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Seed Awards – Revised Submission Form
Please complete the form in full and send it to [email protected] by December 31st 2004 if you require
feedback. Final deadline is January 15th 2005.
1. Major partnership details
Partnership Title:
SRI Global Marketing Partnership (SRI GMP) to Support Resource-Limited
Rice Farmers, Conserve Rice Biodiversity and Promote Human and
Environmental Health
One-line description (30 words
max):
Farmer-based organizations in Cambodia, Madagascar and Sri Lanka,
working with an international institute, combine their knowledge, experience
and resources to collectively develop domestic and international markets for
SRI (System of Rice Intensification) rice to increase smallholder incomes,
conserve rice biodiversity, promote human and environmental health, and
empower rural households.
Location:
Cambodia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka (as pilot sites, which can be expanded to
other developing countries)
2. Contact details
Please complete details of the primary point of contact representing the partners in applying to the Seed Awards.
Title (Mr, Ms, Dr. etc.):
First name:
Norman
Last name:
Uphoff
Position:
Email address:
Telephone:
Fax number:
Organisation Name:
Type1:
One-line description:
Website (URL):
1
Prof.
Director, CIIFAD
[email protected]
607-255-0831
607-255-5131
Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development
(CIIFAD)
Academic/international
CIIFAD works with partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America to initiate and
support innovative programs that [contribute to] improve[d] prospects for
global food security, sustainable rural development, and environmental
conservation around the world.
www.ciifad.cornell.edu
Please choose from: Government, NGO, academia, business, religious, financial, cooperative or other (please
specify) AND international, national or local (e.g. local business or international NGO)
Address:
City:
Postcode:
Country:
31 Warren Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
14853
USA
2. Other partner organisations
Please complete details of all other partners involved (please copy and paste template to create further boxes for
additional partners).
Organisation
Name:
Country:
Type:
Center for Study and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC, Centre d’ Etudes et de
Developpement Agricole Cambodgien)
Cambodia
NGO/national
One-line
description:
National NGO promoting agricultural development in a participatory mode with small farmers; has built use
of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) from 28 farmers in 2000 to over 20,000 in 2004, with a link now to
the Ministry of Agriculture and support from GTZ.
Website
(URL):
http://www.wis.cgiar.org/rwc/shared/asp/generalinfoserver/intermediate.asp?InstitutionID=10666
Status of
partner
(fully
involved /
initial
discussions
held /
potential):
Partner fully involved; represented the partnership at the 3rd World Environmental Congress in Bangkok
Organisation Name:
Country:
Type:
One-line description:
Website (URL):
Community Camp Programmes
(funded by Community Aid Abroad, the Australian Oxfam affiliate)
Sri Lanka
NGO grassroots organization/local-national, linked with international
NGO
Association of 10 grassroots farmers groups working to implement collective
consumer marketing programs, pilot and publicize alternative farming
technologies that are environmentally-friendly and low-cost, and add value to
products.
http://www.oxfam.org.au/world/sthasia/sri_lanka/livelihoods.html
Community Camp Programmes
ADDRESS: New Hassen Building, Warakapola, SRI LANKA
President : Nalini Kodisinghe (Sarath Wijesuriya=local contact)
Gamini Batuwitage (additional liaison; director of World Bank-funded national
anti-poverty program)
Status of partner
(fully involved / initial
discussions held / potential):
Organisation Name:
Confirmation of interest by email. CIIFAD has worked with Batuwitage and
Wijesuriya on rice development since 2000.
National Federation of Koloharenas
Country:
Madagascar
Type:
Grassroots organizations/local-national
One-line description:
Confederation of 30 farmer cooperatives consisting of regrouped smaller
producer associations (10-20 members per Koloharena association)
committed to increasing small-farm income using environmentally-sound
farming methods and sustainable natural resource management techniques,
federated into a national advocacy organization, initiated by CIIFAD under the
USAID Landscape Development Interventions project
Website (URL):
Mr.Jules RANDRIANARIVELO
President de la Confederation Nationale SAHAVANONA Koloharena
BP 934
CFP Ambatobe
Antananarivo 101
MADAGASCAR
Tel: 261-20-033-12-465-57
email: [email protected]
web page: www.koloharena.com
Status of partner
(fully involved / initial
discussions held / potential):
Fully involved; the national confederation, cooperatives and associations will
have continuing support under new USAID projects including a market
development component (Business and Market Expansion: BAMEX), which
will be the principal liaison on the SEED partnership. A key contact is Glenn
Lines, a consultant to BAMEX who will be based in Ithaca, and who has
extensive experience in extending SRI, developing market linkages for
producer groups and institutional capacity building.
3. Summarize your partnership’s goal/objective
What is the basic idea behind
your partnership project?
What exactly are you trying to
achieve and how are you
planning to achieve it?
(maximum 500 words)
BACKGROUND - Commercial rice cultivation in the developing world is
becoming financially and environmentally unsustainable due to low market
prices and the cost of chemically-dependent production practices. There is
also an alarming loss of biological diversity in Asia's paddies. By the early
1990s, just 5 varieties accounted for 90% of the rice growing areas in
Malaysia and Pakistan, and nearly half that of Thailand and Burma. These
trends are occurring at the same time that the demand for exotic and
healthy foods is rising in North America and Europe. Small producers who
grow indigenous rice varieties, among the most vulnerable and most
difficult-to-reach populations from the viewpoint of modern agriculture, have
something valuable that they can sell to consumers, both locally and
internationally. Developing markets for natural or organically cultivated,
traditional rice varieties that command higher prices can give farmers a new
strategy for competing in a global economy.
SRI (System of Rice Intensification) is a method for growing rice that
increases yields of traditional varieties by 50-100% using 25-50% less
water, less or no chemical fertilizer or other inputs, and 80-90% less seed.
Average rice yields with SRI across 13 countries have been 7.3 t/ha,
compared with an average of 4.3 t/ha for control/ comparisons. In several
countries average SRI yields exceeded 10.5 t/ha. According to a GTZ
assessment in Cambodia, net profitability per hectare increased by 75%.
Elsewhere it has doubled or more. Lower capital requirements make it
accessible to the poorest households. There are now as many as 100,000
farmers in over 20 countries using SRI techniques. [See SRI website for
details http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/ ]
PARTNERSHIP GOALS

