SRI Conferences/System of Rice Intensifcation

Bangladesh - Dhaka, 2003, 2006	Nepal - ICIMOD, Kathmandu, 2006
Cambodia - 2003; 2005; 2006	Philippines - Quezon City, 2004
China - Hangzhou, 2003	Sri Lanka - Colombo, 2003
India - Hyderabad, 2006	Thailand - Chiang Mai, 2003; 2005

First International SRI Conference, Sanya, China (2002)
(see complete proceedings, which include country reports, research reports, plenary papers, and working group summaries)
In 2002, April 1-4, an international conference on the System of Rice Intensification was hosted by the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center in Sanya, China, where the Center has its winter season rice breeding program.The Center's director, Prof. Yuan Longping, is the orginator of hybrid rice.

The conference was organized by CIIFAD and co-sponsored by Association Tefy Saina, the China National Hydrid Rice Research and Development Center, and the China National Rice Reserach Institute at Hangzhou. A grant from the Rockefeller Foundation made it possible to have participation from Africa and Latin America as well as Asia.There were over 50 participants from China and 46 participants from outside China. Reports presented from 15 countries were on SRI experience through April 2002.Data were summarized in a PowerPoint prepared by Erick Fernandes.
World Rice Research Conference, Tsukuba, Japan (2004)
(see presentations)
As part of the International Year of Rice Observance, a World Rice Research Conference was convened in Tokyo and then Tsukuba, Japan, November 4, 2004. It was sponsored by FAO and IRRI and organized by the Japanese Minstry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Conference organizers agreed to include a special workshop on SRI as part of the WRRC program when none of the 15 abstracts submitted to panel chairmen for papers on SRI to be presented o the panels already planned were accepted. This workshop was well-attended and included presentations from CIIFAD, FAO, Bangladesh, China, India (Andrhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu), Indonesia, and the Philippines. (The presentation planned from Cuba was not given because the Cuban participant, director of that country's national rice research institute, did not arrive in Tsukuaba as expected.)
The papers prepared for the workshop were not included in the conference proceedings, but they are available on the SRI website, along with the PowerPoint presentations made.
4th International Crop Science Congress (2004)
(see complete proceedings in Fischer, T. et al. New directions for a diverse planet, Brisbane, Australia, 26 September - 1 Oct. 2004 www.cropscience.org.au)

The following papers relate to SRI:
-The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) for super-high yields of rice in the Sichuan Basin by Jiaguo Zheng et al., Crop Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
-Can yields of lowland rice resumes the increases that they showed in the 1980s? by Horie Takeshi et al, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan
-Comparison of productivity of System of Rice Intensification and conventional rice farming systems in the dry-zone region of Sri Lanka by Sarath P. Nissanka and T. Bandara, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
International Dialogue on Rice and Water: Exploring Options for Food Security and Sustainable Environments, Los Banos, Philippines (2006)
An international seminar was convened at the initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) through its Program on Water, Food and Environment, a joint undertaking with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India. The event was co-sponsored and hosted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) at Los Banos in the Philippines, March 7-8, 2006. SRI was featured as one of the options for achieving higher rice yields with less requirements for water and more favorable impacts on the environment. An overview paper by Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD, and a case study from Eastern Indonesia by Shuichi Sato, Nippon Koei, were presented. Dr. Sura Subbiah, acting director of the Directorate of Rice Research in Hyderabad, India, summarized the results of DRR's evaluations of SRI in a number of states in that country. The Dialogue program's initial findings on SRI are reported in its newsletter.
CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food Forum (2006)
An international forum was held in Vientiane, November 12-16, on land and water management practices that contribute to sustainable food production with reduced water use. SRI initiatives were represented by Abha Mishra and Prabhat Kumar from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok and by Rajendra Uprety from Nepal. A team of SRI farmers from northeastern Thailand attended to present their experience with increasing food production while lowering their water requirements. (see Uphoff's review of the event).
Second International Rice Congress, New Delhi (2006)
The Second International Rice Congress was held in New Delhi, India, October 6-13, 2006. There were at least 15 posters on SRI evaluation and explanation, most contributed by Indian researchers (Sridevi and Chellamuthu, 242 kb; Ramasamy et al, 898 kb and Singh, Edwin and Veeramani 1.93 mb) but posters came also from Bhutan (Karma Lhendup; 3.12 mb), Nepal (Rajendra Uprety; 139 kb) and Thailand (Abha Mishra; 759 kb). Norman Uphoff was invitied to give a presentation on SRI with regard to water-productivity; and in his invited paper on resource-conserving technologies, Mushtaq Gill from Pakistan gave some prominence to SRI. A get-together of congress participants involved with SRI was organized and hosted by Bhuban Barah, senior economist in the National Centre for Agricultural Economic and Economic Policy (NCAP). A report on the Congress focusing on its SRI aspects, was prepared by Norman Uphoff.
5th World Life Sciences Forum (BioVision) (2007)
This event, held in Lyon, France, on March 11-14, 2007, provided an international platform for dialogue, debates and proposals concerning major issues in life sciences. Norman Uphoff was invited to participate in the Forum, where he discussed SRI in the session on "Integrated Approaches to Eliminate Hunger." For more information on SRI exchanges during the event, see Uphoff's trip report.

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Tefy Saina

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