Regional and Bilateral Missions Bring New Rice-Growing Method to Field

Rice farmers are enthusiastic about SRI
USAID efforts in bringing the new Intensive Rice-Growing System (Système de Riziculture Intensif, or SRI) to one of Mali’s rice-growing regions,have been recognized with the presentation of awards to a regional and a bilateral team leader.

Kokou Zotoglo, the rice value chain leader for USAID/West Africa’s Expanded Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (USAID E-ATP) program, and Djiguiba Koyaté, his counterpart at USAID/Mali’s Inte-grated Initiatives for Economic Growth in Mali (USAID IICEM), were given the “Tiwara” (“Lion of Work” in Bambara) award from govern-ment and civil society leaders in the Circle of San in the Ségou region for their collaboration in introducing SRI techniques into the region.

Worldwide, traditional methods of planting and replanting rice prevent the crop from producing to its full potential. However, using fewer seeds, less water, different fertilization methods, cost-saving labor practices, and well-aerated soil rich in organic material, SRI allows the plant to produce 35% to 100% more rice in two-to-three fewer weeks than its conventionally grown counterpart.

First introduced in Madagascar in the early 1980s, SRI was later tested in Mali’sTombouctou farming area by Africare in 2007. At a February 2010 national workshop on the findings of the experimen-tal use of SRI, Kokou recommended to IICEM that the process be taken out of the experimental arena and into the experiential setting of Mali’s natural rice-growing fields.

The results were presented at an August joint USAID E-ATP and USAID/Mali IICEM workshop, attended by rice stakeholders from across West Africa who were taken into the fields to see for them-selves the effects of SRI. Farmers were so pleased that they claimed they didn’t need any more agricultural advisors. One grower went so far as to say this was a way out of economic misery for him and his colleagues.

USAID E-ATP is supporting a regional learning network so in-formation about innovations within the rice value chain can be ex-changed on a broader scale.