Home

 News

 Methodology

 Advantages

 Origins

 Countries

 Research

 Articles

 Extension Info

 CIIFAD Report

 Proceedings

 Discussions

Progress and Activities

50,000 Farmers Estimated to be Using SRI Methods
Humayun Kabir, agricultural advisor for the Metta Development Foundation operating in northern Myanmar, figures that about 50,000 farmers in Kachin and Shan states are using some combination of SRI practices as of 2008 (see report). Over 12,000 were trained in farmer field schools on SRI methods, and follow-up studies indicate that the total number who have learned the methods through subsequent farmer-to-farmer dissemination would be about 4 times that number. (Since in Cambodia, a GTZ evaluation found that SRI farmers trained by the NGO CEDAC had spread knowledge of SRI methods, on average, to 16 other farmers, this number of four-fold dissemination seems reasonable.)

A number of other NGOs who have also taken up SRI dissemination in this and other parts of the country. This add at least another 5,000 farmers, not considering any indirect diffusion farmer-to-farmer. Even partial use of SRI methods is more than doubling previous yields, and more complete use is yielding 5-6 t/ha where 2 t/ha has been the norm. SRI is now being introduced into delta areas in the Myanmar lowlands which are the main rice-producing part of the country, and there are indications that SRI uptake will be even more rapid there.

• Humayun Kabir completed his dissertation entitled "Adaptation and Adoption of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Myanmar Using the Farmer Field School (FFS) Approach" at the University of Honolulu (2006). The primary purpose of the study was to 1) investigate and assess the adoptability/adaptability through an FFS experience, 2) study the interactions and relationships between SRI and FFS and the particular factors that contribute to the adoption and adaptation process with SRI, and 3) assess the overall contributions and the combined effects of both SRI and FFS to improving the socioeconomic conditions, as well as the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers in Myanmar. His conclusions are outlined in Chapter 7.

Activities - 2000-2003
• The Metta Development Foundation is demonstration and disseminating in the Farmer Field Schools that it operates in the Kachin and Shan states in the hill regions on the Thai border. Humayun Kabir, formerly with IIRR in the Philippines, serves as agricultural advisor. SRI performance the first year (2000) was disappointing, 1.97-2.73 t/ha, probably because the crop was planted about one month late. The vigorous tillering encouraged Metta to persevere. The next year, 2001, the average was 5.5 t/ha compared with the typical yield of 2.5 t/ha. In the next two years, the average has remained over 5 t/ha, with a few yields reaching into the 10-15 t/ha range. The uptake of SRI is now accelerating.

• In June 2003, the Department of Agriculture invited Uphoff to visit Myanmar to make a presentation, with Kabir, to Department technical staff about SRI. We have no current information on government evaluations and extension of SRI methods, but these are spreading in the northeastern part of the country.

Articles, Reports and Dissertations

• Kabir, Humayun. (2008). Update of SRI in Myanmar. Metta Development Foundation. 2 p. (15 KB)
• Kabir, Humayun and N. Uphoff. (2007). Results of disseminating the System of Rice Intensification with Farmer Field School methods in Northern Myanmar. Experimental Agriculture, 43(4):463-476.
• Kabir, Humayun.(2006). Adaptation and Adoption of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Myanmar Using the Farmer Field School (FFS) Approach. PhD dissertation, University of Honolulu 124 p. (pdf)
• Din, Debbie Aung and Murielle Morisson. (2003). Evaluation Report: Farmer Field School for Sustainable Agriculture Development in Myanmar. Metta Development Foundation. 35 p. (pdf)
• Kabir, Humayun. (2002).The Practice of the System of Rice Intensification in Northern Myanmar, a presentation by H. Kabir (Metta Development Foundation) at the International Conference "Assessments of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)," Sanya, China, April 1-4.
• Rice intensification system boosts output, an article from the Myanmar government website, 24 July, 2004, covers Deputy Minister for Agriculture Brig-Gen Khin Maung's visit to see SRI plots at the Agricultural Development Training School in Naungkham Village, Hsihseng Township, Shan State (South).