KENYA SRI ARCHIVES
SRI Activity Archives
(for more recent news, see main SRI Kenya page)
2011 Activity Archives
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SRI Continues to Progress in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme
Sixty-four
participants attended a November 18 training of trainers (left) in the Mwea
Irrigation Scheme in response to the increasing enthusiasm for SRI in the
area. According to Bancy Mati, several thousand people in Kenya have now
received SRI training, and many more have learned about the exhibitions at
international agricultural shows, radio messages and press events. She added
that there are now 839 registered SRI farmers this season, though she
believes there are many more who have not been counted. One woman farmer who
was trained during a special "ladies' training" in 2009 now has 15 acres
planted with SRI methods. Dr. Mati is currently organizing an exchange visit
to western Kenya for the Mwea group to help expand SRI knowledge to this
region. - Farmers in Mwea Experience SRI Benefits in Weather Event
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Farmers'
opinion of SRI was further strengthened during a freak storm in early
November that caused widespread lodging of the conventional plantings but
left the adjacent SRI fields largely untouched. While some recovery of the
non-SRI fields occurred the following day, the photos of the flattened
non-SRI fields (near right) compared to the unaffected SRI fields (far right)
convinced many farmers that they were on the right path going forward with
SRI in their area. Farmers in other countries have experienced similar
benefits of SRI in severe weather, probably due to the stronger root systems
and stalks encouraged by SRI methods (see Philippine
article on typhoon damage and Vietnam photo of SRI after
storm). -
Kenyan SRI
Stakeholders Participate in Global Video Conference on Climate-Smart
Agriculture
Bancy Mati, the Kenya SRI Coordinator, made a presentation on SRI in Kenya during a video conference organized by the World Bank Institute that connected Kenyan farmers, researchers and staff from government agencies with stakeholders in India, Philippines, Burkina Faso and USA. The video conference, South-South Knowledge Sharing of Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices, was held at the Kenya Development Learning Centre (KDLC) in Nairobi on August 24, 2011. The event was the culmination of a three-day training of trainers that brought together 40 participants from Ahero, Bunyala, West Kano and Mwea Irrigation Schemes.
The presentation covered the status of rice production in Kenya, the current initiatives and history of SRI in Kenya as well as research and outreach efforts. SRI research efforts involving a PhD student and three MSc students include quantifying yields, economic returns, and water savings from SRI as well an assessment of mosquito survival under SRI. Farmers are also involved in various trials. Capacity-building through workshops, field days, and invited trainers from India and Japan have resulted in 1,800 individuals being trained in SRI methods as of August 2011.
Dr. Mati noted that research has proven that SRI can be effective in the Kenyan context. Aggressive awareness-creation through presentations and printed matter along with hands-on training has resulted in good adoption rates with SRI showing good acceptance in all four irrigation schemes. SRI yields in Mwea are 6.0 - 8.5 t/ha, compared to 5.0-6.0 t/ha under conventional local practice with net increase averaging 0.98 t/ha. SRI rice was found to be heavier, weighing 100-110 kg compared to the 85-90 kg using conventional methods. Net average income for SRI increased 28% with SRI while required inputs were reduced - 20% as much seed was needed and water requirements were reduced by 25% under SRI compared to conventional flooded paddy.
SRI success in Mwea has resulted in increased government support, with the National Irrigation Board extending SRI initiatives to Ahero, West Kano and Bunyala Irrigation schemes during 2011(see item below).
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New SRI Project Targets Four Irrigation Schemes
In May 2011, the National Irrigation Board (NIB) approved the implementation of a short-term project to facilitate expanded adoption of
SRI in
Kenya. The project targets all rice farmers in the Ahero, West Kano, Bunyala
and Mwea Irrigation Schemes, as well as extension workers, irrigation
engineers and other support agents.The project, which is focused on capacity building, adaptive research and outreach activities, is being implemented by the NIB and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). The Project Leader, Prof. Bancy M. Mati of JKUAT, works closely with the managers, staff and farmers of the four irrigation schemes: Ahero, West Kano, Bunyala, and Mwea. Dr. Mati is shown at right at the launch of the project in West Kano (see article on project roll-out).
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Mwea Field Day Focuses on Transplanting
A field day was held on July 21, 2011, to kick-start the main rice season in Mwea. Farmers continue to make progress toward adapting and adopting SRI practices. As shown at left, Karanja's field was transplanted at 30 cm spacing with 8-day old seedlings from the nursery (right), which was on dry ground. (Click on photos to enlarge them).