Create a marketing network that (1) facilitates exchange of
facilitates exchange of technical knowledge, market information
and experience in-country and trans-country; (2) develops a
collective marketing strategy to develop international and domestic
markets that increase farmers’ incomes and reward conservation of
rice biodiversity and the adoption of sustainable agricultural
practices such as SRI; and (3) helps bring together the different
and often isolated donor-funded SRI programs in various countries.
The dissemination of SRI is largely a grassroots movement driven by local
NGOs and farmer organizations, although government agencies and donors
are now beginning to support it. Thus, activities have been taking place in a
disconnected and uncoordinated fashion, country by country. In large
countries like India, this is occurring state by state. Increasingly, farmers are
producing surpluses and looking for markets for their organic, traditional
rices. Most are subsistence farmers who sell exclusively to their neighbors.
They and their NGO partners have little or no experience in penetrating
more sophisticated domestic or international niche markets. Marketing
factors affect farmers’ decisions. It is essential that marketing support
occur in tandem with production if farmers and the environment are to
benefit from this system.
The three national partners in Cambodia, Madagascar and Sri Lanka and
CIIFAD anticipate enormous benefit to farmers from marketing efforts that
have some central support and coordination. Much of the expertise and
support that SRI groups need are the same or similar (information about
Fair Trade , labelling, packaging, organic certification, quality control,
branding, import and export tariffs, funding sources, experts in agribusiness
training, new market opportunities, etc.) Some of this information already
exists in various agencies. Making this information available will improve
efficiency and reduce duplication of effort and funding, promote the adoption
of SRI with its many ecological benefits, and ultimately expedite the
objectives of helping farmers out of poverty and improving their health and
that of the environment.
To that end, the four partners propose to combine their respective resources
to create the SRI Global Marketing Partnership (SRI GMP) which can
expand as interest and opportunity increase.

