Call to adopt SRI method of cultivation

Norman Upoff, the director of International Agricultural Institute, Corneill University (US), has appealed to the farmers of Andhra Pradesh to take up the 'System of Rice Intensification' (SRI) method of paddy cultivation, which provides for optimum biological environment.

Addressing a two-day Kisan Mela which concluded here today, said that SRI was developed not by scientists but by the farmers of Madagascar.

"This simple technology, which was not known outside Madagascar till 1997, has been adopted by more than 50,000 farmers in Asia," he informed. Norman said that while the green revolution advocated use of water and mechanisation in plenty with high capital, SRI envisaged low capital, minimal use of water, chemicals and pesticides.