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SRI Featured in World Bank Institute Article on "Climate Smart
Agriculture"
A recent article by the World Bank Institute on "climate-smart agriculture," which increase the productivity and resilience of crops and reduce greenhouse gases at the same time, highlights the development of SRI in Kenya. After two farmers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme successfully tried out SRI in 2009, fourteen farmers began using SRI during 2010. By the 2011 season, over 200 farmers were applying the new method in Mwea. In addition to higher yields, the article includes a quote from one of the farmers: "I will not go back to the traditional rice cultivation practice, because SRI rice has less breakage and better quality. It sold very fast on the market."
2010 Activities
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The
First National SRI Workshop in Kenya
The first national workshop on SRI in Kenya was held on May 7, 2010 at the African Institute for Capacity and Development (AICAD) campus in Juja, near Nairobi. The workshop was planned and implemented as a collaborative, cost-shared activity by the partners, notably JKUAT, IMAWESA, NIB and AICAD. The event was attended by 83 participants, including researchers, senior government officials, representatives of NGOs, the private sector, farmers from Mwea and Ahero schemes, and rice out-growers from Kirinyaga district. The workshop participants made recommendations to promote SRI in the country and drew up action plans for follow-up. The workshop was instrumental in spreading the existence of SRI to the general stakeholder base of Kenyans associated with irrigation, water resources management, capacity-building and the rice value chain. It also also helped raise awareness and improve the recognition of SRI at higher policy levels in Kenya.
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JKUAT SRI Display Generates Interest at the Nairobi International Trade
Fair
During the week of September 27 - October 2, 2010, an SRI display was set up within Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) main stand at the Nairobi International Trade Fair. The JKUAT entry won second place for agronomy. The SRI display, shown at right, generated much interest. (Click on picture for an enlarged photo of the posters.)
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Field Day held at Mwea Irrigation Scheme held September 15,
2010
A well-attended SRI field day was held at Mwea Irrigation Scheme (MIS) on September 15, 2010. Bancy Mati reports that the SRI farmers are very enthusiastic. Sixty-five farmers who planted SRI rice in August and September are registered with SRI database and are keeping records. This number is expected to grow in for the October planting in the next water allocation.
At the field day, farmers also tested and endorsed the rotary weeder (right) fabricated by a local
artisan,
who is also an SRI farmer. The National Irrigation Board (NIB) plans to
purchase 10 of these weeders for use by SRI farmers. The farmers also requested
a rotating wheel marker for transplanting, in order to achieve the perfect
square pattern. (The string they are currently using is not only tedious, but,
while rows in one direction are straight, in the other direction they are often
not). In this case, the weeder can only be used in one direction. The group
hopes to have the new marker for the October planting. -
Field Day at Mwea Irrigation Scheme held August 6, 2010
On August 6, 2010, a successful field day training, which included the transplanting of Moses Kareithi’s SRI field, was attended by about 60 farmers in Mwea. The training also attended by Chairman of Mwea Water Users’ Association, an SRI adopter himself, who promised to mobilize at least 4 farmers per unit (about 240) to try SRI methods this planting season. (This number excludes current adopters and those targeted by the current participatory research and extension plan.)
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SRI Center Opens
at MIAD Center in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme
An SRI Resource Center (right) is now up and running in Kenya. Supported by the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Innovation Fund and the National Irrigation Board (MIAD Center), the office was opened on July 12, 2010, at MIAD in Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga District, Central Province. SRI-specific extension workers (Moses and Joseph) are implementing an organized extension & training system together with MIS.
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African Delegation Visits
IAMWARM Project in Tamil Nadu, India
On June 25, 2010, an 18-member team of African agricultural officials and project staff along with two Japanese students visited several projects in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, and Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, to study the
implementation
of SRI in India. The delegation, which was received by Dr. V. K. Ravichandran
and the President of the CEC/IAMWARM (a project of World Bank), came from six
African countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho and Zambia.
Collector R. Palanisamy briefed them about the IAMWARM (Irrigated Agriculture
Modernization and Waterbodies Restoration and Management) Project being
implemented in the Varaha Nadhi basin in the Villupuran district and gave an
overview of the technologies being adopted under the SRI system for sowing,
weeding and harvesting. A demonstration of the rotary weeder at the IAMWARM
project is shown at left. He noted that the SRI had been useful to farmers
through water savings of 30 per cent and yields 50 to 60 per cent higher than
with their regular farm procedures. The group also visited ICRISAT's Community
Watershed Management Project in Hyderabad (see article in
The Hindu). -
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture
and Technology Funds Research at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), through its Research, Production and Extension's Innovation Fund, will begin supporting research on SRI at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme during 2010. According to Bancy Mati, the project, which will involve several graduate students, is a collaborative effort between JKUAT, the IMAWESA Network (Improved Management for Agricultural Water in Eastern and Southern Africa), the African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD), the Mwea Irrigation Agricultural Development (MIAD) Centre, and several other partners. As of August, 2010, the PhD and MSC students have completed their proposals and are beginning to plant their experimental plots.