4. Describe your partnership project

Please answer all the questions below in brief (bullet points are encouraged). Do not use more than three
pages in total to respond to all the questions:

Where did the idea for
the partnership come
from?

In what way is it
entrepreneurial or
innovative?
SRI was developed in Madagascar and is promoted there by the NGO
Association Tefy Saina, which has been a CIIFAD partner since 1994, and
which has assisted in training Koloharena members. The idea came from
CIIFAD, based on observations and discussions with the three national
partners about their needs. They are now reaching levels of production
where an active, innovative marketing strategy can help capture the full
benefit of their work and encourage other farmers to follow suit.
The partnership is innovative in terms of the diversity of partners (university,
NGOs and farmer organizations]) and the many synergies they can create
by joining forces to connect farmers and stakeholders across countries
to benefit from each others' experience. For example, Madagascar has
connections to Conservation International, USAID and Slow Food, Sri Lanka
to the World Bank, Oxfam and Fair Trade groups in Europe, and CEDAC
has connections to GTZ, Oxfam, JICA, and ADB. Tapping into these
sources will yield information and expertise from which all can benefit. SRI
GMP is entrepreneurial in that it will identify and create new domestic and
international markets for indigenous rice varieties that are produced using
environmentally sound practices, and develop sustainable market
linkages for small-scale producers through business and management
skills capacity building and commercial contracts. One idea is to use the
Internet so that small farmers with relatively low volumes of rice can pool
supplies and participate collectively in niche markets. SRI GMP is breaking
ground for change in cultivation practices (SRI is an environmentally
sound method) and marketing techniques (promoting small-farmer
produced indigenous varieties) that respond to global environmental,
economic, health and social concerns.

In what ways does
your partnership idea
address
i) environmental
concerns (e.g. restore
the natural
environment; prevent
environmental
damage; promote
sustainable use of the
environment)?

ii) economic concerns
(e.g. poverty
alleviation; generating
income opportunities)?

iii) social concerns
(e.g. gender issues;
minority issues; conflict
resolution)?
The SRI GMP directly addresses 3 of the 8 UN Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and several others indirectly.
(i) The SRI GMP, by helping farmers penetrate markets and receive a
premium price for their SRI rice, will contribute to environmental concerns by
increasing the economic incentives for adoption of SRI. Two of the most
important aspects about SRI are its reduced water and chemical
requirements. Rice production is the largest single consumer of freshwater
worldwide. By promoting non-flooded rice paddies, the SRI method can
double or more normal yields with half the amount of water. This is
especially important in parts of the world where water is becoming scarcer.
Farming with less water is going to be one of the biggest challenges of the
21st century. Unflooded paddies do not produce methane, one of the
major ‘greenhouse gases’ contributing to global warming. SRI also reduces
or eliminates the application of agrochemicals, thereby improving soil and
water quality and reducing risks to humans. This is critical in countries
like Cambodia, where toxic pesticides (mostly applied to rice), banned in the
rest of the world, pose very serious threats to farmers and the environment.
http://www.ejfoundation.org/pdfs/death_in_small_doses.pdf SRI promotes
biodiversity conservation by enabling farmers to achieve 6-10 t/ha and
sometimes more with traditional varieties. By dramatically increasing
lowland yields, SRI also reduces the need to cultivate rice (using slash-andburn techniques) in ecologically vulnerable upland primary forest areas.
(ii) In Asia and Madagascar, rice is not just a crop: it symbolizes life itself
and is the basis of rural and historical tradition. This deep emotional
commitment to rice means that rice farmers are reluctant to find alternative
crops, even as rice becomes less and less viable as an income source. The
Food and Fertilizer Technology Center, which operates in the Asia Pacific
region makes the following argument:
“In those countries which are being forced to open at least a percentage of
their rice market to imports, producers may be best protected by policies
which emphasize rice quality, including organic farming methods as well as
flavor. This will promote the development of a domestic rice market of
diverse and distinctive rice varieties which fetch high prices and are more
distinguished by their quality than by their agronomic characters. It will be
more difficult for overseas producer to compete successfully in a market of
this kind.” http://www.fftc.agnet.org/library/article/ac1993a.html#6
SRI farmers have that high-quality product: diverse and distinct organic rice
varieties. SRI GMP will help them take advantage of this new income
opportunity by facilitating their participation in local and international
markets. SRI profitability has been repeatedly shown to be 50-100%
higher per acre, thereby enhancing smallholder incomes. With effective
marketing strategies SRI farmers will be able to improve their economic
status even further.
(iii) As SRI does not require purchased inputs, it is more accessible to
poorer farmers. Moreover, SRI, as an adaptable set of practices rather
then a specific technology, encourages farmers to innovate and become
agents for rural change. The expansion of SRI has been largely farmer
driven. In Cambodia the growing network of SRI farmers has given rise to a
Cambodian Farmers Assembly with over 2000 members in 10 provinces.
http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/sokhengpost.html
Some of the most enthusiastic and convincing SRI users are women. They
could be dynamic proponents if given a role in the dissemination process,
particularly communicating with other women. SRI has also been shown in
places to improve women’s health through earlier transplanting in nonflooded fields and labor-saving innovations that reduce labor
requirements.

