Food Issues-a different approach to increasing rice production
An article from the New York Times on the work of Norman Uphoff of Cornell University on improving agricultural productivity in rice without GM.
This extract refers:-
Harvests typically double, he says, if farmers plant early, give seedlings more room to grow and stop flooding fields. That cuts water and seed costs while promoting root and leaf growth.
The method, called the System of Rice Intensification, or S.R.I., emphasizes the quality of individual plants over the quantity. It applies a less-is-more ethic to rice cultivation.
In a decade, it has gone from obscure theory to global trend — and encountered fierce resistance from established rice scientists. Yet a million rice farmers have adopted the system, Dr. Uphoff says. The rural army, he predicts, will swell to 10 million farmers in the next few years, increasing rice harvests, filling empty bellies and saving untold lives.
“The world has lots and lots of problems,” Dr. Uphoff said recently while talking of rice intensification and his 38 years at Cornell. “But if we can’t solve the problems of peoples’ food needs, we can’t do anything. This, at least, is within our reach.”
Uphoff’s approach is not universally accepted and critics include the ‘rice science establishment as discussed in the article.
Robert Chambers, a leading analyst on rural development, who works at the University of Sussex, England, called it a breakthrough.
“The extraordinary thing,” he said, “is that both farmers and scientists have missed this — farmers for thousands of years, and scientists until very recently and then some of them in a state of denial.”
The method, he added, “has a big contribution to make to world food supplies. Its time has come.”
The article concludes:-
In Laos, an agriculture official recently said S.R.I. had doubled the size of rice crops in three provinces and would spread to the whole country because it provided greater yields with fewer resources.
“Once we get over the mental barriers,” Dr. Uphoff said, “it can go very, very quickly because there’s nothing to buy.”
The opponents have agreed to conduct a global field trial that may end the dispute, he said. The participants include the rice institute, Cornell and Wageningen University, a Dutch institution with a stellar reputation in agriculture.
The field trials may start in 2009 and run through 2011, Dr. Uphoff said. “This should satisfy any scientific questions,” he added. “But my sense is that S.R.I. is moving so well and so fast that this will be irrelevant.”
Practically, he said, the method is destined to grow.
“It raises the productivity of land, labor, water and capital,” he said. “It’s like playing with a stacked deck. So I know we’re going to win.”
It will be interesting to keep an eye on this, as if the approach holds up, it would seem to offer considerable advantages. productivity is increased and resource use reduced. Surely a good thing all round?
Adam recommends this article.
He wonders if there are other crops where a similar approach might be tried.
The article points up also how new approaches not only have to struggle to find acceptance from farmers, but also from the agriculture establishment.
YIELD The rice growing method is used in places like Indonesia.
I’m very sceptical that there’s anything to this, rice farming is a pretty old occupation with so many practicing it I doubt that any real advantages gained by simply changing planting density would be over looked. The first thing considered in NZ, with anything from pine trees to dairy cows, is planting density or stocking rate.