System of Rice Intensification

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Progress and Activities

SRI Concepts and Practices Being Extrapolated to Teff
Dr. Tareke Berhe, director of rice programs for the Sasakawa Africa Association based in Addis Ababa, has planned to demonstrate a version of SRI management with teff, the most important cereal crop in Ethiopia -- which he is calling System of Teff Intensification (STI) -- at three sites during the 2010 off-season (February-May), at Debre Zeit Research Station, Mekelle University, and Axum University. Berhe's initial trials during 2009 were quite encouraging, as his adaptations of SRI methods in replicated trials gave teff yields of 3-5 t/ha compared to about 1 t/ha from the plots with standard (broadcast) practice. The main elements of SRI used were transplanting of single young teff seedlings at 20x20 cm spacing with small amounts of irrigation applied and increased applications of organic matter to enhance soil fertility. Even higher yields were obtained with some key micronutrients were added to the trial plots. See report on the initial 2009 trials, and also powerpoint presentation made at Cornell University in July 2009.

Ethiopian Workshop on SRI, July 2008
A National Workshop on Food Security in Ethiopia, focused on opportunities created by SRI, was held in Addis Ababa July 29, organized by the Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Center of Addis Ababa University's Science Faculty, with collaboration from the SRI SAI Consultancy Group and CIIFAD. Norman Uphoff made presentations on SRI, on the extension of SRI concepts and methods to other crops, and on capitalizing on biological processes and potentials in soil systems (see article in Addis Fortune).

Participants from government, university, NGO and farming communities expressed much interest, and a joint planning committee was established at the workshop to follow up with trials and demonstrations. Participants from the University, the Ministry of Agriculture, Oxfam America, Sasakawa-Global 2000, Institute for Sustainable Development, and SRI SAI Consultants will cooperate in this effort. Already the rice program of Sasakawa-Global 2000 has increased rice area from 6,000 to 91,000 hectares over the past five years. ISD is particularly interested in the extension of SRI practices to crops like finger millet and wheat. A trip report is available from Uphoff's week in Ethiopia in support of this initiative by Ethiopian institutions.

SRI Trials Begin in Ethiopia in 2003
In October 2003, N. Uphoff visited Ethiopia for a CIIFAD watershed project activity and met with the director and staff of the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI) in Bahir Dar, on Lake Tana. This is the area in which irrigated rice production is being started in Ethiopia. ARARI assigned an agronomist with rice experience to undertake SRI evaluations in 2004.

Uphoff, Norman, Tareke Berhe, Ayele G. Ayetenfisu, and Zewdie Gebretsadik. 2015. The System of Tef Intensification: Opportunities for greater food security in Ethiopia, and elsewhere, through modifications in crop management. Oral presentation (by Uphoff) at the 2nd International Conference on Global Food Security, Ithaca, NY, Oct. 12-14, 2015. 24 slides.
Uphoff, Norman, Tareke Berhe, Ayele G. Ayetenfisu, and Zewdie Gebretsadik. 2015. The System of Tef Intensification (STI): Modifying crop management for greater food security in Ethiopia. Poster presentation (by Uphoff) at the 2nd International Conference on Global Food Security, Ithaca, NY, Oct. 12-14, 2015.
Uphoff, N. 2008 (July 27). Application of the principles and practices of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to other crops in Ethiopia. Presentation at the National Workshop on Food Security in Ethiopia: Opportunities Created by the System of Rice Intensification. Imperial Hotel, Addis Ababa (15.8MB ppt)
Berhe, Tareke. 2009. Recent Developments in Teff, Ethiopia's Most Important Cereal and Gift to the World (or see embedded version below). PowerPoint presented at the CIIFAD Forum Seminar, July 23, 2009. 34 slides.

0940 Recent Developments in Teff, Ethiopia's Most Important Cereal and Gift to the World from SRI-Rice, International Programs, CALS, Cornell University