Research ArticleIs the system of rice intensification (SRI) pro poor? Labour, class and technological change in West Africa
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Employment is a key challenge facing Sub-Saharan Africa, including rural areas. Between 2015 and 2030 375 million youth will enter the labour market in a context of limited growth of industrial jobs (Meagher, 2016; Losch, 2016). At the same time, social differentiation and commodification make it increasingly difficult to acquire the land, livestock and trees, necessary to build a livelihood in farming (Turner, 1999; Amanor, 2010). As 62% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa work in agriculture (Filmer and Fox, 2014) and the rural population will continue to grow in absolute terms, agricultural development projects will need to carefully consider their employment effects (Losch, 2016).
In this context, we assess the employment effects of an alternative rice farming technique, the system of rice intensification (SRI). According to Styger and Jenkins (2014) SRI's key principles are early and healthy plant establishment, minimizing competition between plants, increasing soil fertility and avoiding flooding and water stress. These can be achieved through adaptable practices (see Table 3): Alternate wetting and drying (to avoid flooding and water stress) induces aerobic soil conditions to enhance root growth, soil microbial activity, and thus nutrient uptake (Uphoff, 2003). Transplanting young seedlings (for early and healthy plant establishment) enhances tillering capacity to over 80 instead of 8–13 tillers (Uphoff, 2003; Stoop et al., 2002; Mishra et al., 2006). While wide spacing (for minimized competition) and non-flooding provides ideal conditions for weed growth (Moser and Barrett, 2003b; Stoop et al., 2002), planting in widely spaced square patterns enables the use of mechanical weeders (Noltze, 2012). These mechanical weeders enhance soil aeration (Uphoff, 2003). Given its low-input nature, it is an affordable technique that frequently outperforms conventional farmers practices (Berkhout et al., 2015).
SRI has increasingly gained relevance in West Africa: It is widely promoted receiving government support in Benin, Togo, Mali and Senegal (Styger and Jenkins, 2014; SRI-Rice, 2016). The West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program (WAAPP), supported by the World Bank under the institutional umbrella of ECOWAS, claims to have achieved SRI adoption by over 50,000 farmers in 13 countries (Styger and Traóre, 2008). The ‘Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector’ have trained ca. 25.000 farmers on SRI in 3 countries (Fett, 2019). Furthermore, in respect to transplanting SRI guidelines (seedlings younger than 21 days, carefully handling seedlings, wide spacing with at least 20×20cm and 1–3 seedlings per hill) have become mainstream recommendations in West Africa (see e.g. Rice transplanting, 2012; JIRCAS, 2012).
While SRI is often presented as “fundamentally ‘pro-poor.’” (Africare, Oxfam America, and WWF-ICRISAT Project, 2010; Moser and Barrett, 2003b), recent research from Asia shows that SRI adopters are not typically the poorest rural households (Taylor and Bhasme, 2019) and that SRI can negatively impact poor agricultural workers including women (Hansda, 2016; Gathorne-Hardy et al., 2016; Senthilkumar et al., 2008). Yet, although changes in the labour process are central to SRI, its impacts on hired labourers, remain understudied.
The study assesses the promotion of SRI in Benin, Ghana and Mali through the ‘Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector’; i.e. we assess SRI's effectiveness in real farms that use a farmer-adapted SRI, instead of SRI's efficacy (its potential under ideal conditions where all SRI principles are fully implemented). We address the following research questions in the context of West Africa focussing on lowland rice production systems:
- 1.
How do class relations and farming systems affect SRI adoption?
- 2.
What are the impacts of SRI on farm level?
- 3.
What are the impacts of SRI on society level, especially on the labour market?
The study uses an innovative theoretical framework that combines analytical and empirical categories from Farming Systems research and agrarian political economy and is suitable to assess how existing agricultural practices and social relations shape adoption patterns and impacts of SRI in different contexts. While adoption studies usually see labour mainly as a constraint (Tripp and Longley, 2006), in contexts of overcrowded labour markets increased labour use can contribute to increasing income-earning opportunities (Pretty et al., 2011; Losch, 2016). Using the lens of labour relations enables us to assess the social impact of technological change beyond the farm.
As the literature on SRI concentrates heavily on irrigated farming in Asia (see SRI-Rice, 2021) and this is (to our knowledge) the first socio-economic study of SRI in West-Africa beyond farmer field trials, the research enables comparisons of results across contexts – a key theme of our discussion section.
