Increasing rice yields with less irrigation water

Water in Agriculture Innovation Series

organized by the World Bank's Water in Agriculture and Climate-Smart Agriculture Global Solutions Groups, Washington DC

Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Techniques for Sustainable Irrigated Rice Production

Date: June 8, 2017

Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) is a water-saving technology that farmers can apply to reduce their irrigation water consumption in rice fields without decreasing its yield. In AWD, irrigation water is applied a few days after the disappearance of the ponded water. Hence, the field gets alternately flooded and non-flooded. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which originated in Madagascar in the 1980s, also uses wetting and drying of the field in addition to agroecological cropping principles such as 7 day old seedlings instead of the 15-20 day seedlings and one seedling per hill instead of several per hill used in traditional rice growing practices, the addition of compost and/or fertilizer, and 2-3 mechanical weedings depending on weed pressure. Practitioners of SRI report significantly enhanced yields relative to best management practices with continuously flooded rice.

To watch the Video from the entire Seminar (2 hours), paste link below into browser

https://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/619672/uiconf_id/24449191/entry_id/1_9aywqwlx/embed/iframe?&flashvars[streamerType]=auto

Presentation 1: Ole Sander, IRRI (Video 8:35-24:25 min)
Presentation 2: Erika Styger, Cornell University (Video: 24:31-48:02 min)
World Bank Task Team Perspective: SRI in West Africa (Video: 49:06-1h 06 min)
World Bank Task Team Perspective: SRI in Tamil Nadu, India (Video: 1h 06-1:18h min)