System of Rice Intensification-a boon to Indian farmers: a review

Abstract

SRI method is emerging as a potential alternative to traditional way of flooded rice cultivation and is showing great promise to address the problems of water scarcity, high energy and chemical usage. It is not only a new high yielding technique, it has a very large and diversified area of work. It is a good sign that farmers across the world are adopting System of Rice Intensification (SRI), as it gives equal or more produce than the conventional rice cultivation; with substantial reduction in the investments on external inputs like water, seed chemicals etc. Less demand of water makes more water available for other purposes. On the other hand soil possesses greater biodiversity and less methane emission because of aerobic condition. It reduces water use for rice production, cost of cultivation, dependency on purchased inputs, can increase water productivity (grain yield per total water input), income and sustainability. In a large scale, in can help to achieve food security, can generate employment, can improve soil and water quality due to less use of synthetic chemicals. Ultimately SRI can help us to proceed one step forward to an ecofriendly an d sustainable environment.