Agricultural Interventions
Appropriate to
our context
S.R.I. - System of Rice Intensification
We learnt about a new way of cultivating
rice, which elsewhere around the world has yielded harvests much greater
than those achieved using the usual method. Several other
groups of local farmers have been experimenting with this methodology, quite
independently of us, with some very encouraging results.
It is a more
labor intensive method that requires
great care to be taken of the immature rice seedlings, which are planted
individually rather than in a clump of 4 or more.
Planted individually
at a very young age, and further apart, the rice plants are able to
develop a stronger more extensive root system which (so the theory goes) results in a greater
yield.
We are now into our third year of
experimentation with SRI, and it continues to offer promising results,
but despite improvements in the quality of the crop, has so far failed
to yield dramatic increases in the weight of the harvest.
One of the most comprehensive a accounts of how and
why SRI works is on the ECHO web-site at:
www.echonet.org/tropicalag/ednissues/text_eng/edn70t.htm
Organic Farming
As a result of our work with SRI
we have been introduced to other farmers working towards organic farming. The
continual use of chemical urea, year after year (at no small expense to a small
farmer!), results in destruction of the very structure of the soil, and gradual
leaching of all organic content. Unless this is replaced the farmer is facing a
losing battle to maintain soil fertility and keep a consistent harvest.
While in the West, organic farming
remains a niche market, to a farmer who is intimately involved in the
environment which he farms it might just prove to be a very real alternative to
spending large amounts of money on chemical inputs.
The determining factor will be the
availability and ease of collection of organic material from which to produce
organic compost as an alternative to chemical fertilizers. We believe our next
step might be to further consider different methods of composting.