What steps have
already been taken
towards building the
partnership and, if
applicable,
implementing the
project?
Cambodia – A growing number of NGOs, headed by CEDAC, are working
with SRI, and the Ministry of Agriculture and its agricultural extension
service are getting involved. GTZ has just agreed to fund, through CEDAC,
a national SRI secretariat at the Ministry. In 2004, at least 20,000 farmers
were using SRI methods; the number could double in 2005. CEDAC has
started putting into place institutional infrastructure to help farmers market
SRI rice locally. It has identified the need for training and advice on how to
operate a marketing component.

Please include in the
description the role of
local communities in
your partnership
(planning,
implementation,
monitoring).
Madagascar – Probably 50,000-100,000 Malagasy farmers are using SRI
methods, some fully and others only in part. CIIFAD has been working with
farmers in the eastern part of the country through a USAID-funded project,
establishing farmer organizations known as Koloharena associations. These
associations regroup themselves into cooperatives for input supply,
knowledge sharing and commodity marketing activities. The export of Vary
Mena (an indigenous red rice) to Italy has already begun. This was
intermediated by the Slow Food movement that provided financial support
for farmer participation at an international food fair (Salone del Gusto) that
was held in Turin, Italy in October 2004. Slow Food also made an in-kind
equipment grant to the Hanitriala Koloharena cooperative to help farmers
improve their packaging and quality control. Through the Koloharena
movement large quantities of organic indigenous SRI rice could be
exported. The USAID-funded Ecoregional Initiatives project will continue
supporting the production aspects and institutional development of the
Koloharena movement, assisted by another USAID project promoting
environmentally supportive marketing development (BAMEX). The
expectation is to produce about 300-500 tons of Malagasy red rice in the
next couple of years.
Sri Lanka – This was one of the early countries for uptake of SRI, from
January 2000. There are a growing number of NGOs (such as Oxfam) and
universities (such as Ruhunu) working on SRI. The number of farmers is
probably in the 5,000-10,000 range, though it could be 20,000. The
government’s World Bank-funded poverty program is working with, among
other local groups, the Oxfam-funded Community Camp Programme to
promote SRI. Farmers in Sri Lanka are already exporting some indigenous
“eco-rice” to Fair Trade outlets in Italy and France.
Each program has links to a network of public and private sector partners
that could, if brought together, provide the basis for a marketing support
group for the entire partnership and other countries as well.
At this time, there is no formal MOU among the partners. Partners are in
continuous email communication, and CIIFAD has coordinated their input in
the development of this proposal. There is a clear understanding of what
each of the partners is doing and their particular skill sets, and what they
can contribute to the partnership. If and when additional resources become
available or a consortium of interested donors and development agencies
coalesces, the partners will work out a more formal plan for working
together.

