Better Technology, Better Plots or Better Farmers? Identifying Changes in Productivity and Risk Among Malagasy Rice Farmers

Barrett, Christopher B.; Moser, Christine; Barison, Joeli; McHugh, Oloro V.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.431320

Cited by 49 publications

(76 citation statements)

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“…However, SRI requires additional initial labour investment that typically puts it out of reach of the poorest and smallest households. Moser and Barrett (2003) document these effects, while Barrett et al (2004b) document that SRI increases yields on average by more than 80 per cent, holding farmer and plot characteristics and other inputs constant, while also increasing yield risk, providing a link to the preceding sub-section on wealth-differentiated risk management strategies. 28.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare dynamics in rural Kenya and Madagascar

Barrett

Marenya

McPeak

et al. 2006

Journal of Development Studies

Self Cite

263

133

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This paper presents comparative qualitative and quantitative evidence from rural Kenya and Madagascar in an attempt to untangle the causality behind persistent poverty. We find striking differences in welfare dynamics depending on whether one uses total income, including stochastic terms and inevitable measurement error, or the predictable, structural component of income based on a household's asset holdings. Our results suggest the existence of multiple dynamic asset and structural income equilibria, consistent with the poverty traps hypothesis. Furthermore, we find supporting evidence of locally increasing returns to assets and of risk management behaviour consistent with poor households' defence of a critical asset threshold through asset smoothing.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare dynamics in rural Kenya and Madagascar

Barrett

Marenya

McPeak

et al. 2006

Journal of Development Studies

Self Cite

263

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The time required in the first or second year is likely to be more than when the practices have been mastered. In Madagascar, a comparison over 5 years found that SRI was labor-saving by years 4 and 5 ( Barrett et al 2004). In general, Asian farmers have been quicker to find, or to make, SRI labor-saving.…”

Section: Treatments Number Of Dead Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of irrigation method, age of seedling and spacing on crop performance, productivity and water-wise rice production in Japan

Chapagain

Yamaji

2009

Paddy Water Environ

121

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A field experiment using system of rice intensification (SRI) techniques was conducted in Chiba, Japan during the 2008 rice-growing season (May-September) with eight treatment combinations in a split-split plot design (S-SPD) to observe the potential of SRI methods under the temperate climatic conditions in Japan. Intermittent irrigation with alternate wetting and drying intervals (AWDI) and continuous flooding throughout the cropping season were the two main-plot factors, while the effects of age of seedlings and plant spacing were evaluated as sub and sub-sub plot factors, respectively. The experiment results revealed that the proposed AWDI can save a significant amount of irrigation water (28%) without reduced grain yield (7.4 t/h compared with 7.37 t/h from normal planting with ordinary water management). Water productivity was observed to be significantly higher in all combinations of practices in the intermittent irrigation plots: 1.74 g/l with SRI management and AWDI as compared to 1.23 g/l from normal planting methods with ordinary water management. In addition, the research outcomes showed a role of AWDI in minimizing pest and disease incidence, shortening the rice crop cycle, and also improving plant stand until harvest. Synergistic effects of younger seedlings and wider spacing were seen in tillering ability, panicle length, and number of filled grains that ultimately led to higher productivity with better grain quality. However, comparatively better crop growth and yields when using the same SRI practices with ordinary water management underscore a need for further investigations in defining what constitute optimum wetting and drying intervals considering local soil properties, prevailing climate, and critical watering stages in rice crop management.Keywords System of rice intensification (SRI) Á Alternate wet and dry irrigation (AWDI) Á Water savings Á Water productivity Á Split-split plot design (S-SPD)

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“…Consequently, SRI was dismissed by many scientists and development agencies as not relevant to contemporary strategies for crop improvement, which were trying to reduce current labor requirements for rice production. The characterization of SRI as 'labor-intensive' remained set in many minds, even after the same authors reported the next year, with more data, that SRI's labor-intensity declined over time as Malagasy farmers gained proficiency with and confidence in the new cropmanagement methods [35]. Indeed, when the methods were mastered, SRI could even became laborsaving.…”

Section: The Question Of Labor-intensitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intensity is a relative rather than an absolute concept, as discussed above. Second, there is a time dimension in that the time needed to complete field operations usually reduces as farmers gain skill and confidence [35]. If rice production is already intensive, as it is in most of Asia, SRI reduces labor requirements from the start with the plant populations much reduced and with intermittent/periodic rather than continuous flooding.…”

Section: Some Conceptual Issues Concerning Intensification For Rice Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems thinking on intensification and sustainability: systems boundaries, processes and dimensions

Uphoff

2014

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

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Better Technology, Better Plots or Better Farmers? Identifying Changes in Productivity and Risk Among Malagasy Rice Farmers

Abstract: It is often difficult to determine

Cited by 49 publications

References 1 publication

Welfare dynamics in rural Kenya and Madagascar

Welfare dynamics in rural Kenya and Madagascar

The effects of irrigation method, age of seedling and spacing on crop performance, productivity and water-wise rice production in Japan

Systems thinking on intensification and sustainability: systems boundaries, processes and dimensions

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