Article and Image Courtesy : Business Daily Africa
Author: Ngondi Mburu
Kenyan rice farmers are switching to a new technology that is set to double production and help bridge supply deficit for the country’s domestic consumption.
A farmer prepares land to grow rice through the paddy system in Nyando District. This method requires continuous flooding unlike the SRI, which only needs sufficiently moist soils or alternate wetting and drying, sharply reducing water use.
More than 1,800 farmers have adopted the system which improves yields, grain quality, size and aroma, and uses up to 50 per cent less water than the conventional system.
The System for Rice Intensification (SRI) developed by the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology is expected to improve production by more than 50 per cent while saving on increasingly scarce water.
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