What are your next
steps?

What do you see as
the major hurdles to be
overcome for the
project to be
successful?
This proposal is not a conventional ‘project’ but a new kind of organizational
structure and operation, intended to multiply resources many-fold with
ultimate greatest benefit for participating farmers (and the environment).
This is a feasible strategy because SRI is such an unconventional
innovation, producing more value from less input. Short-term: At this time,
each of the partners has just enough resources to make a very modest
commitment to marketing issues in its own sphere of operation. Without
some infusion of funds, staff support or in-kind expert advice, the partners
will have to reinvent the wheel for their own set of clients. CIIFAD will
continue to build the SRI website to promote information sharing and
visibility and to investigate options for supporting the SRI marketing
component.
Locating modest start-up funding is thus the first major step. With $2550,000 the partners could convene a workshop that would bring together
various stakeholders in the three countries and in importing countries, plus
interested donor representatives to evaluate current marketing issues, how
best to pool resources, and practical collaborative steps. One outcome
would be the creation of a consortium of donors interested in this
environmentally-sound poverty reduction/livelihood creation initiative. Many
of the development agencies that are indirectly supporting SRI have
considerable knowledge about marketing and agribusiness. Oxfam, for
example, is expert in Fair Trade issues. Chemonics, which is leading the
USAID-funded BAMEX project is working with the Rutgers Business School
to set up quality control labs for high-value products (like vanilla and
essential oils]. GTZ has staff knowledgeable about agro-enterprise. JICA,
which supports the CEDAC office, has expertise in organic agriculture and
certification. Further, Japan represents a major potential market for SRI rice.
A small start-up grant would make it possible for CIIFAD to allocate more
staff time to web development, to building an electronic SRI ‘community of
practice,’ write grants on behalf of the partnership, produce outreach
materials and facilitate the participation of partners at important meetings.
For example, at CIIFAD’s suggestion, a presentation on SRI has been
invited as part of an international workshop on Bridging the Food Production
Chain at the European Forum on Agricultural Research and Development in
Zurich this April 2005. Co-organizers include Nestle, Syngenta and Max
Havelaar. It is critical that one or more of the partners attend this meeting as
this represents a tremendous opportunity for making key connections.
Funds have yet to be identified for travel and expenses.
Long-term:
-Partnership building (strengthening links between partners and adding new
partners)
-Knowledge management and communication outreach
-Capacity building in marketing
-Develop local and international marketing strategies
-Funding for capital and operational expenses
-Funding for coordination and outreach activities
-Evaluation and assessment activities

What type of
partnership-building,
services, connections,
training or technical
support might be of
use to your partnership
project?

Please give details
about your expected
needs in the next 12
months.
(1) Quality assurance, control, and consistency. (2) Assessing financial
feasibility of marketing strategies (research on costs of transportation,
customs and tariffs, warehousing, distribution, milling, packaging, and
promotion). (3) Labelling; meeting international requirements for 'organic'
and ‘Fair Trade’ labelling. (4) Development of criteria for selection of
locations and varieties to be marketed, possibly some market testing (for
taste, color, other factors). (5) Marketing strategies (bulk, direct to chains,
private labels and branding, fair exchange stores, etc.). (6) Exploring
different business/operational models, for example, spinning off small
companies vs. creating a not-for-profit that would invest profits in research
and further development of the marketing program vs. creating a company
in which farmers would have a direct interest in the business. (7)
Identification of additional sources of funding for capitalizing one or more
operations that can become examples/models. (8) SRI grains are thought to
have higher micronutrient content, suggested by higher grain weight and
greater resistance to shattering. Systematic nutritional analyses are needed,
as enhanced micronutrient content would add further value to SRI-grown
rice as a product. (9) Capacity-building in business and marketing skills for
farmers and NGO staff. (10) Research on the relationship between SRI and
biodiversity conservation. This would support a marketing strategy that
emphasizes health and environmental benefits. (11) Provide logistical and
staff support in the organization of a small international meeting among SRI
growers, private sector buyers, donors, Fair Trade experts.
During the next 12 months, the SRI GMP will seek funding for:
Networking and coordination (SRI production and marketing)

