The System of Rice Intensification
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Cambodia

• Progress updates (2007-09)

• Activity archives (1999-2006)

• Workshops

• Evaluations

• SRI Secretariat (MAFF)

• Cambodian SRI website

• Audio and video

• Reports and articles

Progress and Activities (2007-2009)

2008/2009 UPDATES

• 104,750 Households in 4,200 Villages Using SRI Methods
According to data from the SRI Secretariat based in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, at the end of 2008, there were 104,750 households using SRI methods on 58,290 ha (2.7 percent of the total rice area). On average, SRI methods are giving yields of 3.53 tons per ha, about 1 ton more than with conventional cultivation methods and 40% more than the national average yield of 2.54 tons per ha. This average increased by half a ton per hectare compared with 2007, possibly reflecting the spreading adoption of SRI methods without farmers using the whole set of practices.

SRI farmers can be found now in approximately 4,200 of Cambodia's 13,000 villages. The number of households using SRI methods went up by 27% over the previous year, and the area under SRI management increased by 24%. CEDAC, the NGO that has given national leadership in introducing and disseminating SRI since 2000, anticipates that SRI will reach most of the villages in Cambodia within the next three to five years.

• Evaluation of Gender Impact of SRI
Oxfam America has released an evaluation conducted by faculty members from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok and the Royal University of Phnom Penh on 'Gender Dimensions of the Adoption of the System of Rice Intensification in Cambodia.' The study looked at in the context of changes in the rural labor force, with rural-urban migration particularly by males, contributing to a 'feminization of agriculture.' The research team surveyed 648 households in six provinces.

Respondents reported that women's labor burden in rice production was lightened by SRI methods, giving them more time for domestic work, paid work, or other livelihood activities. Weeding with SRI management required more time, but this was offset by reduced labor demands for nursery and transplanting work. In general, a 50% increase in yield was reported, with savings of money otherwise expended for seeds and fertilizer as the chief benefit. Also, respondents said there was reduced risk of crop failure. The report is available in PDF format.

HISTORY OF SRI IN CAMBODIA

The director of the Center for Studies and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC), Dr.Y.S. Koma, first tried SRI methods in 1999 after reading about them in the ILEIA newsletter. Given the increases in yield attained, with reductions in seed and water requirements, and thus greater profitability for farmers, the government officially began promoting SRI in 2005. Now all Provincial Departments of Agriculture (PDAs) are implementing SRI extension in their rice programs. There are also at least 47 NGOs and development projects involved in promoting SRI in different parts of Cambodia. Since 2004, there is a national SRI secretariat hosted by MAFFs Department of Agronomy and Agriculture Land Improvement with technical support from CEDAC and funding support from GTZ (German Technical Cooperation Agency), Oxfam America and GB, FAO and HEKS (A Swiss NGO). For more information see Dr. Koma's Agriculture and Rural Development Discussion Note on proposed strategies to utilize the potential of rice production in Cambodia (June, 2008).

2007 PROGRESS
• New Initiative - System of Intensification and Diversification (SID) - Builds Upon SRI Productivity Gains
 Farmers working with the Center for Study and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC) have begun modifying their farming systems, capitalizing on the fact that they can double and even triple their rice yields with SRI methods. Farmers are taking half of their paddy land out of rice cultivation and are redeploying it to have fish ponds and raise vegetables, legumes and fruit, also poultry and sometimes frogs, to raise their net incomes from small holdings, between 0.3 and 1 hectare. Using a small grant from the Triad Foundation, Ithaca, NY, provided through CIIFAD, CEDAC has produced an illustrated Khmer-language manual based upon farmer experimentation to popularize this transformation of smallholder farming systems. An English version of the manual is also available. Two of these SID systems are described in a recent trip report by Norman Uphoff.

• LDS Charities in Cambodia Reports Large Yield Increases for Poor Households
The Latter-Day Saint Charities working in Kampong Chhnang province in Cambodia has begun introducing SRI methods to households in 39 villages with the guidance and training of the Center for Study and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC). A report on 2006-2007 season results by John Lyman, Jean Lyman, Som Rasmei, Yi Kim Than and Lang Chanthea documents the experience of 146 farmers, whose previous paddy yields averaged 1.06 t/ha. With SRI methods, their yields averaged 4.02 t/ha. This quadrupling of yield came with reduced inputs, including less labor. In one household, three sons transplanted the 0.9 ha in the time it took many more adults to transplant with traditional methods. LDS Charities with CEDAC cooperation is continuing the program this year and hopes to expand its involvement with SRI.

For 1999-2006 HIGHLIGHTS, see SRI Cambodia Archives

Workshops

Reports, Articles and Presentations (in chronological order)

Audio and Video

  • Audio: (Khmer language broadcast on VOA.)
    Soth, Kong. 2008 (Sept. 16): Neighbors Survey 'Rice Intensification' Gains. Audio podcast on Voice of America.
    Khmer audio aired 16 Sept. 2008 (1.20 MB) - Download (MP3) audio clip
    Khmer audio aired 16 Sept. 2008 (1.20 MB) - Listen (MP3) audio clip
  • Audio: (Khmer language broadcast on VOA.)
    Sothea, Ros. 2008. (March 18) Report from Phnom Penh
    Khmer audio aired March 18 (1.21MB) - Download (MP3) audio clip
    Khmer audio aired March 18 (1.21MB) - Listen (MP3) audio clip
    English translation of report: The aid group Oxfam will distribute a video to promote a system of rice growing that improves yields, as the growing season approaches.The System of Rice Intensification, or SRI, can improve rice yields by 150 percent, the group said Tuesday, creating a larger surplus that leads to more income and farm improvements. At first, farmer Rum Mao did not believe in the new method. But, he said Tuesday, after practicing it, his yields were higher than in the past. He was pleased with the new system, he said, as it allowed him to sell more rice and earn a better living. The group's information video, "Do You Speak SRI?," which it produced with the Cambodian Center for the Study and Development in Agriculture, will help farmers implement the method.
  • Video: CEDAC and OXFAM. 2008. 30-minute video on growing rice with the System of Rice Intensification has been prepared by Oxfam America and the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC). Not currently online. Contact CEDAC for more information.

Evaluations
 
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last updated: November 22, 2009
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