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Progress and Activities (2001-2007)

• The first SRI results in Peru were reported by Pablo Lutz, based on what he read about the methods in a 2001 article in ECHO Development Notes. Farmers near Pucallpa in the Amazonian region got a yield of 8 t/ha with SRI methods where before they got only 2 t/ha, with a lot of time devoted to bird-scaring. With SRI, this was not necessary because the heavier panicles hung down so that birds could not feed on them. In addition, they got a ratoon (regrowth) harvest of 5.5 t/ha.

• Dr. Angel Fernandez Garcia at the National Institute of Engineering became interested in SRI since attending the Sanya conference in 2002. The first two seasons, his trials were not successful due to drought or cold, which also negated other rice production. In 2003, he obtained field-scale yields of 9-11 t/ha, and trial plot results as high as 23 t/ha with IR-42. Rice production in Peru averages 6 t/ha, which is not profitable given the cost or production and prevailing market price for rice. The profitability of rice production with SRI methods, on the other hand, is very attractive, and Dr. Fernandez continued to be optimistic about their spread. (See Spanish language report.)

• During 2007, Dr. Fernandez reported on results of carefully planned trials over the last four seasons of six months each. The evaluations started with 19 farmers on 100 hectares, but the number grew to 169 farmers on 400 hectares by the third season, and then to 500 hectares in the fourth, indicating farmer satisfaction with the methods. Whereas yields over the past 10 years with standard methods in that area have been 5-7 tons/ha, with SRI methods the yields have been at least 8 tons/ha and more usually 9-10 tons/ha, with some yields of 10-11 and 11-12 tons/ha achieved by farmers who adapted appropriately all the SRI practices -- sowing density, water applications, fertilization, and timing of irrigation.

Costs of production were reduced from $1000/ha to $800/ha, adding to the profitability of SRI methods. A mechanical weeder is being used that makes the use of herbicides unnecessary, and fertilizer applications are reduced by 50-60%, with higher yield. Dr. Fenandez reports that the profitability of SRI has become very convincing to farmers, and he hopes to expand this transformation of rice production in Peru.