Enhanced SRI website development (Identify who is producing
what and where in all SRI countries; share lessons learned;
facilitate “real-time” exchange; database of needed resources,
experts, information)

Investigate in partnership with the private sector the development
of an E-commerce website to promote small-scale trading in
smaller volumes of indigenous varieties of rice.
International meeting

Convene meeting of farmer groups, donors, private sector (Whole
Foods, Slow Food, Alter Eco, TransFair) to assess issues and
discuss strategies, with the outcome being [perhaps] a consortium
of interested donors. Discuss such issues as creating an
identifiable SRI branding that complements and does not displace
local/national brand identification.
Research

Investigate nutritional quality; biodiversity benefits; value of planting
traditional varieties on farm communities; and opportunities for
adding value to rice as a commodity.
Outreach

Grant writing; public awareness, information support to national
SRI teams; participation at key conferences/events
Challenge Grant Program

Develop competitive grants program to finance local efforts.

What are the roles of
each of the partners?
e.g. what does each
partner bring to the
partnership
(information,
capacities, people,
connections, expertise,
products, other)?

Are you looking for
additional partners – if
so, of what kind?
CIIFAD is the principal international proponent of SRI. It plays a
coordinating and facilitating role, operating informally as a global SRI
secretariat. It has funded some research and outreach (at very modest
levels) and is the main nexus for communication about SRI, linking people
and research in over 40 countries, both through the SRI website and
electronic networking. CIIFAD has been instrumental in the creation of
national listservs about SRI in the Philippines and Nepal. In the SRI GMP,
CIIFAD will initially continue to function as a secretariat, working with the
country partners to assess common needs and opportunities and develop
tools and action plans with them, facilitate communication, maintain and
build out the SRI website, carry out promotional activities, fundraise, etc.
CEDAC has a nationally successful program for training farmers in SRI that
is becoming a model for other countries in Southeast Asia. It is now creating
marketing mechanisms for local/national markets. It plans to build a store
and warehouse on a highly trafficked road to promote sales and visibility.
CEDAC has good organizational capacity and GTZ is funding a CEDACstaffed secretariat on SRI within Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture. CEDAC
will mobilize its own set of partners on behalf of the entire partnership and
share its expertise. It is investigating the creation of a subsidiary NGO to
focus on marketing. This experience will be of use to others.
Community Camp Programmes will provide information about existing
successful local initiatives that are packaging and selling in Europe rice
grown with SRI methods. Oxfam has extensive experience in Fair Trade
issues, which will be tapped into.
National Confederation of KH cooperatives (through BAMEX) will share
learning from their participation at the Turin Slow Food Festival in 2004. The
KH farmers sold their rice at the festival for more than $6/kilo (>20 times the
local market price in Madagascar). The KH have since been approached by
restaurants in Italy that have put in a request for 30+ tons of SRI-grown Vary
Mena. Chemonics, which has been subcontracted to lead the USAID-funded
Business and Marketing Expansion project, has excellent contacts in this
field and will contribute its experience.
To the extent that SRI GMP is successful, there are at least 20 other
countries that could join into the partnership, contributing their own
experiences and set of stakeholders and benefiting from the learning,
networks, and tools created by SRI GMP. Presently, the most likely new
partners would be NGOs, government agencies, and farmer organizations
working with SRI in Bangladesh, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal,
Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, and Thailand.
g) What are the specific
advantages and disadvantages
of working in partnership to
achieve your objectives?
The objectives of the SRI GMP are to help farmers and countries in the
South take advantage of this new opportunity for better incomes and food
security. By connecting farmers and stakeholders, the partnership will allow
farmers to become more active in internal markets and to participate on
favorable terms in international markets. This will not be possible without
some external support and the ability to achieve economic scales of
