FROM a Great Canadian and World Statesman

"A great gulf... has... opened between man's material advance and his social and moral progress, a gulf in which he may one day be lost if it is not closed or narrowed..." Lester B Pearson http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1957/pearson-lecture.html

Friday 14 June 2013

FOOD SYSTEMS FOR BETTER NUTRITION........ A Case Study - System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Preamble: The cost of malnutrition to the global economy in lost productivity and health care costs accounts for as much as 5% of the global GDP - $3.5 trillion dollars, or $500 per person. That is almost the entire annual GDP of Germany, Europe's largest economy.  In social terms, child and maternal malnutrition continue to reduce the quality of life and life expectancy of millions of people, while obesity-related health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes, affect millions more.

In this month’s issue, we focus on two items:  
1. A report recently released by the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO 2013), entitled  “Food systems for better nutrition” which notes that that improved food systems can make food more affordable, diverse and nutritious. 
2. A Case Study of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

1. FOOD SYSTEMS FOR BETTER NUTRITION
This FAO report notes that some 870 million people were still hungry in the world in 2010-2012; this is a fraction of the billions of people whose health, wellbeing and lives are blighted by malnutrition. Two billion people suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiencies, while 1.4 billion are overweight, of whom 500 million are obese. Twenty six percent of all children under five are stunted and 31% suffer from Vitamin A deficiency.

To combat malnutrition, the report makes the case that healthy diets and good nutrition must start with food and agriculture. The way we grow, raise, process, transport and distribute food influences what we eat, the report says, noting that improved food systems can make food more affordable, diverse and nutritious.

Specific recommendations for action include:
• Use appropriate agricultural policies, investment and research to increase productivity, not only of staples like maize, rice and wheat, but also of legumes, meat, milk, vegetables and fruit.
• Cut food losses and waste, which currently amount to one third of the food produced for human consumption every year, thus increasing availability and affordability as well as reducing pressure on land and other resources.
• Improve the nutritional performance of supply chains, enhancing the availability and accessibility of a wide diversity of foods. Properly organized food systems are key to more diversified and healthy diets.
• Help consumers make good dietary choices for better nutrition through education, information and other actions.
• Improve the nutritional quality of foods through fortification and reformulation.
• Make food systems more responsive to the needs of mothers and young children. Malnutrition during the critical ‘first 1000 days' from conception can cause lasting damage to women's health and life-long physical and cognitive impairment in children.

Women's role
Giving women greater control over resources and incomes benefits their and their children's health, the report says. Policies, interventions and investment in labour-saving farming technologies and rural infrastructure, as well as social protection and services can also make important contributions to the health and nutrition of women, infants and young children.

Projects that have proved successful in raising nutrition levels include enhanced production, marketing and consumption of local vegetables and pulses in East Africa; promotion of home gardens in West Africa; encouragement of mixed vegetable and animal farming systems together with income-generating activities in some Asian countries; breeding staple crops such as sweet potatoes to raise their micronutrient content; and public-private partnerships to enrich products like yoghurt or cooking oil with nutrients.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The State of Food and Agriculture – Food Systems for Better Nutrition. ISSN 0081-4539  Rome 2013. http://bit.ly/14sqU2I  

2. A CASE STUDY OF THE SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION (SRI)
Rice, a cereal crop that belongs to the family of plants that includes wheat and corn, is a staple food for over half of the world’s population. The nutrient content of rice varies based on factors such as: strain and variety (whether white, brown, black, red and purple); soil quality; if the grain is polished or processed; if it is enriched; and preparation before consumption. 

Rice has fed more people over a longer period than has any other crop; evidence of production across Asia dates from over 10,000 years. Two species of rice are important to humans: Oryza sativa, grown worldwide; and Oryza glaberrima, grown in parts of West Africa. The International Rice Genebank contains more than 112,000 species, including wild rice, the ancestors of rice, traditional and heirloom varieties, and modern varieties.

Rice is unique, growing in wet environments where other crops cannot survive. The combined forces of natural and human selection of varieties, diverse climates, seasons, and soils, and different cultural practices have led to a wide ecological range for rice, especially in Asia, where 90% of the world’s rice is grown. Rice-based farming is the main economic activity for hundreds of millions of rural poor in this region.
Irrigated lowland rice is the only crop that can be grown continuously without need for rotation, and can produce up to three harvests a year—literally for centuries, on the same plot of land. Farmers also grow rice in rain-fed lowlands, uplands, mangroves, and deep-water areas.

In Africa, where rice is produced and eaten in 38 countries, rice is the fastest growing staple, reaching 10 million tons in 2008, and costing an estimated $3.6 billion for imports. Rice is also one of the fastest growing staple foods in Latin America, especially among urban consumers and particularly the poor. The region is a net importer of rice, with a projected annual deficit of 4 million tons by 2015.

