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The System of Intensive Rice Cultivation (SRI) has enormous potential to bridge the rice production gap noted in West Africa and put the region on the desired path to rice self-sufficiency, according to a new book published Wednesday, April 18, 2018 in Dakar, Senegal in English, with the French version currently being translated.

Entitled, 50,000 farmers in 13 countries: results of scaling up the intensive rice farming system in West Africa, is a publication of CORAF, Africa's largest sub-regional agricultural research organization. The 120-page book documents the results of using the SRI approach in rice farmers' fields in 13 West African countries between 2014 and 2016, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

What impact has the project had?

Overall, the project directly benefited over 50,000 farmers and indirectly affected over 750,000 people - 31.6% of whom were women. Overall, farmers' yields increased by 56% for irrigated rice, from 4.23 t/ha to 6.6 t/ha, on average over the 292 production sites studied. For rainfed lowland rice, yields increased by 86%, from 2.53 t/ha to 4.71 t/ha (average of 441 sites analyzed), simply by transplanting the rice in accordance with the SRI method.

The project also trained 33,514 people (of whom 1,032 were technicians) and more than quadrupled the number of institutions working with SRI, from 49 to 215, during the project period.

An independent assessment of the project's socio-economic impact shows that the practice of SRI produced results far superior to conventional rice production practices, with yield increases of around 54% in irrigated production systems, 65% in rainfed lowlands and 153% for upland rice production. Similarly, the average income of farmers using SRI was 41% higher than that of those using conventional rice production methods.

The study concluded that the project "proved that SRI can successfully contribute to improving agricultural productivity in West Africa". "These are impressive results, making this one of the most successful projects in the CORAF portfolio," said Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF. "This SRI project has been revolutionary in its participatory design and implementation. It is the largest SRI project in the world in terms of its coverage area," he continued.

The SRI-PPAAO project is part of the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (PPAAO), funded by participating countries under a regional competitive grants program managed by CORAF. The regional project is coordinated by the Mali-based National Rice Specialization Center (CNS ), in collaboration with Cornell University, USA.

Read also:

•           . SRI boosts farmers' incomes in Mali
•           . West African rice must be able to compete with imported rice'' Dr Abdoulaye Touré

What is SRI?
SRI (System of Intensive Rice Cultivation) is an agro-ecological method, intelligently adapted to the climate and using very few inputs, developed in Madagascar in the 1980s and now successfully practiced in over 50 countries around the world.

By transplanting isolated rice seedlings with a large gap between plants, keeping the soil moist but not flooded, and improving the soil with compost and other organic resources, the plants become stronger and more productive. This translates into increased yields, often by more than 50%, while using up to 90% less seed on an area. SRI also uses 30% to 50% less irrigation water and fewer chemicals than other conventional rice-growing practices. The use of this system can be adapted to local conditions and various rice specificities. In West Africa, adaptation to lowland rice systems has been very successful.

Where does rice fit in West Africa?
Rice is one of the main staple foods for most of the 430 million people living in West and Central Africa. Its sustainable production and processing are crucial to the region's food and nutritional security. Other staple foods include maize, sorghum, millet and wheat.

While overall rice production in the 13 countries rose by 24% between 2010 and 2016/2017 to reach 9.9 million tonnes of milled rice, rice consumption increased by 35%, faster than expected. The rice coverage rate in 2016/2017 reached 54%. The goal set by the ECOWAS Rice Offensive is to achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2025, by producing the 24 million tonnes of milled rice that should cover the region's needs.

Scaling up for greater impact
For SRI to make a real contribution to rice self-sufficiency in West Africa, many more farmers need to adopt it," assert the book's authors, Dr Erika Styger, Technical Leader of the project's Regional Coordination and Associate Director for Climate - Resilient Farming Systems at Cornell University (USA) and Dr Gaoussou Traoré, Regional Project Coordinator and Coordinator of Mali's CNS-Riz.

"How many farmers need to be reached before we reach the tipping point where SRI becomes the norm for rice farming in West Africa? According to the authors, an adoption rate of 33% by the region's rice farmers, i.e. 1.5 million farmers and 2.43 million ha, "could achieve this goal.

Self-sufficiency in rice would be a reality in West Africa if all farmers adopted this practice.

As calculated by the authors, "if 100% of West African rice farmers had used SRI in 2017, rice self-sufficiency would already have been achieved with a surplus of 5%. Substituting rice imports with locally grown rice in the region would have saved $4.16 billion in foreign currency in 2017 alone.

What are the recommendations?
Based on the needs expressed in the 13 countries, the authors recommend applying a medium-term vision and supporting the continued scaling-up of SRI practice:

•           . Developing national and regional coordination
•           . Let farmers and farmers' organizations take the lead
•           . Refining and ensuring the quality of technical training
•           . Focus on adaptation and innovation
•           . Strengthening and improving SRI monitoring systems
•           . Develop the communication platform