production. There are no apparent disadvantages to the partnership. For
each organization to work alone is costly and slow to achieve any real
impact.
h) Please describe the business
case / financial sustainability of
your partnership project.
SRI GMP can operate at several different levels ranging from a fairly ad hoc,
decentralized model to that of an independent organization with its own
legal identity or to one that is based with an international agency or a
national NGO. Much will depend on funding and interest in the work of the
SRI GMP. Funding might come from a consortium of donors (like the CGIAR
model) or over time from some kind of fee assessed on members in the
partnership like a trade association. Venture capital could be another source
since this should become a viable commercial operation for suppliers,
importers and distributors.
i) what stages of the project
have been funded so far and
how?
ii) what funding is required /
expected /secured for the next
stages of the project?
iii) how will your partnership be
financially sustainable / funded
in the long-term?
Please give details about in-kind
support, grants, private
donations, public funding,
income generating activities.
The SRI GMP will have to operate opportunistically over the next two years
based on what funds it is able to attract. A start-up grant will be sought
through proposals to existing SRI donors, approaches to the private sector
and the GEF (both the small and medium grant programs) As noted above,
a first step will be to convene a tri-country workshop on SRI marketing that
would engage the partners with all donors currently supporting SRI
activities, food companies like Whole Food and Slow Food, and marketing
experts. One or two donor agencies funding SRI will be invited to take on
the role of convening the workshop, which will greatly reduce the cost to the
SRI GMP. The workshop would be held in one of the three countries so that
participants could talk to farmers and see SRI in the field and eat dishes
made with SRI rice. Such a meeting should not be that costly and the
outcome would provide the SRI GMP with a clearer sense of direction and
strategy for the future.The goal would be the creation of a donor consortium
to provide support for 3-5 years on a pilot basis that would allow SRI GMP
assemble a very small core staff and a larger group of expert consultants to
support a plan to meet country-specific and over-arching needs.
Over the longer term, possible options for creating a sustainable financial
base might include membership fees or the creation of a not-for-profit
business component to support centralized services. It is also possible that
after some initial investment and support, SRI farmers, not just in the three
countries, but others as well, could contribute to an SRI trade association
from profits from sales of SRI rice.
Closing the gap between farmers and markets, promoting entrepreneurial
innovation and adding value to agricultural products are now important
priorities on the international development agenda. SRI offers one of the
most remarkable opportunities for donors to have a quick and positive
impact on rural communities and the environment. It is also in their interest
to streamline their giving so as to reduce waste and duplication.
i) Is there anything else of
importance you wish to add?
Please see recent articles about SRI posted to the SRI website:
http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/
Governmental support for SRI is starting to take shape. In Cambodia, there
is now a SRI secretariat in the Ministry of Agriculture funded by GTZ. In
Madagascar, the Ministry of Agriculture through funding by the World Bank,
has asked Tefy Saina (the primary extension NGO for SRI in the country) to
develop a proposal for a national SRI rollout extension program. In the
Philippines, the Department of Agriculture has invited the SRI coordinator (a
volunteer working with a network of NGOs as well as with universities and
government agencies) to submit a proposal for funding a major effort to
make SRI knowledge widely available to Philippine farmers. The Indian
Council for Agricultural Research has begun funding SRI demonstrations in
all rice-growing areas of the country. This initiative will have more and more
small farmers to involve. If there are no marketing channels, this superior
rice will go into undifferentiated supply pools. Because it has more value,
there should be rewards to farmers who produce it, which will encourage
more to use these non-chemical-dependent and water-saving methods.
5. Feedback
How did you hear about the
Seed Initiative?
Announcement was sent by a colleague.