System of Rice Intensification in Cambodia

The System of Rice Intensification or SRI is a simple package of good husbandry for hand planted rice crops. SRI is particularly valuable to farmers with small holdings because it does not compel them to buy more inputs and even partial adoption of the package brings results.

Success in SRI also builds the confidence of farming communities to adopt and adapt other useful technologies.

In 2010, just 100,000 farmers (many of them women and many very poor) adopted SRI. Their average yields rose from 2.6 t/ha to 3.5 t/ha. At a market price of $USD250/t, it is estimated that they added $USD6.2 million to the value of the Cambodian rice crop.

Now they are telling their friends and neighbors about their success. There is 2.6 million hectares of land in Cambodia dedicated to growing rice.