SRI Introduced in Timbuktu Region (2007-2008)
Africare, an NGO working on agricultural and rural development, in the Timbuktu region on the edge of the Sahara desert, initiated SRI demonstration trials in 2007 managed by farmers working with its foodsecurity in the Goundam district (shown below; click on photo to enlarge). Erika Styger, who learned about SRI while doing her PhD thesis research in Madagascar with CIIFAD, provided the technical assistance -see 2007 seasonal report (English version or French version) as well as the SRI Timbuktu website. The control plot average was 6.69 t/ha, well above the usual yields in the area due to very good management, but the SRI yield averaged 8.98 t/ha, 34% higher. Since this was achieved without access to a soil-aerating mechanical weeder, now received, it appears that still greater yield improvement would be possible. Africare has prepared plans for expansion of the demonstration trials in the next season and hopes to incorporate this effort into a longer-term project with USAID funding and Rodale Institute technical cooperation.

Erika earlier reported on a two-day field program that Africare organized for farmers in October which included field visits organized to see the SRI crop with training sessions and a video on SRI produced in Madagascar.

By coincidence, the Regional Director from the Ministry of Agriculture in Timbuktu paid an unannounced visit at this time and saw the fields and video and participated in the discussions. He said he was pleased with the interaction and would like more regional personnel to visit the plots. Although there were no crop harvest results yet, the phenotypical effects of SRI practices were impressive. One SRI plant had 63 tillers compared with 49 from a clump of several plants in the control plot. Crop performance could have been better as there was no access to a mechanical hand weeder, so weeding had been done by hand, with no soil aeration and irrigation applications had been less well managed than expected. The group ended the program with considerable enthusiasm for a next round of trials and demonstrations.

Styger writes: “An anecdote was told by an elder of the group, a very wise and respected man, who was encouraging the experimentation to its fullest. He reminded everybody to be open to making changes in some practices and to really put all their energy into doing it right. He said that he is convinced about SRI as he himself, when he was a kid and working with his dad, had some experience in that direction. It happened that when the moment for transplanting came, most of their nursery was demolished, and there were very few seedlings left. They planted single rice plants with large spacing, he said (he wasn’t sure about the age of seedlings), and indeed they got a better harvest than their neighbors. Unfortunately they didn't continue experimenting with this observation. At the end I told him, if things would have turned out a bit differently, he might have become the first SRI farmer, and we would have watched a movie not from Madagascar, but from Mali.” Styger will be visiting Goundam at the end of the season to assist in the harvest and will post a report on results on this page when available.

• Progress: 1999-2003
In November 2003, N. Uphoff visited this country for CIIFAD in connection with its collaboration in the West African Water Initiative of USAID, the Hilton Foundation, World Vision and other partners. World Vision/Mali and the government's Institute for Economic Research (IER) both expressed interest in trying out SRI methods in this country, which has a large irrigated area in the Office du Niger project. No results have been reported from Mali.

• The West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) is now relocated to Mali, since conditions for research in the Ivory Coast have become unproductive. WARDA has done evaluation research on SRI at its Ivory Coast location since 1999. Its on-station results have not been as good as generally seen on farmers' field, but the physiological effects of SRI practices on tillering, leaf area and other indicators of productivity have been documented. (see WARDA results for 1999, 2001 and 2002). In 2003, Dr. Willem Stoop, who has been supervising the WARDA evaluations visited Madagascar to observe SRI practices and results in their original location (see Stoop trip report). The African Rice Center, as WARDA is now called, is continuing evaluation work on SRI.

Reports and Articles

• 2008. First Experiences from Timbuktu - Mali. Farmer-led SRI Test in Goundam - 2007/2008, GFSI Project, Africare, Mali. 8 p. (see also French version).
• 2003. The System of Rice Intensification from Madagascar: Myth or Missed Opportunity?, Report on a study visit by Willem A. Stoop to the "Hauts Plateaux" region of Madagascar, March 3-15, 2003. 16pp