RESULTS OF DISSEMINATING THE SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION WITH FARMER FIELD SCHOOL METHODS IN NORTHERN MYANMAR

Abstract

This four-year evaluation of the introduction of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in northern Myanmar through Farmer Field School (FFS) methods found that these agronomic and pedagogical strategies gave positive results in a complementary way, although their individual contributions to the documented improvement in rice productivity could not be partitioned. The rice production of 612 farmers who had participated in 30 FFSs was tracked, along with that of farmers in the same communities who learned through farmer-to-farmer interaction. Average SRI yields on FFS study-fields in the wet season, without any supplementary irrigation, were 6.4 t ha⁻¹ compared with farmers' prior average yields of 2.1 t ha⁻¹. Three years after one third of the farmers in a community had received FFS training, almost all of its farmers were using SRI methods. This study confirmed many previously reported benefits from SRI practices, particularly important for limited-resource households.