SRI International Network and Resources Center

REPUBLIC OF KOREA (SOUTH KOREA)

Summary

The first evaluations of SRI methods in the Republic of Korea were undertaken in 2007 by Dr. Jinyong Choi, professor of sustainable agriculture at Gyeongsang National University (GNU), with thesis research on SRI methods used with a vetch residue-mulched no-till system. During 2011, two related articles on planting densities and nutrient uptake by Vannak Meas and colleagues suggested SRI methods should be useful for small-scale rice farmers in Korea as a sustainable farming system.

During 2011-2012, Dr. Joong-Dae Choi at Kangwon National University presented evidence that SRI methods can reduce water-use, non-point source (NPS) pollution and GHGs under Korean conditions. According to Dr. Choi, conservation of water resources by Korea's agricultural sector is one of the most important pending issues as it consumes nearly half of the nation's water supply and about 90% of agricultural water use is consumed in paddy farming. The research also showed large reductions in methane emissions and only small increases in nitrous oxide, amounting to a net reduction of two-thirds in GHG emissions evaluated in terms of CO₂ equivalence (see article and PowerPoint presentation). These findings are especially important since there has been some question as to whether the expected methane reductions with SRI might be offset by significant increases in nitrous oxide, also a potent greenhouse gas. A 2014 technical report in the journal Paddy and Water Environment by Konkuk University researchers that looked at streamflow and total nitrogen and total phosphorus stream water quality data showed that water could be saved and the nutrient load reduced by just applying SRI water management for rice paddies in South Korea. Between 2011 and 2020, a number of studies have been undertaken to assess the effect of SRI methods on water use, pollution and GHG emissions. See progress and research section s below for details.

Progress and Activities

2020 Updates

• Study Models the Use of SRI in Affecting Flow Rate and Water Quality of Rivers

  [July 26, 2020] A presentation at the Korea Water Resources Association Conference described the application of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) cultivation methods to the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model, one of the watershed models for Dalcheon basin, to analyze the effect of securing the flow rate and improving water quality in the river. Due to reduced precipitation resulting from climate change and indiscriminate intake near the river, the flow rate of the river has decreased and the water quality has deteriorated. Agricultural water accounts for about 41% of the total water use in Korea, of which about 90% is used in rice fields.

  In Korea, studies related to the effect of saving irrigation water and reducing greenhouse gases in rice fields have been conducted through monitoring of SRI methods based on parcel units. SRI methods were found to keep the soil in an aerobic state, resulting in a water reduction effect of about 40 to 67% compared to conventional practices. However, there have been limited studies based on monitoring results in parcel units, and there have been few studies that have quantitatively analyzed the effect of SRI in securing the flow rate and improving water quality using watershed models. The study, which applies SRI cultivation techniques to the SWAT watershed model, can hopefully be used as a practical method to secure the river flow rate in the watershed. [See abstract for details.]

2019 Updates

• Review of Greenhouse Gas Reduction from Paddy by Environmentally-Friendly Intermittent Irrigation

  [April 18, 2019] An article published by Joongdae Choi et al in the 한국습지학회지 Journal of Wetlands Research reviews GHG reduction from paddy by environmentally-friendly intermittent irrigation. The findings are summarized in the abstract: "Irrigated and flooded rice paddy contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that affect climate. This in turn affects the supply and reliability of the water needed for rice production. This dynamic makes current rice production methods foreseeably less sustainable over time while having other undesirable effects. Intermittent irrigation by a means of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) methods was reviewed to reduce global warming potential (GWP) from 29% to 90% depending on site-specific characteristics from flooded rice paddy and analyzed to be a promising option for enhancing the productivity of water as well, an increasingly constraining resource. Additional benefits associated with the SRI/AWD can be less arsenic in the grain and less degradation of water quality in the run-off from rice paddies. Adoption and expansion of intermittent irrigation of SRI/AWD may require costly public and private investments in irrigation infrastructure that can precisely make irrigation control, and the involvement and upgrading of water management agencies and farmer organizations to enhance management capabilities. Private and public collaboration as a means of earning carbon credit under the clean-development mechanism (CDM) with SRI/AWD for industries to meet as a part of their GHG emission quota as well as a social contribution and publicity program could contribute to adopt intermittent irrigation and rural investment and development. Also, inclusion of SRI and AWD in programs designed under CDM and/or in official development assistance (ODA) projects could contribute to climate-change mitigation and help to achieve UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)."

