field can be controlled through the use of river/stream water and several rice crops are possible per year although sometimes drought is existing (Greenland, 1997). • Rainfed lowland rice: Dikes are build to catch both flood or rain water and the rice is often transplanted to the fields although also direct seeding sometimes dry or wet is existing (De Datta, 1987). Periods with drought can exist (Greenland, 1997). • Deepwater rice: 51 -100 cm water table normally grown in e.g. swampy areas in deltas (De Datta, 1987). Water regimes cannot be controlled and there are large risks of either drought damage or sudden flooding as seeds are sown on dry soil (De Datta, 1987). 27
Page 1 and 2: EFFECT OF THE SYSTEM OF RICE INTENS
Page 3 and 4: Abstract The System of Rice Intensi
Page 5 and 6: Preface This report is part of my M
Page 7 and 8: Table of contents Preface..........
Page 9 and 10: 1. Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa
Page 11 and 12: fields will normally result in lowe
Page 13 and 14: materials. These two chapters lead
Page 15 and 16: the process of puddling - which is
Page 17 and 18: Crop residues The use of rice straw
Page 19 and 20: The degree of GHGs emissions will t
Page 21 and 22: are required (app. 150-200 mm) and
Page 23 and 24: • The use of young seedlings tran
Page 25: Table 1. The major differences betw
Page 29 and 30: Rainfed rice in Cambodia is often g
Page 31 and 32: In general there are three types of
Page 33 and 34: 7. Study and experimental implement
Page 35 and 36: growing rice but the Cambodian rain
Page 37 and 38: Figure 6. Map of the two target com
Page 39 and 40: The following main topics were exam
Page 41 and 42: White & Seng (1997) state that not
Page 43 and 44: conditions signifying little or no
Page 45 and 46: Riel 3000000 2800000 2600000 240000
Page 47 and 48: The involved farmers seem to belong
Page 49 and 50: The farmers’ composts were often
Page 51 and 52: chemical fertilizers. It is part of
Page 53 and 54: 9.5.2 SRI techniques The different
Page 55 and 56: t/ha 5,5 5 4,5 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1
Page 57 and 58: the farmers are with SRI. Or farmer
Page 59 and 60: forced to sell labour in order to s
Page 61 and 62: households were in average able to
Page 63 and 64: K, only a minor fraction is availab
Page 65 and 66: Table 8. An estimated picture of an
Page 67 and 68: fertilizers which can increase N2O
Page 69 and 70: Table 9. An estimated C budget. It
Page 71 and 72: 10. Conclusion The farmers particip
Page 73 and 74: 11. References Anthofer, J. 2004. T
Page 75 and 76: Moldenhauer, K.A.K. & Gibbons, J. 2
Page 77 and 78:
Yue, J., Shi, Y., Liang, W., Wu, J.
Page 79 and 80:
APPENDIX B. Soil sampling methodolo
Page 81 and 82:
Type How much do you apply to your
Page 83 and 84:
APPENDIX E. LIVELIHOOD ASSESTS. Per
Page 85 and 86:
3 2 1 Combination of SRI techniques
Page 87:
APPENDIX F. Interview with Ma Veasn
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