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SRI needs a second look
I thank Dan Mariano for writing such an informative article on the
system of rice intensification (SRI) and its relevance for the
Philippines (“System of rice intensification,” March 31). I am
considered to be ‘biased’ because of my long and close
association with SRI, but I also know more about it, in more places,
than anyone else, and I think I know its limitations better than
anyone also.
Mariano comprehended our
materials, voluminous and often uneven and sketchy, very aptly, and
I have nothing to suggestion by way of correction or restatement.
Obet (Robert Verzola of the University of the Philippines) has
indeed done the country a great service (one more time) by taking up
the SRI banner. The skeptics/critics are mostly poorly informed,
having never themselves worked with, or even seen, SRI practices in
the field, preferring to work from a priori reasoning, based on
pre-SRI experience. They have not seen the phenotypic differences in
any rice genotype that SRI methods can induce.
I’ll send Dan a “poster
girl” picture from Indonesia, Miyatty Jannah in East Java, who has
become an activist for SRI based on her experience. See discussion
of Miyatty’s experience in my attached trip report, toward the end
of the trip — Thursday and Friday.
The report will show how
Indonesia is progressing with SRI, and how far ahead of the
Philippines it is. Obet’s efforts have been dedicated and
brilliant, and many fine individuals have rallied to the SRI banner,
but institutional support has lagged. Mariano’s article might
prompt some persons in high places to take another look at SRI, or
build up some pressure from below for them to take action. FYI: The
Government of India has allocated $40 million under its National
Food Security Mission to extend SRI to 5 million hectares. Tamil
Nadu state already has 420,000 ha.
Norman Uphoff
<ntu1@cornell.edu>
Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York 
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