Who?

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) promotes collaborative synergies throughout sectors.

The SRI network of government agencies, NGOs, civil society, and the private sector continues to grow in over 60 countries, with a shared goal of more efficient, equitable, and sustained development.

Effective partnerships and collaboration lie at the heart of SRI success.


CO_Shuichi Sato

My hope is to spread our work to other farmers in different villages so that they will do the same work. It will be good for all of us.

Nilima Topno
SRI Farmer, India

Which countries have incorporated SRI into their NDCs?

Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are the plans countries pledge to the world to outline and communicate their climate actions in reducing emissions and adapting to climate impacts. NDCs lie at the centre of determining climate progress and ultimately the success in achieving limiting global warming as one world together.

The Global Methane Pledge  
was launched at COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland 2021 as an initiative to reduce global methane emissions in order to strengthen commitments and maintain the possibility of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Of the 105 countries backing the Methane Reduction Pledge, 15 have taken mitigation actions in rice cultivation.

With 171 MtCO2e estimated as the global mitigation potential for rice, but with less than 5% registered in country NDCs, the potential in the rice sector for GHG emissions is being detrimentally overlooked.

Since November, 2022, 174 countries have submitted new or updated NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  Eleven of these countries specifically list SRI as part of their mitigation or adaptation actions.

The eleven countries displayed below include SRI directly in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) plan.

SRI as a  
mitigation action

  • Dominican Republic
  • Mali
  • Senegal
  • Côte d'Ivoire
  • Vietnam

SRI as a  
adaptation action

  • Benin
  • Burkina Faso
  • Cambodia
  • Laos PDR
  • Myanmar
  • Togo

Which international
institutions support SRI?

Over the past 15 years there has been a growing interest in and engagement with SRI from various international organisations that have contributed to the validation of SRI. 

A large number of organisations are involved in supporting up-scaling of SRI across the world. The FAO, UNDP, the European Union and Oxfam have an active role in the promotion of SRI by funding or providing partnership for SRI projects. The World Bank, UNEP, UNCSD and the EU’s Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) have also recognised the potential of SRI to reach their goals, and have supported a range of projects globally.

IFAD

IFAD has been promoting SRI in Madagascar for over a decade and subsequently brought SRI methods to Rwanda and Burundi. In 2015 at the international Expo Milano in Italy, IFAD presented a video on SRI which received the Expo’s prize for ‘Best Practice for Sustainable Development.

FAO

The FAO has promoted SRI through multiple projects, such as “System of Rice Intensification in the Lower Mekong Basin (SRI-LMB)” through partnership with Oxfam and the EU, enhancing the resilience of rainfed rice farmers across Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Other projects include an FAO IPM project in Afghanistan, and SRI training for rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa.

World Bank

The World Bank financed the SRI- WAAPP 2014-2016 which targeted 50,000 farmers in 13 countries in West Africa and is now followed by the RICOWAS project  2021-2025.

WWF, Africare, Oxfam

WWF, Africare, and Oxfam promoted projects for SRI dissemination in India, Mali and Vietnam respectively.