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Progress and Activities (2002-2006)

• The Rice Research Institute (IIA) has taken up SRI evaluations and has satisfied itself of the system's merits. The government is currently importing 60% of the country's rice consumption needs, so there is real pressure to become more self-sufficient. Given the economic situation, it is attractive to be able to raise yields without petrochemical-dependent inputs. A government program, Arroz Popular, to encourage smallholder rice production, to fill in for the declining production of large-scale, mechanized production that is very costly and inefficient, has taken up SRI as part of its strategy.

• The National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA) has also tried SRI methods at its rice research station at Los Palacios, getting a 12 t/ha yield the first season. Other Cuban institutions are also taking an interest in SRI now. The Cuban Council of Churches has been promoting SRI through its sustainable agriculture program, producing a good brochure on these methods.

• Farmer interest has been strong. The first sugar cooperative to try out SRI, CFA Camilo Cienfuegos in Bahia Honda, got 9.5 t/ha its first season, compared with the usual yield of 6.5 t/ha, and 11.2 t/ha in the second season. In 2002-2003, it got yields of 10 and 14 t/ha on its two SRI plots. It has expanded its rice-growing area from 14 to 20 hectares to take advantage of the profitability of its SRI. Since its rice fields have little weed pressure, its labor input for rice production has been reduced as yield has roughly doubled.

• Other farmers in Cuba, such as Luis Romero, whose farm is near the IIA at Bauta, have also gotten SRI yields as high as 14 t/ha. The Cuban Association of Small Producers and other organizations and agencies have been organizing many training sessions on SRI, sometimes weekly, all around the country during the past several years. Good SRI results have come in from almost all provinces of Cuba.