Coimbatore: Participants at the Third National Symposium on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) have recommended creation of a special vehicle of ‘SRI Promotional Fund’ with specific budget outlay, to realise the potential of SRI for national food security.
The symposium reaffirmed that SRI could make significant impact on local and national food security as it improved productivity of land, water and labour, showed potential to increase paddy production while significantly reducing input cost of seed, fertilisers and labour, besides saving substantially on water.
The recommendations include creation of appropriate space for partnership with civil society to promote skill transfer, working with community level institutions and effective grass-root facilitation, focused work in potential blocks for intensive promotion of SRI for a period of four to five years and promotion of local innovations.
Scientists, policy makers and NGOs who participated in the panel discussion recommended promotion of SRI in at least five million hectares or 5 million farmers across the country over a period of five years.
