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Towards a Learning Alliance: SRI in Orissa
Published By: Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
and WWF-Dialogue Project, Hyderabad. Pp 78. -
September, 2007
Edited By:
Dr. C Shambu Prasad, Koen Beumer and
Debasis Mohanty
About the book:
Orissa is recognised as one of the
secondary centres of origin of cultivated rice in the world.
Rice continues to be the main crop in the state and is grown
in over half the gross cropped area. The cropping intensity
though is quite low and farming is largely subsistence and
rainfed by large numbers of small and marginal farmers with
low use of inputs. Despite several interventions in the past
to improve productivity there is a mismatch between
technological efforts and farmers practices resulting in
large yield gaps and stagnant and even declining
agricultural productivity. Improving
rice productivity in a state where poverty levels are one of
the highest in the country indeed has major implications for
food security. In this context SRI seemed to present an
interesting alternative to some farmers and civil society
organisations who tried it out a few years back after
hearing about it from their networks. Though a late starter,
SRI has made considerable progress in the state in recent
years with many small and marginal farmers reporting
excellent results in the very first cropping season.
This
book is an outcome of an ongoing learning alliance in the
state that emerged out of a state level dialogue workshop on
SRI held in June 2007. The workshop was meant to create a
learning platform for both research and non research actors
to share their experiences and insights so that
institutional support necessary for SRI uptake was faster
and could build upon the synergies among the diverse SRI
actors in the state. The volume has fourteen experiences of
governmental agencies, research organisations, SRI farmers
and non governmental organisations in Orissa -
many less than a year. The introductory chapter places the
various chapters in the context of SRI and rice in India and
presents the case for a learning alliance on SRI. SRI as a
continually evolving and dynamic system with several sources
of knowledge requires learning alliances for greater
information flow and to translate the micro cultures of
innovation amongst the few pioneering farmers and
organisations to a broader culture of innovation that
includes state agencies and research organisations. This
volume presents details of SRI in Orissa on the one hand and
some insights on scaling up and institutional challenges in
complex systems such as SRI on the other. Through the book
the authors hope that similar experiences would be tried out
in other states apart from strengthening ongoing efforts to
scale up SRI in Orissa.
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