Posted on Jan 30, 2019
Nepalese Rice Farmers Boost Yields By Sowing Fewer Plants And Cutting Water
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Apsara Bharati and her neighbors are spread across a small bit of land in Kavre, about 20 miles outside Kathmandu, Nepal's capital. The women bend to plant rice seedlings in mud up to their calves in Bharati's field.
"One by one," Bharati instructs the women, who are used to placing several plants at once. Bharati is practicing SRI, or the system of rice intensification. The technique, which was developed in Madagascar in the 1980s by French Jesuit priest Henri de Laulanié, involves several practices that seem counterintuitive to increasing production, such as planting fewer seedlings, planting them younger and using less water. But small farmers across the world have reported massive gains in yield that they attribute to the process.
"One by one," Bharati instructs the women, who are used to placing several plants at once. Bharati is practicing SRI, or the system of rice intensification. The technique, which was developed in Madagascar in the 1980s by French Jesuit priest Henri de Laulanié, involves several practices that seem counterintuitive to increasing production, such as planting fewer seedlings, planting them younger and using less water. But small farmers across the world have reported massive gains in yield that they attribute to the process.
Nepalese Rice Farmers Boost Yields By Sowing Fewer Plants And Cutting Water
Posted from npr.org
Nepal
Food/Chow
Farming
Agriculture
Posted >1 y ago
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Abe Dean
I thought the same thing, based on other plants. I've never planted or harvest rice before, but this is nice to know, since I certainly eat enough of it.
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Abe Dean
As a horticulturist, I can attest that if you crowd out the medium (regular soil or otherwise) as CW5 Jack Cardwell mentioned, they tend to overcompete for resources, be they nutrients, sunlight, etc. When that happens, they get too busy fighting with neighboring plants and such over the basics, and don't really spend as much energy on feeding us, be it literally or asthetically (in the case of ornamentals).
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A Jesuit priest developed SRI in the 1980s? 35 years later the supposed
increase in rice production has not been recognized? Is there a learning or teaching problem?
increase in rice production has not been recognized? Is there a learning or teaching problem?
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