Socio-economic evaluation of System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Abstract

System of rice intensification (SRI) is an alternative method of rice cultivation to economize the use of water and other critical inputs without affecting yield. In recent times, SRI is gaining importance in many countries including India. The present paper is intended to know the socio-economic aspects of SRI. The variable costs were higher in conventional method in comparison with the SRI method because of huge quantity of seeds, fertilisers, plant protection chemicals and animal labour and irrigation charges incurred in conventional method. Socio-economic studies and front line demonstrations (FLDs) during the past 2-3 years have clearly indicated the superiority of SRI as a sustainable method of rice cultivation. Feedback from farmers indicated certain problems which need to be addressed for wider adaptability of SRI. One of the major constraints in adoption of SRI was drudgery in using weeder, hence, low cost, user friendly weeders and markers have to be made available to the farmers. The designs of the weeder should be diversified and be made amenable to local production. For large scale adoption of SRI, there is a need for convergence of different organizations working on SRI