Thursday, January 21, 2010

New SRI Items from Around the World

India
An excellent new publication by Biksham Gujja and T.M. Thiyagarajan, New Hope for Indian Food Security? The System of Rice Intensification, was recently published by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) through its Gatekeeper Series.

A new status report on SRI in West Bengal focuses on civil society promotion of SRI in this Indian state as well as the inaugural meeting of a new West Bengal-based learning forum, SRI Benglar.

Cambodia
Earlier this month (Jan, 2010) SRI Farming in Cambodia was uploaded on YouTube by permascience. This 10 minute video (in Khmer language with English subtitles) is a shortened version of the original created by Mind's Eye Productions for CEDAC (The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture). The full version of the video can be seen in 5 parts on YouTube's HermitCaveFilms channel. More information on SRI in Cambodia can be found on the SRI Cambodia website, the CEDAC website or the Cambodian section of our global SRI website.

Bhutan
In Bhutan, Sangay Dorji, Jr. Extension Agent in Deorali Geog, Dagana, sent in a report on trials set up in 2009 at Balabas (450m above the sea level) near the Dungkhag Administration. SRI plots had substantially higher rates of tillering and yield compared with the random and conventional plots. The highest yield was 10 tons/ha for the 30cmx30cm spacing compared with 3.5 tons/ha for the conventional system.