How the System of Rice Intensification Can Contribute to Climate-Smart Agriculture

Abstract

Although there has been controversy over some of the high yields reported with the System of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Intensification (SRI), an agroecological crop management system developed in Madagascar, substantial increases in average rice yields have been reported from more than 50 countries when these methods are used, not even necessarily fully. Most attention thus far has focused on yield and little on whether or how SRI methods can help farmers adapt to and buffer the adverse stresses of climate change as well as reduce their rice paddies’ contribution to global warming. According to FAO criteria, achieving all three impacts would qualify SRI as “climate-smart agriculture” (CSA).This paper reviews how making SRI modifications in agronomic practices can elicit plant phenotypes from given rice genotypes that are more robust and adaptive as well as more productive. This effect appears to result from SRI’s inducing larger, healthier root systems and enhancing beneficial soil biota. These effects are associated with improvements in a variety of morphological and physiological characteristics in rice plants. Cross-national meta-analysis has documented reductions in crop water requirements and increased water productivity under SRI management. These methods are also seen to contribute to greater drought-tolerance, resistance to storm damage, cold-temperature hardiness, shortened crop cycles that reduce crops’ exposure to biotic and abiotic stresses, less susceptibility to insect pest and disease damage, and diminished net emissions of greenhouse gases from paddy fields. The efficacy of SRI management methods is increasingly accepted by governments, donor agencies and farmers, but more remains to be researched and evaluated.