SRI in Gaya: Promotion Strategies

Introducing and promoting SRI involved phased training, detailed planning and handholding of farmers who were only used to traditional ways of cultivation.

L ow productivity in paddy and wheat has had an adverse impact on the food security of households. The average paddy yield of small and marginal households belonging to Self Help Groups (SHGs), formed by JEEViKA, ranged from 0.8 to 1.2 tonnes per hectare, which could meet only 4–5 months of the rice consumption needs of a household.

Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) piloted the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in 2007 and SRI-Wheat in 2008, with support from Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (BRLPS), Patna. It then scaled up SRI-Paddy and SRI-Wheat under BRLPS, and Shri Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), Mumbai.

The project piloted SRI in 2007 with 128 smallholders belonging to SHG households in 30 ha of land. The average paddy yield was nearly 10 tonnes per ha, which was significantly higher than the existing productivity. Following the success of the pilot, the project scaled up SRI in the subsequent 3 years with 5,146; 8,367 and 19,911 smallholders (Colloquium on SCI).

BRLPS and PRADAN intervened in the area by forming SHGs, each an informal body of 15–20 women organized for saving and credit activities. With these women members of the SHGs and the marginal farmers in the region, PRADAN piloted and scaled up the SRI project in the following years. A team comprising a professional, with more than 10 years of experience, a young and dynamic Subject Matter Specialist and a group of Skilled Extension Workers are implementing the project in Bihar.