How SRI changes paddy practices

That the family of Lokman Ali and Buli Khatun could harvest twice the amount of paddy from the same piece of land this past winter season compared to last year, surprised many neighbouring farmers in Dudhiyagacha, a village in Adarvita Union in Madarganj, Jamalpur. As last year early 2012, the family cultivated paddy from February to May on a plot of land of 0.33 acre. “Last year I harvested 720 kg of paddy from this plot but this year it was more than twice that amount, a good1600 kg!”, said Lokman Ali. His wife Buli Khatun is very happy with the big amount of paddy they grew this year. Together with their two sons, she helped her husband with the harvest: “My husband also has a small furniture shop in Madarganj market, but his income is not regular and insufficient (BDT 4,500[1]) for our family. We are very happy with our big harvest of rice. It will feed our family (two meals per day for five people) throughout the year.”

Officials from Agriculture department and local farmers visited Lokman in his field during a Farmer Field Day

Lokman Ali (48) joined the Cross-border project in 2012 when a representative from the NGO Dhaka Ahsania Mission came to his village in Madarganj and a farmer group in vegetable and field crops was established. Lokman became the president of the 16-member group named ‘Ananda’. The group received a 5-day training in different practices under the System of Rice Intensification[2] (SRI). To apply the practices in their own fields, group members received 2 kg of rice seed and BDT 1,100 of working capital to pay for some inputs. Lokman explained, “The SRI method not only makes a difference in paddy production but also decreased production cost and time as the cultivation method is more systematic compared to the traditional way of paddy cultivation. For example, I have prepared a seedbed on a small plot (0.0175 acre) by sowing 2 kg of paddy seed whereas I used to sow 8 to 10 kg of paddy seed. Compared to the traditional method, the seedlings grow faster. And with SRI, the seedlings were ready to transplant in 15 to 20 days while in the traditional method it used to take almost 30 days. Also the number of seedlings we used is much less. I have transplanted one rice seedling (at one spot) in my field while I used to transplant 3 to 5 seedlings per hole before.” Lokman spent BDT 8,400 on paddy cultivation and harvested 1600 kg of rice, worth BDT 26,000 (BDT16.25/kg). He also earned BDT 3,000 from the sale of rice straw.

Field Facilitator Rafiqul Islam enjoys the success of Lokman Ali. According to Rafiq, “When Lokman Ali transplanted one paddy seedling to the field instead of 3 to 5 as he used to do, his fellow farmers were concerned about the production. They even shouted at us and said that we are ruining Lokman’s farming career. However, when we organised a farmer field day during the harvest period and invited the same farmers to harvest paddy from Lokman Ali’s field their reaction was totally different. When they checked the quality and weighed the harvested paddy, they were very impressed and expressed their interest to try the same method in next season.” 
 

Local service provider Abdul Salam shows the difference between the SRI field of Lokman Ali (on the left) and a field that used the traditional method of rice cultivation of another farmer (on the right). “In both fields seedlings were planted at the same time and the same rice variety was used. But the paddy in the field of Lokman Ali developed more tillers and was earlier ripe than the other field. It always looked better”.

Md. Abdul Salam, the local service provider specialised in field crops and vegetables, trained Lokman Ali and other farmers in SRI and closely monitored their cultivation process. He also provided regular advice and helped the farmers to keep track of their expenditure.

He shared: “Lokman was always enthusiastic to adopt new agricultural technology. When I provided training on the SRI method he told me that he wants to replicate it first to establish an example for others. As a president of the field crop group he has set a positive example amongst his group members and fellow farmers.”

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[1] BDT 80 ≈ USD 1

[2] SRI is a system of 6 interrelated practices using less external inputs, which offers small farmers a way to improve their rice production.