Grow More with Less: Adaptation, Validation and Promotion of Intensive Rice Farming System (SICA) in the Americas as a Response to Climate Change

Rice is a staple food in LAC where per capita consumption is 30 kg / year and demand exceeds production. The yields, costs and profitability depend on agro-climatic and technological factors, innovation in the crop is a must. This System of Rice Intensification (SRI) project, executed by IICA in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, analyzed the productive efficiency, use of resources and the impact of SRI on GHG emissions. The project worked on 13 validation plots where SRI, which includes less use of seed and other inputs and rational water management, produced a better phenotypic development of plants in terms of number of spikes, panicles, tillers and length and root weight, achieving higher yields (up to 25%) and savings in the use of seeds (up to 96%) and water (up to 45%), in addition to an average saving of 10% in costs which caused greater profits of 43% in the Dominican Republic and 68% in Colombia. With the cost of labor being one of the greatest challenges of SRI, mechanized filling of trays, transplantation and weeding was evaluated, resulting in 36% savings in total costs in Colombia and 10% in the Dominican Republic. Twenty-seven training events were held for 1,013 participants and two technical manuals were produced, as well as a primer for producers and tools for recording and analyzing data. IICA is promoting the scaling-up of SRI in the region to foster the adaptation of rice cropping to climate change.