Strengthening the learning alliance - Scaling up options for SRI in Orissa: A report by the Xavier Institute of Management

It begins with this overview chapter which provides the basics of SRI for the uninitiated apart from situating the productivity of rice within the All India context reiterating the case for SRI. The report highlights the efforts of the department and provides information on the costs of cultivation at the state farm and reported yield increase in different demonstration plots. The government is looking towards SRI as an important option to increase the cropping intensity by expanding the area under rabi where indications are that yield increases could be substantially higher.  The chapter also indicates constraints faced and challenges that need to be overcome. 

The next chapter presents an update of the various actors and is focused less on SRI technical practices and more on the plans and perspectives of the actors. The diversity of approaches is high. Amongst the civil society organisations there seems to be a greater shift towards organic practices with many organsiations producing their own biopesticides and using green manure and vermicompost. This trend is encouraging given the larger context in the kharif that year when serious fertiliser shortage was reported and several letters were sent by the state government for release of fertilisers from the central pool.

Another feature of the learning alliance is the extension of SRI as a people’s movement particularly in southern Orissa. This is evident in the accounts of Sambhav and Pragati and the larger Jai SRI movement. Notable also is the independent work taken up by most actors in accessing and manufacturing effective markers for local soil types. SVA and a few other organisations have adapted the Mandava weeder to Orissa and this has become quite popular even though there is currently no incentive for using this ‘non-certified’ weeder.

The report covers accounts of some of the more innovative farmers and farmer organisations. It focuses on the farmers and the perception and awareness of farmers on various SRI practices. The study team sought to capture the awareness levels of SRI by the farmers and extension officials and how they look at the six principles of SRI. Local adaptations in water management have also been covered in this.  The problems encountered by farmers and other stakeholders on SRI are indicated. The rich accounts of farmers and other actors is  followed in the next chapter by a closer attention to the  scale up plans of various actors and constraints in  upscaling SRI have been identified by the study team under three heads of technical, institutional  and attitudinal.

The book concludes with some recommendations in the final chapter which are more in the nature of a dialogue than a strait jacket policy. In fact the purpose of the whole book purpose is to promote the policy dialogue through strengthening learning alliances. Thus, rather than being prescriptive they are presented as recommendations for the learning alliance to discuss, debate and decide in future learning alliance workshops. It is hoped that this report would lead to more joint work amongst the different actors in a synergistic manner. 

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