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Thailand
Progress
and Activities
2009 Updates
• SE Asia Regional Knowledge Exchange on SRI Held in Bangkok
A two-day Southeast Asia regional learning event on SRI involving MRB countries (Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam and Thailand) was organized at Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, 22-23
June, in collaboration with World Bank Institute, Washington DC, USA followed by a field-visit on 24
June in NE Thailand. The workshop was attended by about 50 persons representing government
organizations and ministries, non-government organizations, development organizations,
academicians, journalists from print and audio-visual media, farmers, students and a United Nations
agency. The current situation of SRI adaptation and adoption in the region and challenges, especially
in context of climate change and water productivity, were presented and deliberated. Emerging
issues were captured for in-depth discussions (see report and 15 PowerPoints presented at the workshop).
2007-2008
• Asian Institute for Technology (AIT) SRI Project Selected for APFED Showcase 2008 Programme
The AIT project proposal on ‘Community Preparedness for climate change and increased water use efficiency for rice cultivation using principles of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in central Thailand’ has been selected for the Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Showcase 2008 Programme. The project intends to build capacity of rice farmers, researchers and extension personnel and other stakeholders to raise the rice production while reducing its requirement for water but also mitigating adverse climate change that results from greenhouse gas emission.
This proposal logically builds upon the three successive proposals (two completed, Asia Rice Foundation USA award 2005 and Challenge Programme for Food and Water 2006) and one ongoing (CSO-CGIAR pilot project 2007) and a Ph.D. thesis research with the involvement of Professor V. M. Salokhe, Professor S. Rakshit, Dr. Prabhat Kumar and Dr. Abha Mishra along with farmers in Thailand and Cambodia, FAO colleagues, Cornell university colleagues, International Water Management Institute and partners from government and non-government organization. Drs. Prabhat Kumar and Abha Mishra coordinate the project, which was one 353 project proposals received this year.
• Interest in SRI Growing in Universities and Government in Thailand
In
a report from a visit to Bangkok, July 18-20, 2007, Norman Uphoff describes
interest from faculty and administration at the Asian Institute
of Technology (AIT) and Khon Kaen University as well as from the
director of the government’s Rice Department. This interest is
undergirded by results from the SRI
demonstrations and evaluation
of AIT faculty, staff and students in Roi-et Province under a grant
from the Challenge Program for Water and Food.
• Green Manure Intercropping with SRI Methods Proves
Promising in N.E. Thailand
A
project of the Asian Institute of Technology and Thai Education
Foundation, funded under the Challenge Program for Water and
Food of the CGIAR system (Small Grant Project No. 564) has issued
a second report on its participatory
action research, for the period July 1-December 30, 2006,
which documents results from farmer field school evaluations
of SRI methods in Roi-et Province. The evaluations, managed
by farmers and monitored by AIT/TEF staff, showed that 14-day
seedlings outperformed 30-day seedlings under both just-moist
and flooded conditions, by 25.1 and 16.5%, respectively. The
just-moist conditions required only 1/3 as much water as conventional
flooding.
The
study also evaluated the interplanting of mung bean, cowpea or
jackbean with SRI rice production. The first gave the highest
yield of rice (5305 t/ha, KD6 variety). SRI rice yield
was 13.6% higher with mung bean than when grown without the leguminous
crop. Water requirements with intercropping were similarly 2/3
less than with farmers' practice. Rice yield in general with
SRI was almost double that from farmers' practice. The AIT/TEF
team is continuing with this work for a second year through September
2007.
• A five
minute
video
about SRI and rice production in Northeast Thailand (Living
Labs Mekong River Basin) is available on YouTube. It was
produced by TVE Asia for CGIAR Challenge Program for Water
and Food, which sponsored the project featured in the video.
2004-2006
• Abha
Mishra brings in two grants for SRI research
As
reported in the SRI
'05 News section, Abha
Mishra, a PhD student in Agriculture Systems and Engineering
at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, together
with her team, won two competitive grants to study SRI in Thailand.
She received a Travel
and Study Grant Award from the Asia Rice Foundation USA,
and was subsequently successful in the CGIAR Challenge
Program on Water and Food Small Grants Competition for
support of participatory-action research with farmer field
school groups evaluating SRI in Cambodia.
Abha
Mishra is also part of a team from the Asian Institute of Technology
introducing SRI through action-research with villages in northeast
Thailand, for which Dr. V. M. Salonkhe is the principal investigator.
The project title is Increasing
water use efficiency by using mulch under SRI management practices
in Northeast Thailand,
and a mid-project
report as
of June 2006 is available. A paper that she prepared with
three colleagues working in FAO's Integrated Pest Management
programme in South and Southeast Asia prepared for the CGIAR
Challenge Program on Water and Food Forum held in Vientiane,
Laos, November 12-16, 2006 (see report on CPWF
Forum).
• Workshop held in Northeast Thailand (2005)
In June 2005, the Thailand Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) organized a workshop on practices and experiences regarding System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Thailand. The workshop was co-hosted by the Surin Farmers’ Support Project (SFS) and was held near the provincial capital of Surin in the southern section of northeast Thailand -- see translation of relevant sections on green manures and cover crops (GMCCs) of the extension manual “Natural Paddy Cultivation” which was used at the workshop.
• SRI Network Meeting (2005)
A meeting
of the SRI Network in Thailand was held on
February 15, 2005, at the
Multiple Cropping Center (MCC)
at Chiang Mai University. SRI progress was reveiwed for network
members, which consists of 4 government groups and nine non-governmental
organizations and projects. Future SRI Network coordination was
turned over to the Alternative
Agriculture Network.
2001-2003
Initial trials
of SRI methods in Thailand by the Multiple Cropping Center (MCC)
at Chiangmai University were not successful. MCC has continued
working on SRI, however, and together with the McKean Rehabilitation
Center (see MRC trials)
in Chiangmai and other organizations in Thailand, a national SRI
network has been formed, which was formalized at a national
SRI workshop held in Chiangmai in May 2003.
In Thailand,
'the SRI effect' has not been seen as often or as dramatically as
in other countries, the Thai experience being more like that in
Laos than in Cambodia or Myanmar or even more so in Indonesia and
the Philippines. These differences make it even more likely that
soil biological factors are involved in the positive effects of
SRI. It appears that when rice paddies are not kept flooded in Laos
and Thailand, that nematode problems become more severe. Such a
constraint does not appear (yet) to be a problem elsewhere in Southeast
Asia.
Workshops
and Meetings
- Southeast Asia Regional Knowledge Exchange on SRI
Producing More with Less Water involving MRB countries (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand) was organized at Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, June 22-23, 2009, in collaboration with World Bank Institute. A field visit in NE Thailand followed on June 24. (See report and 15 PowerPoints presented at the event).
- A workshop on practices and experiences with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) was held during June 2005 near the provincial capital of Surin. The Thailand Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) organized the workshop which was co-hosted by the Surin Farmers’ Support Project (SFS)
- A national
SRI workshop, held at Chaing Mai University, June 5-6, 2003,
was organized by MCC/CMU (Multiple Cropping Center) in cooperation
with ISAC, RRAFA and MRC.
- A meeting
of the SRI Network, organized by MCC/CMU (Multiple Cropping Center),
was held at Chaing Mai University, February 15, 2005.
Reports,
Articles and Related Information
- Mishra, Abha and
Prabhat Kumar. 2009. Southeast Asia Regional Knowledge Exchange on SRI Producing More with Less Water. Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. 109 p. (13.22 MB pdf)
- Uphoff, Norman. 2007. Report
on visit to Thailand to review SRI Progress. July 18-20. Unpublished. 3 p. (pdf)
- Salokhe,
V.M., P. Kumar and A. Mishra. 2007. Increasing
Water Use Efficiency by Using Mulch under SRI Management Practices
in Northeast Thailand, Particapatory Action Phase (July.-
Dec. 2006). CPFW, AIT and TEF, Bangkok. 40 p. (pdf)
- 2006. Living
Labs Mekong River Basin. Video (on YouTube) about SRI and
rice production in Thailand produced by TVE Asia for CGIAR
Challenge Program for Water and Food. 5.02 minutes
- Mishra,
Abha. 2006. Increasing
water use efficiency by using mulch under SRI management
practices in Northeast Thailand, paper presented
at the the CGIAR
Challenge Program on Water and Food Forum held in Vientiane,
Laos, November 12-16, 2006. 68 p.
- U-saengsri,
Rachakorn. 2005. Minutes
of Meeting on System of Rice Intensification. 15 February.
Unpublished. Multiple Cropping Center (MCC)
Chiang Mai University. 5p.
- Phrek Gypmantasiri, Phrek. 2002. Experience
with the System of Rice Intensification in Northern Thailand,
a presentation from Multiple Cropping Foundation,
Chiang Mai University, at the International Conference "Assessments
of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)," Sanya, China,
April 1-4.
Extension
Information (and videos)
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