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Knowledge Exchange Programme Conducted Mwea and Ahero Irrigation
Schemes
Following up the September 2010 GLDN videoconference exchanging knowledge among farmers and specialists in four countries, the World Bank Institute (WBI) engaged Dr. V. K. Ravichandran, Professor of Agronomy at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, as a resource person to share SRI knowledge from IAMWARM and its experiences with up-scaling of SRI during an assignment in Kenya in January 2010. (IAMWARM is a World Bank-funded project in Tamil Nadu State of India.)
This Knowledge
Exchange program in January 2010 was conducted in the Mwea and Ahero
irrigations schemes with MIAD officials assisting (see photo at left). Around
50 farmers and 25 officers were involved in this programme in four batches. In
the two-day session for each batch, farmers were exposed first to the central
concepts of SRI, and then adoption of the main components and their adaptation
to local conditions was explained. A video film on SRI developed by WBI
for its toolkit on this innovation was screened along with one on the experiences of IAMWARM with
SRI introduction.
At first, farmers
were resistant to the idea of using only 3 kg seeds per acre, with a 
nursery area of
just 40 m2 and to transplant very young seedlings singly in a square
pattern. After detailed discussions on the importance of each component,
farmers were convinced. In the hands-on training the next day, farmers gained
practical acquaintance with preparation of a raised-bed nursery (left), the
square planting technique using single seedlings instead of a clump of older
plants (right), and the use of the soil-aerating weeder as these techniques
were demonstrated in the field.
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SRI Stakeholder
Meeting at ICRAF Reports Progress and Opportunities in Kenya
A Stakeholders' Meeting on the System for Rice Intensification (SRI) was held January 27, 2010, at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) complex at Girgiri, Nairobi. The meeting was organized jointly by the IMAWESA Network (Improved Management for Agricultural Water in Eastern and Southern Africa), the Mwea Irrigation Agricultural Development (MIAD) Centre, the World Bank's Nairobi office, the World Bank Institute (WBI), and the African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD).
The meeting included representatives from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the National Irrigation Board, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and several NGOs and universities. An afternoon seminar by Dr. V. K. Ravichandran, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU), who had been brought in from India by the WBI to share SRI experience from that country, was attended also by SRI farmers from the Mwea Irrigation Scheme and by representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and several other national and international groups (see participant list). The group also heard from Dr. Robert Chambers (Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK) who was coincidentally visiting Kenya at this time and who has had a long-standing interest in SRI. Having done research on the Mwea irrigation scheme in the 1970s, he was curious to know how SRI methods could be used to improve water efficiency and productivity there.
2009 Activities
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Videoconference on SRI Organized by World Bank Instate
The World Bank Institute organized a videoconference on September 11, 2009, that enabled the experimenting Kenyan farmers to interact with persons in other African countries and India who have considerable personal experience with SRI crop and water management to be able to advise on best SRI practices (see flyer for video conference). Participants tuned in from several countries: Nairobi, Kenya; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Kigali, Rwanda; Chennai, India; and Washington, DC, USA.
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SRI Trials Launched in Kenya
A
meeting of
stakeholders (right) was held at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme on August 18, 2009,
to formally launch the evaluation and demonstration of SRI in this country. The
meeting was organized by Bancy Mati, program manager of the IWAMESA Network
(for Improved Management ofAgricultural Water in Eastern and Southern Africa),
and Jean Njiru, former HumphreyFellow at Cornell who has now returned to Kenya
and is helping get SRI introduced inher country, with assistance from Markus
Wolfe, irrigation specialist in the World Bank office in Nairobi. 
Trials will
be conducted 
within the
Mwea scheme and by volunteer farmers outside the scheme. One of these farmers,
Moses Kareithi, who started using SRI methods before receiving any formal
training, was able to show his two-week-old SRI crop (photo at left) in
comparison with a control ricecrop that uses olderseedlings (shown at right-
click on photos to enlarge). His yield at harvest time was 38% higher than with
usual methods.Mathew Mwaura, SRI farmer and assistant chief at the Mahigaini
Sublocation, also started early, was able to get a doubled yield.
