2. REVIEW OF RESEARCH ISSUES
2.9. Agroecological approach to agriculture as an alternative
As discussed in the previous sections of this chapter, interventions in rice cultivation are of worldwide importance. The current input-intensive framework in which rice farming is done is neither ecologically and economically viable for the smallholder farmers, nor does it cater to the projected increases in the food needs of the generations to come. The sustainability aspect of the current rice cultivation system is in stark focus in this study. In this regard, the negative effects of the agrochemical-intensive rice farming systems on the land, water, and air ecosystems has been discussed in the previous sections. As a result, the need for alternative practices that are both sustainable and gainful for smallholder farmers, who are the main producers of the food consumed worldwide, looks ever more crucial. In this regard, agroecology has been proposed as the guiding principle to achieve world food and nutrition security through sustainable means by no less than the United Nations itself343. The global COVID-19 pandemic has only reinforced the urgency that is needed to carry out a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to a diversified agroecological agricultural system16 (Figure 19).
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Figure 19. A graphical representation of the different 'yields' (benefits) of intensive monocultures and diverse agroecological agriculture (Yen Strandqvist, Chamlers University of Technology)
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is an agroecological set of practices that presents an alternative to the currently dominant method of growing rice under flooded conditions. SRI is reported variously as an agro-ecological, climate-smart, water-efficient, and a resource-conserving methodology of growing rice. The inclusion of the term ‘intensification’ in the name does not allude to any increase in the input, in the industrial agriculture sense of the word. On the contrary, there is less input of seeds, water, and agrochemicals in rice production with SRI.
SRI consists of practices give more consideration to the proper management of the resources associated with rice cultivation—seeds/plants, soil, water. The SRI method has shown potential in reducing the ecological costs of rice farming while at the same time increasing the gains for farmers in general, and for smallholder farmers in particular. Under SRI, the water use in rice farming can be reduced by up to 50% and the yield can go up by up to 200%. The SRI methodology has been adapted to different agro-climatic zones and also other crops like wheat, maize, and sugarcane, under the rubric of the System of Crop Intensification (SCI)185,344–347. The System of Rice Intensification is characterised by a few farming practices that set it apart from the traditional flooded rice farming system. Starting from first stage of rice farming, the nursery; under SRI the nursery is not kept under flooded conditions unlike the conventional system. The rice seedlings are transplanted at the two-leaf stage (8-14 days age) as compared to 4-5 weeks under the conventional system. In SRI, instead of planting multiple seedlings at one place, seedlings are transplanted singly and at a wider spacing (25-30 cm) in a square pattern. Once transplantation is done, the rice field is not kept flooded with water and rather irrigated based on need (alternate wetting and drying). Another practice that is unique to SRI is the manually operated weeding that is done in the first few weeks after transplantation, instead of using chemical weedicides. These different practices serve towards the better management
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of soil, rice plants, and water in the framework of rice farming system. As a result of this better management of the different resources, studies have shown farmers achieving better results in terms of the crop yield, primarily. SRI is a subject of increasing interest in rice research.
Although, different studies have pointed to an increase in the productivity of rice under SRI, employing the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method of irrigation, it ensures increased dry periods in the rice cultivation time. As a result, there is an increased occurrence of weeds, competitors to the rice plants, under SRI. This is one of the major reasons that leads to an increased labour requirement in SRI in the form of manually operated weeding, which forms one of the common critiques of SRI from a socio-economic perspective180,348,349. Agroecological crop management is also vital to enhance the micronutrient content of the soil and by extension tackle the problem of micronutrient deficiencies in the human diet127
However, SRI also provides room for other agroecological practices like intercropping and mulching to be introduced in rice cultivation. These practices are not possible in true sense under traditional flooded method. SRI, with wider spacing between the plants and alternating dry and wet periods without flooding provides an ideal space for an intercrop. Intercropping also promises to address the common criticism of SRI viz. growth of weeds under dry conditions and the resulting increased labour in weeding, as is evidenced from intercropping in other crop systems. Intercropping is also one of the recommendations of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) for the agriculture sector for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Depending on the type of intercrop used, intercropping can also fix nitrogen to the soil and also aid in carbon sequestration besides improving the soil water retention capacity and organic content. Hence, the intercropping of legumes with rice under SRI can be a good starting point in the direction of the transition of rice farming from the conventional industrial farming to agroecological farming350.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS