The Potential of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to Increase Rice Water Productivity: a Case of Mkindo Irrigation Scheme in Morogoro Region, Tanzania

Abstract

Rice plays a critical role in ensuring food security in developing countries. For majority of the world’s small-scale farmers who live in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, rice is a major source of calories and the single largest source of income. However, increases in rice production are now lagging behind population growth, compounded by effects of climate change and variability. The system of rice intensification (SRI) developed in Madagascar, is a system approach to increase rice productivity through proper management of fewer inputs such as irrigation water and seeds. This study was therefore designed to evaluate the performance of SRI in Mvomero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania by implementing farmer field school (FFS) pilot trials of SRI operated by farmers alongside on-station scientific experiments in Mkindo Irrigation scheme. The experiments were conducted for two consecutive years during the wet season (March- July 2011) and dry season (September 2011- January 2012). One rice variety TXD 306 (SARO) was planted on plots in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with five treatments based on two water application regimes of flooding and alternate wetting and drying (AWD), while the effects of transplanting age of seedlings and plant spacing (in cm) of 20x20 for T1 and T2, 25x25 for T3, 30x30 for T4, and 40x40 for T5 were evaluated. The plant height, root depth, tillerig, biomass and grain yields, irrigation water use, and wetting and drying intervals were evaluated and results were statistically analyzed using GENSTAT software. Highest grain yield was achieved in 25x25 (T3) and 30x30 (T4) SRI spacing. Under the SRI practice, 62.51%, 63.64%, 64.67%, and 64.07% water savings were noticed for T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively, compared to the control (T1). SRI practice for planting space of 25x25 to 30x30 cm, wetting and drying interval of three days, and younger seedling of 8-12 days are recommended as good combinations for SRI practice in Mkindo area, Morogoro region.

Key words: Climate change, rice productivity, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), alternate wetting and drying (AWD)