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The Friday, September 2, 2005, edition of BBC World Services' South Asia news featured a story on the benefits that SRI methods are providing to farmers in Morang district of Nepal. In addition to the article, a television report by Charles Haviland (BBC News, eastern Nepal) was broadcast on BBC World Service on Tuesday, September 6, 2005, at 1430 GMT (1530 British summer time) on the Asia Today program.

On September 12-14, the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development hosted an international rice conference in Bali, in cooperation with IRRI. Norman Uphoff was invited to make a presentation on “Prospects for Rice Sector Improvement with the System of Rice Intensification, considering Evidence from India,” co-authored with Dr. A. Satyanarayana from the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University (ANGRAU) and Dr. T. M. Thiyagarajan of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Uphoff’s trip report on his visit to Indonesia, including a report on the conference, is also available.

Norman Uphoff also gave the keynote on SRI within the larger context of agroecology at the University of Hohenheim’s "Deutscher Tropentag 2005" (Tropical Day) held October 10-13, 2005, near Stuttgart in Germany. Both the paper and the PowerPoint presentation are available.

The Morang Agricultural District Office's SRI project Low-cost increases in rice production for food-deficit people was one of twenty recipients of the The Nepal Development Marketplace 2005 awards. Locally known as the “Lau Na Aba Ta Kehi Garau” contest, the Nepal Development Marketplace is a collaborative effort sponsored by the World Bank, the Nepal Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd., the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) Resource Centre, and the Society of Economic Journalists, Nepal (SEJON).

According to a Government of India Press Information Bureau posting on May 31, 2005, the Minstry of Agriculture has advised farmers to adopt ‘System of Rice Intensification (SRI)’ wherever it is feasible for better yields.

'Global Marketing Partnership for SRI Indigenous Rice- Cambodia, Madagascar and Sri Lanka' was a winner of the 2005 Seed Awards that were announced April 20, 2005, in New York City. The award was also announced in the UN News Centre and reviewed on the WorldChanging website and by the Environment News Service.

The project involves farming communities, a research institute, NGOs, and businesses collaborating to market indigenous varieties of rice grown with System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods, thereby improving incomes, conserving biodiversity, and benefiting health and the environment.

His Excellency Dr Mok Mareth, Senior Minister, the Ministry of Environment of the Kingdom of Cambodia, His Excellency Ambassador Zina Andrianarivelo, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Madagascar to the UN, Mr. Thosapala Hewage - Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development and Water Supply, Government of Sri Lanka presented the award to Dr Yang Saing Koma, Director, Centre d'Etudes et de Developpement Agricole Cambodgien and Professor Norman Uphoff and Mrs Olivia Vent, Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development.

More information on the Seed Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs in Environment and Development) and its awards is available on their website (http://www.seedawards.org/). It aims to inspire, support and build the capacity of locally-driven entrepreneurial partnerships to contribute to the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The core partners of the Seed Initiative are IUCN, UNDP and UNEP working closely with the German Federal Ministry for Environment, the government of the United States, and the UK and Norwegian environment ministries. Collaborating organisations include Partnerships Central and the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi).