Bradbrook - 2012 - Rice Farming complete with methods to increase ric

2. Can be labor intensive and time consuming in terms of manual removal of pests and
targeted applieation of pesticides.
3. Interpretation of crop monitoring results can be challenging.
4. No price benefits for IPM-produced crops
Unlike organically grown produce which are priced higher, crops produced using IPM
are priced the same as conventionally grown crops. This can be a downside because
1PM crops will have some amount of damage or blemish that may reduce its market
value.
5. Yield inereases plateau after several growing seasons.
Part 15: System of Rice Intensifícation
The System of Riee Intensification (SRI) was developed in 1983 in Madagasear by Fr. Henri
de Laulanié, a Jesuit priest who arrived there in 1961. Father de Laulanié worked to improve
the produetivity of rice farms without the aid of external inputs that they could not afford. In
Madagascar, rice was being grown in limited irrigated lowland areas with low yields that
were unsustainable. With the help of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture
and Development (CIIFAD), SRI principles were promoted to marginalized farmers. By
practicing SRI, farmers were able to increase their yields by more than four times compared
with the traditional methods.
The CIIFAD defines SRI as a system “based upon a set of principles and practiees for
increasing the productivity of irrigated rice by changing the management of plants, soil, water
and nutrients.”
Practicing SRI is said to reduce water usage by 25 to 50%, reduce seed requirements by 80 to
90%, reduce cost of production by 10 to 25%, and raise net income per hectare by 50 to
100%.
The CIIFAD further explains that SRI is not a teehnology but a methodology that is
continually evolving and that can be adapted by the farmer to suit the particular environment
in which rice is grown. It was developed with the enhancement of the livelihoods of very poor
farmers in mind.
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