Dear Andreas,
What news if any on SRI progress in Nepal? We are expecting soon to have a
major step forward in Andhra Pradesh, where the director of extension has
taken it up as his main thrust, partly for the water-saving advantages.
They had 300 on-farm comparison trials last (kharif) season, with about 2
t/ha average benefit from SRI methods and almost 5 t/ha average improvement
in Rayalseema region (lowest along the coast -- some effect of salinity, we
think). He has yields as high as 16.2 t/ha, and many in the 10-15 t/ha.
This rabi season, they expect most to be 10 t/ha or higher, some reaching
15 t/ha, and now they have 10s of thousands of farmers using SRI. This
could spread very rapidly, and other states now that they know of the AP
experience are taking an active interest. I will send you my trip report
from a visit to AP in January. We will have more news on yields from AP and
TN soon. (Extension staff in Thanjavur of Tamil Nadu estimated that as many
as half the farmers in the Cauvery delta next season would be using SRI.)
There are large intra- as well as inter-country differences. I think this
is pointing toward differences in soil biology more and more. The
Sunari-Morang farmers probably got some biological boosts that the
researchers at Bhairahawa never got. I hope your Aprl 26 meeting does well.
Please send a report for the internet page. Indeed, we are starting to set
up a Philippine SRI page (I'll send that report too) that can be co-managed
by Robert Verzola, the national coordinator there, with Lucy Fisher, our
webmaster here. If you wanted to work out something, she would be glad to
assist (lhf2@...). All for now,
Norman