Kenya activities - the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Kenya

Progress and Activities

Videoconference on SRI Organized by World Bank Insitute

The World Bank Institute organized a videoconference on September 11, 2009, that enabled the experimenting Kenyan farmers to interact with persons Africa and India who have considerable personal experience with SRI crop and water management to be able to advise on best SRI practice (see flyer for video conference). Participants tuned in from several countries: Nairobi, Kenya; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Kigali, Rwanda; Chennai, India; and Washington, DC, USA.

SRI Trials Launched in Kenya

A meeting of stakeholders (right) was held at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme August 18, 2009, to formally launch the evaluation and demonstration of SRI in this country. The meeting was organized by Bancy Mati, program manager of the IWAMESA Network (for Improved Management of Agricultural Water in Eastern and Southern Africa), and Jean Njiru, Humphrey Fellow at Cornell who has now returned to Kenya and is helping get SRI introduced in her country, with assistance from Markus Wolfe, irrigation specialist in the World Bank office in Nairobi (see Bancy article).

Trials will be conducted within the Mwea scheme and by volunteer farmers outside the scheme.One of these farmers, MosesKareithi, was able to show his two-week-old SRI crop (photo at right) in comparison with a control rice crop that uses older seedlings (photo at left - click on photos to enlarge).

Reports and Articles

Mati, Bancy M. 2009. System of Rice Intensification (SRI): Growing more rice with less water. Brief notes on promoting the adoption of SRI in Kenya. Improved Management of Agricultural Water in Eastern & Southern Afric, Kenya. 6p.

Conferences and Workshops

Video conference: Producing More with Less Water and Farm Inputs for Climate Adaptation: Knowledge Sharing on System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
Friday, September 11, 2009

Sites: Nairobi, Kenya; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Kigali, Rwanda; Chennai, India; Washington, DC, USA

Organizing Partners:
World Bank Institute • The World Bank • IMAWESA •
Africa Institute for Capacity Development • Global Development Learning Network

The four hour video conference can be viewed at http://vcg01.worldbank.org/vc/ (click on South Learning on System of Rice Intensification