MADAGASCAR SRI ARCHIVES
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SRI Activity Archives (1990-2010)
1990-2003 (For more RECENT news, see main Madagascar page)
Initial Development of SRI in Madagascar
SRI work began in Madagascar, and indeed in the world, with the efforts of Association Tefy Saina (ATS), established in 1990, to disseminate and further develop the methods assembled by Fr. Henri de Laulanié. (See discussion of SRI Origins and also Rafaralahy's keynote presentation at the Sanya conference in 2002). Initially Tefy Saina has small grants from a number of European NGOs and church organizations. In 1994, it began working with CIIFAD in the integrated conservation and development project, funded by USAID, around Ranomafana National Park. This project continued through 1998, by which time it was well demonstrated that subsistence households which had been getting paddy yields of 2 tons/ha were able -- just by making changes in their management of plants, soil, water and nutrients -- to attain average yields of 8 tons/ha. Similar results were reported during the latter 1990s in two documents for the French development agency in Madagascar. During the decade of the 1990s, ATS provided leadership on SRI in Madagascar and shared information on SRI with anyone interested in it around the world, assisted by CIIFAD after 1994. In 2001, Tefy Saina hosted an agriculturalist from the NGO World Vision in Sierra Leone, and the next year, an agricultural scientist from the Agency for Agricultural Research and Development in Indonesia, both visits facilitated by CIIFAD. Efforts after 1997 to get the International Rice Research Institute involved in evaluation of SRI methods did not elicit any interest (-see Uphoff correspondence).
Prof. Robert Randriamiharisoa, while director of research for the Faculty of Agriculture (ESSA) at the University of Antananarivo, began working with Tefy Saina and CIIFAD in 1997 on the scientific evaluation of SRI through student thesis research assisted by Tefy Saina and CIIFAD. A number of the theses, in French language, are posted in the research section. Randriamiharisoa became head of the ESSA Department of Agriculture and continued innovative research particularly on biological N fixation with SRI. He presented reports on this research to the Sanya international conference: BNF summary, factorial trial results, Mondava thesis, Anjomakely thesis, Beforona research, weeding-compost trials, ratooning-inoculation trials. Sadly and most unfortunately, Prof. Robert passed away in August, 2004, having in a few years made the largest initial contribution to advancing the scientific understanding of SRI. We are greatly indebted to him.
In 1998, Bruno Andrianaivo, senior rice specialist with FOFIFA, the government's agency for agricultural and rural development, began working with Tefy Saina, the University and CIIFAD on SRI evaluation, including an adaptation of SRI concepts and practices to upland rice production, which has been taken up in the Philippines. In November 1999, the Rockefeller Foundation made a small grant to a consortium of Tefy Saina, the University, FOFIFA and CIIFAD to do research on SRI and its dissemination, which undertook cooperative research until 2003. (see FOFIFA 2000-2001 report, FOFIFA final report, and Consortium final report).
In 2000, Catholic Relief Services began to disseminate SRI in 8 dioceses of Madagascar, keeping detailed records on yield results. In 2001, average yields with traditional practice were 1.5 t/ha; those practicing Level 1 SRI (1 or 2 practices) achieved 2.4 t/ha; those at Level 2 (3 or 4 practices) averaged 3.7 t/ha; while those at Level 3 (all 5 practices) got 4.2 t/ha. Maximum yields for these four groups were: 3.0, 3.2, 7.5 and 15.0 t/ha. ADRA and other NGOs also began to disseminate SRI in the early part of the decade
CIIFAD promoted SRI in the Landscape Development Interventions (LDI) project funded by USAID and implemented by Chemonics International. This was done through the network of farmer associations known as Kolo Harena. (See evaluation of results by George Rakontondrabe, responsible for LDI monitoring).
- Master's Thesis Studies Disadoption of SRI
An evaluation of SRI adoption and disadoption was done by Christine Moser for a master's thesis in agricultural economics at Cornell. Moser studied five villages in the Ranomafana and Fianarantsoa areas and found disadoption to be around 40%; and in one village to be 100%. It appeared that SRI dissemination and maintenance depended heavily on farmers’ having extension support. An important and somewhat unexpected finding was that really poor households could not afford to adopt SRI practices even though these would give them higher yield because they needed to assure daily income to meet subsistence needs, and could not invest the additional labor required for SRI in the short run to get its higher returns some months later (see article in Agricultural Systems).
This is a different finding than in the IWMI evaluation of SRI in Sri Lanka, where poorer households were as likely to adopt SRI as were richer ones, and more likely to continue with SRI. Also, a subsequent article by Barrett and Moser with Barison and McHugh (American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2004) based on a comparative sample of over 100 farmers in four location using both SRI and conventional practice found that the labor requirements with SRI diminish over time as farmers gain skill and confidence with them. In this study, by the fourth year, there was an average reduction in labor time by 4%, and by the fifth year, 10% less labor input. In China and India, farmers report reductions in labor requirements with SRI cultivation methods already in their first year.