For many in the developing world, rice means food security: they are extremely vulnerable to price increases, even if short-term. Changes in rice availability have caused far-reaching social unrest in several countries. The challenge in producing additional rice involves using less land, less water, and less labour, in more efficient, environmentally-friendly production systems that are more resilient to climate change. For extremely poor people (less than $1.25/day), rice accounts for nearly half of food expenditures and a fifth of total household expenditures, on average.

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) - is a climate-smart, agro-ecological methodology for increasing the productivity of rice and more recently other crops.  It was synthesized in the 1980s by Fr. Henri de Laulanié, S.J., who came to Madagascar from France in 1961 and worked with Malagasy farmers to improve their agricultural systems, particularly rice production, the staple food in Madagascar.  After introduction, farmers using SRI methods averaged 8 tons/hectare, better than the 2 tons/hectare previously produced on the limited lowland agricultural area. The increased rice yield reduced the need for farmers to expand rice growing into the upland rain forest ecosystems, reducing forest destruction from slash-and-burn agriculture.

SRI was promoted globally by Norman Uphoff, then director of the International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development at Cornell University (CIIFAD)New York, after its success in Madagascar was observed for a number of years.

SRI methodology is based on four main principles that interact with each other:
  • Early, quick and healthy plant establishment
  • Reduced plant density
  • Improved soil conditions through enrichment with organic matter
  • Reduced and controlled water application
Based on these principles, farmers can adapt recommended SRI practices to respond to their agro-ecological and socioeconomic conditions. Adaptations are often undertaken to accommodate changing weather patterns, soil conditions, labor availability, water control, access to organic inputs, and the decision whether to practice fully organic agriculture or not. In addition to irrigated rice, the SRI principles have been applied to rain-fed rice and to other crops, such as wheat, sugarcane, teff, finger millet, pulses, showing increased productivity over current conventional planting practices. SRI principles applied to other crops is referred to as the System of Crop Intensification or SCI.

The benefits of SRI use include: increased yield, water conservation, reduced production costs, and increased income. However, it is unclear how much better SRI is at delivering increased yield and other gains to rice farmers, such as healthier soils, when compared with established recommended best management practices for rice production. According to the IRRI, "The flexibility in SRI’s definition of practices renders SRI a challenge for evaluation and assessment of adoption."; this implies difficulty in evaluation, with critics claiming a lack of details on methodology used in trials, and few peer-reviewed publications.

References:
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)  website.  Accessed June 14, 2013.http://irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=9081:rice-basics&lang=en
SRI Rice – System of Rice Intensification. Website. with support from
Jim Carrey's Better U Foundation and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development
 http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/   Accessed June 14, 2013.

ENVOI
Improving rice technology is not without its controversies.  Below is a synopsis of online article in the Guardian newspaper on SRI-derived harvests in Bihar, India (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/23/india-rice-revolution-questioned):

“Professor Yuan Longping, director-general of China's national rice research centre and known as the "father of rice" in his country, doubted the claim of a world record harvest by a young Indian farmer Sumant Kumar: in 2011, 22.4 tonnes of rice from one hectare of land in Bihar, farmed using SRI methods. The previous record was 19.4 tonnes a hectare, held by Yuan.

However, Norman Uphoff, professor of agriculture at Cornell University (USA), defended the measurements taken of Kumar’s yield by both the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and the Ministry of Agriculture.  "The measurements were made by staking out 10X5 metre plots….., not sampled crop-cuts from small areas. The 50 square metre plots were harvested with hundreds of people watching …. These results were achieved with hybrid varieties which derive from Yuan's own innovation of hybridizing rice, considered for decades by most rice scientists to be impossible. " he said.

Earlier this year, the government of Bihar, where nearly half the population of 100 million live below the poverty line and 93% depend on growing rice and potatoes, endorsed SRI, saying its rice production increased to a record 8.2m tonnes last year, against 3.1m tonnes in 2010-11. Claims of higher yields (and a world record) for potatoes have been made also in the Nalanda district.

Amir Kassam, former director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's Science Council at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, said that many people still doubt the success of SRI. "There are now close to a million hectares under SRI and that cannot be regarded as a delusion. It is real."  Professor Robert Chambers of the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University said "SRI is an astonishing win-win for farmers and the environment. Some scientists have been slow to recognize it, ….., but its success and spread have been phenomenal." “

Reference: Institute of Sciences in Society. Fantastic Rice Yields – facts or fallacy. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/RiceWars.php   Accessed June 14, 2013.

INSPIRATIONAL WELCOME ............................... from T.S.Eliot's "Little Gidding"

If you came this way From the place you would come from... It would be the same at the end of the journey... If you came, not knowing what you came for, It would be the same... And what you thought you came for Is only a shell, a husk of meaning... From which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled If at all.