2006/2007 ACTIVITIES

Crop-cutting and farmers' field day session in Gaibandha district
A crop-cutting and farmers' field day session was held in the village of Dhumaidhari, in Sundergonj Upazila of Gaibandha district on 12 May 2007 to share learning from SRI trials in the boro (winter rice) season 2006-07. Various partner NGOs of Oxfam GB Bangladesh (SSUS, ZIBIKA, SKS, GUK, RSDA, Padakhep and POPI) have been implementing SRI with resource-poor farmers in the northern Char region and the northeastern Haor region. Fifty farmers from the northern region and 30 farmers from the NE region participated this season in SRI trials. Officials from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) including local field staff, representatives from the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), the IRRI Representative for Bangladesh, Oxfam and its partner NGOs, the SRI National Network Bangladesh (SRI-NNB), journalists from print and electronic media, and farmers attended the session. A five–member video team from Bangladesh Television (BTV) covered the crop-cutting event.

•SRI Results In from River Basin Project, Boro season, 2005-2006
The SRI National Steering Committee has forwarded a section from a report to Oxfam-Great Britain on the final results obtained from SRI trials in the preceding boro season under its River Basin Project. The farmers in the three districts covered by the project are particularly constrained by poor soil conditions and by water management problems, but even so, with SRI methods they registered a 78% increase in net income per hectare from their rice production.

• The National SRI Steering Committee in Bangladesh has formed a SRI National Network of Bangladesh (NNB) with Prof. Muazzam Husain serving as its National Coordinator. In 2006, the Network was involved in conducting SRI trials by Oxfam GB/Bangladesh in the remote sandy 'char' areas under its River Basin Project for resource-poor farmers. The trials found SRI to produce significant benefits under these adverse agroecological conditions as farmers received 25% higher yields and achieved profitability 78% higher than under farmers' current practice.

Seed requirement was significantly less; effective tillering was 38% more; and average grains per panicle were 168 against 125 under farmers' practice. However, farmers reported various problems including cold injury to seedlings, difficulty in irrigation management, and inadequate experience.

• ActionAid/Bangladesh also conducted SRI trials last year and has started trials during the current boro/ /season in expanded areas. Out of 300 farmers participating in the trials in 2006, the results of 85 were monitored, documenting an average yield increase of 36%, and a large increase in gross margin/ha, from 15,750 taka/ha with regular methods to 38,650 taka/ha with SRI. More details including agronomic parameters are given in the Action Aid report.

• Recently, the NNB has started collaboration with the Small-Scale Water Resources Development Sector Project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, to undertake SRI trials in different regions of the country. Though starting late in the season, a few pilot demonstration/trial SRI plots have been initiated.

•A national workshop on October 11, 2006, was convened by the SRI National Network for Bangladesh (NNB) with cosponsorship and support from Oxfam GB Bangladesh. It was hosted by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) of the Ministry of Agriculture in Dhaka. The proceedings have been prepared and released by the NNB.

Over 50 persons attended, including executive director of the Bangladesh Rice Foundation (host to the NNB), director of research for the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), director and staff of Oxfam GB Bangladesh, directors and/of staff of other NGOs working with SRI (BRAC, SAFE, POSD, Padakkkhep, POPI, SKS), professor of agronomy at Bangladesh Agricultural University at Mymensingh, chairman of the Bangladesh Economics Association (who said that the BEA would include a special panel on SRI at its next national meeting), product development manager of Syngenta BD Ltd., many directors and staff of DAE, and farmer-representatives. One controversial statement came from a BRRI agronomy head, that SRI will not help to meet the country’s goal of increasing production to 27 million tons; only hybrid rice will accomplish this. This neglected the fact that SRI methods can add 1-3 tons/ha to the yield of hybrid rice using conventional methods.

Note: Shuichi Sato (Nippon Koei, Indonesia) recently reported that 24 farmers cultivating 42 ha of hybrid rice with SRI methods in Bali in the 2006 season had an average yield of 13.3 t/ha. This is 58% higher than the 8.4 t/ha yield obtained with hybrids conventionally grown. Thus, if SRI methods are used with hybrid varieties (or any others), the national target rice production can be achieved more quickly and economically.