2013-2014 Updates

• Research Continues to Show the Potential of SRI to Reduce Water Use, Pollution and GHGs

  Two journal articles that point to SRI's potential in Korea were published by researchers in Kangwon National University and Konkuk University during 2014. An article by Joongdae Choi et al in the journal Irrigation and Drainage (Effect of SRI water management on water quality and greenhouse gas emissions in Korea) expanded on their earlier work with a feasibility study on SRI methods with respect to irrigation requirements, non-point source (NPS) pollution discharge, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and rice yields. The GHG emissions in terms of their CO2 equivalents, were greatly reduced (>65%), compared to conventionally-grown rice plots. While rice yields wit SRI treatments were not substantially greater, the authors believe that application of SRI water management methods could help to improve Korea's water resources and water quality management, as well as helping to mitigate the negative effects of global warming.

  During January 2014, Chung-Gil Jung and his colleagues Konkuk University published a technical report in the journal Paddy and Water Environment in which a potential system for SRI water management in an agricultural watershed of South Korea was evaluated using the SWAT–APEX Program, SWAPP. The SWAPP was calibrated and verified at the level of the paddy field for a 373.6 km2 watershed using 6 years (2000–2005) of streamflow, and total nitrogen and total phosphorus stream water quality data. The results showed that water could be saved and the nutrient load reduced by just applying SRI water management for rice paddies in South Korea.

2011-2012

• Kangwon National University Research Shows SRI Influence on Pollutants and GHGs

  At the 2011 international meeting of the Paddy and Water Environment Engineering Society held in Taipei, research on SRI methods was reported by Dr. J. D. Choi from the Department of Regional Infrastructure Engineering of Kangwon National University. This work focused on reductions in the pollutants in water runoff from SRI plots compared to conventionally-cultivated rice paddies (see journal article). At the same meeting, he reported on research assessing reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with SRI management. The research showed large reductions in methane emissions and only small increases in nitrous oxide, amounting to a net reduction of two-thirds in GHG emissions evaluated in terms of CO₂ equivalence. (see PowerPoint presentation). This research, undertaken at the plot locations shown at right, is ongoing. (Click on map for a larger view).

  During May 2012, Dr. Choi presented additional findings on the reduction of non-point source pollution and GHG emissions at the International Water Association (IWA) World Congress for Water, Climate and Energy, Dublin, Ireland. (See abstract - the full paper will be made available soon).

• Articles on SRI with No-Till Published in Korean Journal of Soil Fertility

  Two articles by Vannak Meas and his colleagues were published subsequent to Meas' 2008 MSc thesis on SRI adapted with a Chinese milk vetch residue-mulched no-tillage cropping system on silt loam soil. Both articles discuss paddy planted at planted with 10x10 cm, 20x20 cm and 30x30 cm spacings using no-till methods. Root dry mass was significantly increased in the wider planting densities (p<0.05%), with the highest grain yield obtained in the 20x20 cm planting density plot (p<0.05%) due to higher plant density per unit area and spikelets number per panicle. The total nutrient uptake amount by rice plants was significantly higher with 20x20 cm planting density. Findings of both articles suggest that optimum planting density for SRI in no-tillage paddy was 20x20 cm and that SRI methods should be useful for small-scale rice farmers in Korea as a sustainable farming system. (Journal articles in 2011 are listed in the research section below.)

2007-2009

• Gyeongsang National University Researchers Study SRI Adapted to Vetch Residue-Mulched No-Till System
  The first evaluations of SRI methods, as far as we know, were undertaken by Dr. Jinyong Choi, professor of sustainable agriculture at Gyeongsang National University (GNU), in 2007, with thesis research on SRI methods adapted with a Chinese milk vetch residue-mulched no-till system. In 2008, his student, Vannak Meas, finished a thesis entitled "Evaluation studies on applicability and strategies for improvement of SRI (System of Rice Intensification) with direct seeding Chinese milk vetch residue-mulched no-till paddy rice (Oryza sativa L) in Southern Korea."

• In 2009 a delegation of GNU students visited Cornell to learn more about SRI methods and soil health.

