Water Saving for Paddy Cultivation Under the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) developed in Madagascar in 1980s is a revolutionary new idea for paddy
cultivation to increase yields with reduced external resources. Basic idea of SRI originally proposed (Basic SRI) is to apply
combination of (a) transplanting of young seedlings with wider spacing and (b) intermittent irrigation during vegetative
growth period Further, application of organic fertilizers without use chemicals has practiced as "Organic SRI" as an ideal
approach to improve soil and to produce high quality rice. Over the past fIVe years, a Japan-funded irrigation project in
Eastern Indonesia executing by the Directorate General of Water Resources, the Ministry of Public Works has introduced SRI
and assessed it's potential to reduce demandfor irrigation water while rewardingfarmers with higher production and incomes.
This paper reports on on-farm comparative evaluations conducted over 9 seasons between 2002 and 2006 across 8 provinces
under DISIMP. It summarizes the results of 12,133 comparison trials that covered a total area of 9,429 hectares. Average
yield increase was 78% (3.3 tlha) with reductions of 40% in water use, 50% in fertilizer applications, and 20% in the costs of
production. As a conclusion, SRI practices can achieve significantly higher output of rice with a reduction in inputs, enhancing
simultaneously the productivity of the resources (land, labor, water and capital) used in irrigated rice production. The
economic attractiveness of SRI methods is very great, giving farmers strong incentive to accept water-saving as new norm for
irrigated rice production.