• On April 12, 2006, a meeting of the Bangladesh SRI National Steering Committee was hosted in Dhaka by ActionAid, a new member. Participants decided to establish a SRI National Network Bangladesh, in which The Bangladesh Rice Foundation would serve as the Network's secretariat. At the meeting, a SRI training video produced by ADRA in West Timor (Indonesia) in 2003, was 'premiered' with a Bangla soundtrack. This is another good example of South-South collaboration in the dissemination of SRI. Mr. Luther Das, consultant, took the initiative in dubbing the video with the assistance of Prof. Muazzam Husain and Mr. Gopal Chowhan. Mr. Robert Patton, a consultant for ADRA, contributed the cost of the dubbing, which was much approved by those attending the meeting from ActionAid, Bangladesh Rice Foundation, Department of Agricultural Extension, IRRI/Bangladesh, Oxfam GB, SAFE, and Syngenta Bangladesh Ltd. 

1999-2005 ACTIVITIES
• The first information on SRI was brought back to Bangladesh in 1999 by Sylvie Dessilles, at the time working with CARE/Bangladesh. She had attended a conference on sustainable agriculture at Bellagio in Italy and circulated within NGO and government circles a paper on SRI prepared by N. Uphoff for that conference, later published in Agroecological Innovations: Increasing Food Production with Participatory Development (Earthscan, 2002).

• In 1999-2000, CARE/Bangladesh and the government Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) introduced SRI to farmers with whom they were working in Kishorganj District. The average SRI yields in that first boro season were 6.5-7.5 t/ha. At the same time, a Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) researcher at its Comilla research station who received the paper tried SRI on-station and documented a 1 t/ha yield increase attributable solely to the change in methods. Since rice yield increases had been stagnant for some years, and BRRI was under some pressure to raise yields, this attracted some attention, though most researchers continued to be very skeptical.

• In December 2000, N. Uphoff, who was in Bangladesh for other CIIFAD business, visited Kishoreganj District and gave seminars on SRI for CARE/Bangladesh, BRRI (at its Gazipur headquarters), and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). These institutions plus the DAE became the core institutions involved with SRI in Bangladesh. BRAC also began doing its own evaluations of SRI (see BRAC 2001 evaluations).

• In January 2002, a meeting of organizations interested in SRI was hosted by BRAC at its headquarters. They formed a national SRI working group, with a steering committee composed of BRRI, DAE, BRAC, CARE, and Syngenta/Bangladesh, which had also tried SRI methods for two years and found them beneficial, particularly for seed multiplication. This brought together public sector, NGO and private sector institutions.

• In September 2002, a national workshop was organized by CARE/Bangladesh on behalf of the national working group, convened at the National Agricultural University at Mymensingh. At a follow-up steering committee meeting, plans were made for systematic evaluation of SRI, which could be funded by the PETRRA project. (This was managed by IRRI/Bangladesh and financed by DFID.) These studies have provided a thorough base of knowledge for understanding the advantages that SRI methods can provide. (See BRAC trial monitoring 2003, SAFE Group trials report 2003, PETRRA workshop report, PETRRA Final Evaluation 2004). A second national SRI workshop was held in December 2003 in Dhaka.

Workshops

• Farmers’ field day session in Gaibandha district,
  May 12, 2007, Village of Dhumaidhari, in Sundergonj Upazila of Gaibandha District
• Proceedings of the SRI Experience-sharing National Workshop, October 11, 2006, Khamarbari, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Bangladesh SRI activities report
  by Norman Uphoff, September 2002
• Proceedings of a National SRI Workshop, 24 December, 2003,
  IDB Bhaban, Dhaka, Agargaon, Bangladesh
  

Reports and Articles

• Trip report on SRI activities in Bangladesh
  - Norman Uphoff, September 2002
• Report on a visit to India and Bangladesh regarding SRI progress
  - Norman Uphoff, February 17-26, 2005 (trip report)
• Husain, A.A.M. 2002. Experience with SRI methods in Bangladesh Proceedings of the Assessments of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) international conference,1-4 April, Sanya, China.

Evaluations

• Ahmed, Q.N. 2006. Influence of different culutivation methods on growth and yield of hybrid and inbred rice (MSc. thesis). Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka. 165 p.
• Report on System of Rice Intensification (SP 36 02) for PETRRA Technology Workshop (May 23-24, 2004) by A.M.M. Husain et al, BRRI, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
• Husain, A.A.M.Final evaluation report on verification and refinement of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in selected areas of Bangladesh (SP 36 02), submitted to PETRRA, IRRI, Dhaka, Banladesh, June 2004.
• Das, Luthur. Trial Monitoring Report for SP 36 02 for the SAFE Development Group. September 2003
• Husain, A.A.M, et al. SRI Survey Trial Monitoring Report for SP 36 02. BRAC University, December 2003.