Research

• Kim, Soohong (김수홍), et al. 2020. 유역모델에서의 SRI 기법 적용에 따른 유량확보 및 수질 개선 효과 분석 (Application of SRI methods in SWAT model to retain agricultural water). Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference. 발행기관 : 한국농공학회. [accessed December 27, 2020]
• Kim, Soo Hong, et al. 2020. Analysis of the effect of water quality improvement by securing the flow applying SRI (SRI 적용을 통한 유량확보에 따른 수질개선 효과 분). Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference. p157 (abstract only) [accessed July 26, 2020]
• Choi, Joongdae, et al. 2019. Greenhouse Gas reduction from paddy by environmentally-friendly intermittent irrigation: A review. 한국습지학회지 Journal of Wetlands Research 21(1): 43-56
• Lee, Yun-ho, et al. 2018. On-farm study of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) of rainfed lowland in southern Cambodia (캄보디아 남부 천수답지역의 벼 집약관리재배 시스템(SRI)에 대한 현장 연구). Korea International Agricultural Development Association 30(4): 285-291
• Jiyeon, 서지연, Seo, et al. 2018. Effect of SRI water management on the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions and irrigation water supply in paddy. Journal of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers 60(1): 79-87. doi:10.5389.KSAE2018.60.1.079
• Choi, Joongdae, Gunyeob Kim, et al. 2014. Effect of SRI water management on water quality and greenhouse gas emissions in Korea. Irrigation and Drainage. (published online first March 18, 2014) doi:10.1002/ird.1843
• Jung, Chung-Gil, Jong-Yoon Park, Seong-Joon Kim and Geun-Ae Park. 2013. The SRI (system of rice intensification) water management evaluation by SWAPP (SWAT-APEX Program) modeling in an agricultural watershed of South Korea. Paddy and Water Environment 10.1007/s10333-013-0367-1 (technical report; results showed that water could be saved and the nutrient load reduced by just applying SRI water management for rice paddies in South Korea.)
• Kim, Gun-Yeob, et al. 2012. Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases by water management of SRI (System of Rice Intensification) in rice paddy fields. Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer 45(6): 1173-1178. 10.7745/KJSSF.2012.45.6.1173
• Choi, Joong-Dae, Woon-Ji Park, Ki-Wook Park, Guenyeob Kim, and Deog-Bae Lee. 2012. Effect of SRI on the reduction of irrigation requirement and NPS pollution discharge from runoff plots in Korea. Abstract of paper presented at the International Water Association (IWA) World Congress for Water, Climate and Energy, Dublin, Ireland, May 14-17.
• Choi, Joong-Dae, Woon-Ji Park, Ki-Wook Park, and Kyong-Jae Lim. 2012. Feasibility of SRI methods for reduction of irrigation and NPS pollution in Korea. Paddy and Water Environment Online first (Springerlink) 1-8. doi:10.1007/s10333-012-0311-9
• Meas, Vannak, Daniel Shon, and Young Han Lee. 2011. Effects on rice growth of System of Rice Intensification under no-till paddy in Korea. Korean Journal of Soil Fertility (한국토양비료학회지) 44(1): 91-97. (First two pages are available at http://www.papersearch.net/view/detail.asp?detail_key=09405133)
• Meas, Vannak, Daniel Shon, and Young Han Lee. 2011. Impacts of planting density on nutrients uptake by System of Rice Intensification under no-tillage paddy in Korea. Korean Journal of Soil Fertility (한국토양비료학회지) 44(1): 98-103. (First two pages are available at: http://www.papersearch.net/view/detail.asp?detail_key=09405134)
• Meas, Vannak. 2008. Evaluation studies on applicability and strategies for improvement of SRI (the Systems of Rice Intensification) with direct seeding Chinese milk vetch residue-mulched no-till paddy rice (Oryza sativa L) in Southern Korea. MSc. thesis. Gyeongsang National University, South Korea.

Videos

• 2009 (May 24). System of Rice Intensification. Korean Hangul Language version of the original SRI video by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) about SRI in Indonesia. (in three parts). danafastforward channel, YouTube.
  Part I: 8:59 min.;  Part II: 10:39 min.;  Part III: 5:14 min.

PowerPoint Presentations

• Choi, Joong-Dae. Woon-Ji Park, Ki-Wook Park and Kyong-Jae Lim. 2011. Feasibility of SRI application in Korea for reduction of irrigation requirements and non-point source (NPS) pollution. PowerPoint presented by Joong-Dae Choi at the Paddy and Water Environment Engineering Society PAWEES International Conference, Taipei, October 27. 47 slides.