The rate of disadoption reported from Moser's field study does not appear to be general in Madagascar. An evaluation of rice production in a French-supported irrigation project in the high-plateau areas around Antsirabe and Ambositra (1994/5-1998/9) found that without much extension effort, the area under SRI expanded from 34.5 ha to 542.8 ha. Average SRI yields over the five-year period were 8.55 t/ha, compared to 3.77 t/ha with the government-recommended System of Rice Improvement (SRA) using fertilizer and other modern methods, and 2.36 t/ha with farmer practice (see data from 2000 report).
- Research Articles Add to Understanding of SRI
In 2000-2001, Joeli Barison and Oloro McHugh conducted joint research on SRI for Cornell master's theses in agronomy and agricultural engineering, studying the experience of 107 farmers in four areas of Madagascar who were using both SRI and standard methods, so that inter-farm and inter-farmer differences could be controlled. These studies gave a more detailed understanding of soil, nutrient, water management and other factors with SRI. An analysis using the QWEFTS model found that, for the same uptake of N, P or K, SRI plants gave double the yield as conventionally-grown plants. (See Barison thesis, Barison article, McHugh et al paper).
With further analysis of the data gathered by Barison and McHugh, Barrett et al. (2003) concluded that SRI is an 'unambiguously superior technology.' An innovative methodology for assessing sources of productivity estimated that half of the 88% increase in yield with SRI practices for these 107 farmers was attributable to the adoption of SRI techniques on a ceteris paribus basis. The other half was attributable to differences in 'farmer quality,' which could also be interpreted as meaning 'best use' of SRI practices. (AJAE article)
2004-2006
- Marketing of SRI Rice through Koloharenas (village associations)
Initiated
In eastern and central Madagascar in the provinces of Tamatave and Fianarantsoa, the USAID-funded Landscape Development Initiative (LDI) project —succeeded by the Ecoregional Initiatives (ERI) and Business and Market Expansion (BAMEX) projects— was encouraging the development of Koloharenas (village associations focusing on natural resource management) and SRI rice production, working closely with Tefy Saina. In 2004, Slow Food awarded Tefy Saina its Award for the Defense of Biodiversity for its work with the Koloharenas to produce traditional Malagasy red rice, called Vary Mena. LDI’s Glenn Lines enabled the Koloharena farmers to participate in Slow Food’s international food fair, the Salone del Gusto, in Turin, Italy, in October 2004. Slow Food made an in-kind equipment grant to the Hanitriala Koloharena cooperative to help improve rice packaging and quality control. In 2006, with support from the SEED Initiative, CIIFAD facilitated the visit to Madagascar of Lotus Foods to explore their interest in exporting SRI-produced rice.
- U.S. Embassy Cooperates in SRI Demonstration
For the 2006 main rice cultivation season, the U.S. Embassy in Madagascar cooperated with Association
Tefy
Saina in setting up and maintaining an SRI demonstration plot (0.36 ha) at the
Presidential Palace at Ioavolaha, on the outskirts of the capital
Antananarivo.The U.S. Ambassador and the President, Marc Ravalomanana (right),
both participated in the planting of young seedlings, and in the harvest
ceremony. (See pictures
of the ceremony with both officials along with others appreciating the
results of the cropping system.)The harvested yield was 3.6 t/ha, almost twice the national average yield of 2 t/ha. The President has also sponsored national rice production competitions since 2004, both at regional and national level, with practically all prizes won by SRI farmers. The harvested yield was 3.6 t/ha, almost twice the national average yield of 2 t/ha. The President has also sponsored national rice production competitions since 2004, both at regional and national level, with practically all prizes won by SRI farmers. The winner in 2004 was Charlotte Rasaonandrasana, with a yield of 13.5 t/ha. President Ravalomanana has also included SRI promotion in his Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), as reported in Norman Uphoff's trip report. He also has endorsed SRI in a speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2008.
2007
- Lotus Foods and Coopérative Koloharena Ivolamiarina Besarety
Work Together on Marketing
Since 2007, Lotus Foods has been working with the Coopérative Koloharena Ivolamiarina Besarety, Amparafaravola, Madagascar, to market in the USA a special pink rice, called Varini Dista, named after the farmer who popularized it. The Koloharena Ivolamiarina (KH/I) is part of the Confederation Nationale Sahavanona Koloharena, established in 1999, as the national office for 29 Koloharena farmer cooperatives (including 950 village-based associations and 29,000 members) committed to increasing small-farm income using environmentally-sound farming methods (initiated by CIIFAD). The cooperatives are concentrated along the threatened, humid forest in eastern Madagascar.
