0938 Introducing System of Rice Intensification in Timor Leste - Experiences and Prospects

Second Rural Development Programme (RDP II)

Introducing System of Rice Intensification in Timor Leste -

Experiences and Prospects

Dr. Georg Deichert1, Mr. José Barros2 and Mr. Martin Noltze3

1,2 RDP II, EU-GTZ Timor Leste, 3 University of Göttingen, Germany

Paper presented at 7th Annual Conference of the International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering,

7-9 October 2009, Bogor, Indonesia


Agenda

1. Introduction

2. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Integrated Crop Management (ICM) in Timor Leste

3. Achievements with SRI Dissemination

4. Experiences and Challenges for SRI in Timor Leste

5. Conclusion


RDP II, Timor Leste

• Project details: start in December 2006, 12 Mio. Euro, 5 years

• Donors: European Commission (EC) and Federal Ministry for Economic

Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

• Implementing agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) and Deutsche

Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), NGO partners and

Universities

• Project area: 2 western border districts Bobonaro and Covalima

• Characteristics of project area: low productivity of production systems; lack of

productivity enhancing technologies; strong subsistence economy, farm sizes

around 1 ha

• Project objectives: Increased agriculture production, economic growth, import

substitution, food security, poverty reduction and improved livelihoods


RDP II

Component I: Support of partner institutions (incl. MAF policy advice

Component II: Agriculture Extension

Component III: Agribusiness

Component IV: Community development

Component VI: Rural Infrastructure

Component V: Watershed Management and Forestry


Rice Production in Timor Leste (1)

• Agriculture contributes one third of TL’s GDP

• Agriculture is income source for more than 80% of Timorese population

• The local demand for rice amounts to 77,200 tons annually (at 90 kg per capita)

• Local production was estimated to be 45,000 tons of paddy (or 27,000 tons of milled rice at 60% milling percentage)

• Rice imports are estimated to cost 78,000 tons x 750 US$ = 58.5 million US$ annually (incl. staple substitutions)


Rice Production in Timor Leste (2)

• Rice production area:Bobonaro 5,000 ha Covalima 4,000 ha

• Percentage to national rice production (13 districts):Bobonaro 1st place (20.7%) Covalima 5th place (10.0%)


Introducing SRI by way of down-scaling ICM

• ICM package in Timor Leste quite different from ICM in Indonesia, focusing on high input practices

• SRI is presented as a low input option for resource poor farmers

• ICM had had been implemented with significant success, causing confusion among staff and farmers (replacement strategy versus down-scaling ICM?)

• Using the term “SRI” is necessary for international networking

• Moving from pre-described technology (ICM) toward an open concept of applying different techniques (SRI)


ICM recommendations (in Timor Leste)

Technical Elements SRI recommendations (in Timor Leste)

Area estimationPloughing with tractor

Land preparation Good levelingBeds with Drains

Improved varieties, ie IR64 Variety Any variety

Use of good seed Seed Seed selection with salt water test

Mat nursery10 kg/ha

Nursery Tray nursery5 kg/ha

One seedling, 12-14 days oldLine tranplanting25x25cm to 30x30cm

Transplanting One seedling, 8-12 days old, Grid (caplak)

At least 25x25cm, better 30x30cm to 50x50cm

1st weeding: 15d after transplanting2nd weeding: 25d after transplanting3rd weeding: 35 days after transplanting

Weeding 4 weedings with 10 days intervalstarting 10 days after transplanting

Concept of getting air to the roots

Feed the plant conceptLeaf Color Chart (LCC)2 applications of chemical fertilizer

Soil nutrition feed the soil conceptCompost preferredChemical fertilizer optional

1-3 cm of standing water level Water Management Intermittend flooding with periods of no standing water

As IPM (see ICM manual) Pest control Not part of SRI

See ICM manual Harvesting Not part of SRI


Achievements with SRI promotion and dissemination (1)

• Study tour with MAF officials to Bali and Lombok

• In-service training of key extension workers (8 persons)

• Training of 14 MAF and NGO staff on SRI in Lombok

• MAF included SRI as one of three national strategies of improving rice production in Timor Leste

• 5-day training on SRI as part of pre-service trainings to 100+100=200 newly recruited extension workers

• Disseminating SRI through farmer field demonstrations

• Promoting SRI through district radio broadcasting


Achievements with SRI promotion and dissemination (2)

Parameter Season 2006/2007

Season 2007/2008

Season 2008/2009

No. of SRI farmers (n) 35 450 1228

Total SRI area (calculated) 297 ha 982.4 ha

Average SRI plot size 0.66 ha 0.80 ha

Average SRI yield 3 t/ha 4.3 t/ha 5.3 t/ha

Minimum Yield 1.4 t/ha 1.6 t/ha

Maximum yield 6.8 t/ha 10.0 t/ha

National average (MAF estimates) 2 t/ha 2 t/ha 2.5 t/ha

Bobonaro average (MAF estimates) 2.5 t/ha 3 t/ha

Estimated total SRI production 1,277 tons 5,206 tons


Experiences and Challenges for SRI in Timor Leste (1)

• No. of farmers and their yields increased significantly with SRI, in spite of some difficult circumstances (financial and human resources, farmers’ attitudes, agriculture service structure).

• Support and ownership from policy level is needed to go beyond “project level” (development and political interests have to be balanced).

• Disseminating SRI through MAF extension system is more difficult (EW need to be convinced themselves!), but is expected to have wider outreach.

• Promoting SRI through district radio broadcasting seemed to have contributed markedly to the dissemination of SRI.


Experiences and Challenges for SRI in Timor Leste (2)

• Farmers knowing ICM was advantageous in terms of some technical elements, but more a disadvantage to understand the paradigm shift (esp. because of successes with ICM!).

• Moving from ICM to SRI created the opportunities for international networking.

• SRI dissemination has to be aligned with other rice intensification programmes and projects avoiding contradictions and overlapping (sound monitoring of SRI practices is important!).

• The wide spread practice of providing farming inputs free-of-charge undermines self-help and self-reliance of farmers (SRI dissemination demands pro-active farmers).


Thank You

Terimah Kasih

0938 Introducing System of Rice Intensification in Timor Leste - Experiences and Prospects

Technology

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