Study: Growing more rice with less water - WWF

A new method to grow rice could save hundreds of billions of cubic metres of water while increasing food security, according to a study by WWF published today.

With a focus on India – a country which faces a major water crisis, yet has the world’s largest rice cultivated area – the study found that the system of rice intensification (SRI) method has helped increase yields by over 30 per cent – four to five tonnes per hectare instead of three tonnes per hectare – while using 40 per cent less water than conventional methods.

The system is based on eight principles which are different to conventional rice cultivation. They include developing nutrient-rich and un-flooded nurseries instead of flooded ones; ensuring wider spacing between the seedlings; preferring composts or farmyard manure to synthetic fertilizers; and managing water carefully to avoid that the plants’ roots are not saturated.

The method was initially developed in the 1980s in Madagascar and has been demonstrated to be effective in 28 countries.