2008
- SRI Group of Madagascar and the Secretariat Established
SRI Group of Madagascar and the Secretariat was established in November/December 2008 in order to create a hub for SRI activities in Madagascar. The objectives of the Secretariat are three-fold: 1) to promote the exchange and sharing of information as well as the coordination of SRI activities at the national level and progressively at decentralized levels; 2) to establish an improved system of communication for SRI within Madagascar through the establishment of a database for the collection of SRI data and the development of a national web-site/blog for SRI; and 3) to network with other groups working in SRI and complementary sectors, such as local and international NGOs, the national agricultural research institute (FOFIFA) and the University of Antananarivo, donors, the private sector, etc.
- SRI is Endorsed in U.N. General Assembly by Madagascar
President
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The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, in his address to the U.N. General Assembly as part of its debate on the global food crisis, September 23, said: “We are promoting the widespread use of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an eco-friendly and pro-people method developed in Madagascar in the 1980s. SRI promotion is an important part of Madagascar’s recently launched ‘natural revolution’.” This is part of the President’s Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) which has adopted the motto: Madagascar naturally. The speech can be downloaded as a video (French or English) or as a pdf in English.
- SRI Promoted in Ministry of Agriculture National Workshop
On Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 2008, the MAP secretariat together with the Ministry of Agriculture (MAEP) sponsored a national workshop on supporting integrated development of MAP villages in each region of the country (see Uphoff trip report). Two days were devoted to getting SRI knowledge and practice disseminated to all 22 regions through government and NGO partnerships. This initiative is being assisted by the Better U Foundation, following actor Jim Carrey’s visit to Madagascar at the end of August, 2008.
SRI farmers informed workshop participants of the benefits and successes they have achieved with SRI methods, and Norman Uphoff reported on the spread and impacts of SRI in other countries around the world. These reports encouraged regional and local governments to plan tailored strategies for SRI promotion in each region, to take advantage of an opportunity that other countries have benefits from more than Madagascar thus far.
2009
- New SRI Internet Sites Launched in Madagascar
The SRI Blog of the Secretariat SRI Platform was set up in January 2009 in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, SRI groups, and BUF, to facilitate and encourage interaction among SRI actors by sharing their SRI experience/knowledge. A website with French, English and Malagasy versions was launched subsequently. The SRI Platform assists a wide variety of actors promoting the System of Rice Intensification in Madagascar (Ministry of Agriculture, NGOs, projects and charitable services). This is a private sector initiative undertaken with the Ministry in order to better coordinate the diffusion of the System of Rice Intensification and set up a platform of exchange of information in regard to the experience of various promoters on SRI. For more information, contact Joeli Barison, Coordinator of the SRI Platform.
- First SRI Rice Exported to USA
With backstopping first from the Business and Market Expansion (BAMEX) project, then the USAID-funded Landscape Development Initiative (LDI) project, and since early 2009 from the French-funded Projet BVLac Alaotra as well as US Peace Corps volunteers and the volunteer organization AVSF - Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières, Lotus Foods has imported to the US the first container (about 18 tons) of milled pink rice or “Varini Dista.” The farmers in the Koloharena (KH) village association also received some grant support from the Better U Foundation in 2009 to purchase weeders, organic fertilizer and other simple implements. This raised production by more than 50%. Lotus Foods imported a second container in early 2010 and is working with the KH and Ecocert on organic and fair trade certifications. The rice is sold in the US under the Lotus Foods label as Madagascar Pink Rice.
2010
- Young SRI Farmer Wins 2010 'Young Farmer Award'
Andrianjanahary Fanomezantsoa has been awarded the ‘Young Farmer’ prize given annually by the Caisse d’Epargne et Credit Agricole Mutuel (CECAM) for his success in using SRI methods. These have enabled him to raise his average paddy yield from 4 t/ha to 12 t/ha through careful use of these methods. With the prize, an interest-free loan of 20 million Malagasy francs (about $10,000), he reportedly plans to buy more land and expand his SRI operations and also to help assist in the spread of SRI methods to other regions.
- 2009-2010 Report on Better U Foundation Support of SRI in
Madagascar
Winifred Fitzgerald and Rames Abhukar, Better U Foundation (BUF) advisors to the Antananarivo SRI Secretariat in Madagascar, have submitted a report submitted to BUF (April 2010) on the previous six months of experimentation, extension and evaluation with SRI methods in Madagascar. Fourteen local partners and NGOs were given grants, and each did some innovative things with the grant funding, such as establishing ‘farmer-ambassadors’ for SRI or engaging local schools in training for SRI. The report gives details from each activity.
Members of the SRI Group of Madagascar originally included the 10 organizations that collaborated directly with the BUF over the 2008-09 season, but membership has now grown beyond those original partners to more than 40 organizations.
2011-2012
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For SRI Activities 2011-2012, see Madagascar
main page