Section snippets
Theoretical framework
This paper adopts an agrarian systems perspective which reconciles concepts and insights from two key fields in agricultural and rural research: Farming systems research and agrarian political economy (Bainville, 2017; Cochet, 2012). Farming systems research seeks to understand farming practices and constraints of (resource-poor) farmers, with a focus on potential interventions (Chambers and Ghildyal, 1985; Collinson, 2000). Agrarian political economy investigates the “social relations and
Methods
The study used mixed methods based on an observational approach. In contrast to experimental designs like randomised control trials which follow strictly pre-defined protocols (Olsen, 2019), these data reflect the adaptations farmers make to integrate SRI into their farm system (see Glover, 2011). Furthermore, we combine quantitative analysis (i.e. statistical hypothesis testing) with qualitative fieldwork (i.e. collection of unstructured interview data, in which emerging patterns are
Qualitative results
Visiting rice fields in the Oti region, we saw two alternative technologies to SRI. Firstly, transplanting ‘scatteredly’, where seedlings are transplanted without trying to achieve a specific planting pattern or uniform distance between plants. Many farmers who have adopted SRI describe this change as shifting from transplanting ‘scatteredly’ to transplanting ‘in lines’. However, when it comes to intensity of adoption, the relevant counterfactual is broadcasting, i.e. spreading seeds onto the
Discussion
Given, there are no comparable socio-economic studies on SRI in West-Africa (see SRI-Rice, 2021), the discussion follows a two-step approach. For each research question we first check whether our findings can be plausibly generalized to West-Africa. Then we discuss the findings against existing evidence obtained in Asian contexts.7
Conclusion
In the context of the African employment challenge, we have assessed the potential of a labour-intensive agricultural technology, namely SRI, to contribute to employment creation based on an innovative theoretical framework. In West African rice farming SRI increases yields and profitability and can be beneficial for both marginal and accumulating farmers, although in different ways and at different scale of gains. Marginal farmers can better utilize their little land through SRI and increase
Declaration of Competing Interest
The research was undertaken in the context of a consultancy for the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ), that is implementing SRI projects in the study region. Sarah Graf has also been an intern at GIZ.
Acknowledgements
The research was undertaken in the context of an assignment by the Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIZ) commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Green Innovation Centres supported the research through provision of a household dataset, funding for fieldwork and logistics, but did not interfere in the research process. We are especially grateful to Stefan Fett and Ralf Barthelmes wo eagerly supported this project, and
References (105)
- et al.
Intensification of Sahelian farming systems: evidence from Niger
Agric. Syst.
(2000) - et al.
From adoption claims to understanding farmers and contexts: a literature review of conservation agriculture (CA) adoption among smallholder farmers in southern Africa
Agric. Ecosyst. Environ.
(2014) - et al.
On-farm impact of the system of rice intensification (SRI): evidence and knowledge gaps
Agric. Syst.
(2015) - et al.
Agricultural research for resource-poor farmers: the farmer-first-and-last model
Agric. Adm.
(1985) The systeme agraire concept in francophone peasant studies
Geoforum
(2012)- et al.
Are African households (not) leaving agriculture? Patterns of households’ income sources in rural sub-Saharan Africa
Food Policy
(2017) - et al.
System of Rice intensification provides environmental and economic gains but at the expense of social sustainability — a multidisciplinary analysis in India
Agric. Syst.
(2016) The system of rice intensification: time for an empirical turn
NJAS Wageningen J. Life Sci.
(2011)Village labor markets in Sheikan district, Sudan
World Dev.
(1994)- et al.
Where food is capital: labour allocation in cereals production, N.W. Mali
Agric. Syst.
(1993)
Improving irrigated rice production in the Senegal River valley through experiential learning and innovation
Agric. Syst.
The system of rice intensification: adapted practices, reported outcomes and their relevance in Cambodia
Agric. Syst.
The disappointing adoption dynamics of a yield-increasing, low external-input technology: the case of SRI in Madagascar
Agric. Syst.
Adoption, constraints and economic returns of paddy rice under the system of rice intensification in Mwea, Kenya
Agric. Water Manag.
Modified rice cultivation in Tamil Nadu, India: yield gains and farmers’ (lack of) acceptance
Agric. Syst.
Productivity impacts of the system of rice intensification (SRI): a case study in West Bengal, India
Agric. Water Manag.
A review of agricultural research issues raised by the system of rice intensification (SRI) from Madagascar: opportunities for improving farming systems for resource-poor farmers
Agric. Syst.
More Rice for People, More Water for the Planet
System of rice intensification: exploring the level of adoption and problems of discontinuance
Int. Rice Res. Notes
Family values, land sales and agricultural commodification in south-eastern Ghana
Africa
Not Your Average Job: Measuring Farm Labor in Tanzania. Policy Research Working Papers. [online] The World Bank
Land rights issues in Africa: the contribution of agrarian systems research in Burkina Faso
J. Peasant Stud.
Better technology, better plots, or better farmers? Identifying changes in productivity and risk among Malagasy rice farmers
Am. J. Agric. Econ.
Poverty and the poor
Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change
From peasant studies to agrarian change
J. Agrar. Chang.
Production conditions in Indian agriculture: a study based on farm management surveys
The economic impact of agricultural extension: a review
Econ. Dev. Cult. Chang.
Qualitative research: a grounded theory example and evaluation criteria
J. Agribusiness
Agrarian class structure and economic development in pre-industrial Europe
Past Present
Devisenkursstatistik - Januar 2016
The new technology, class formation and class action in the Indian countryside
J. Peasant Stud.
Rural Development Tourism: Poverty Unperceived
Idioms of Accumulation: Rural Development and Class Formation Among Freeholders in Zimbabwe
Comparative Agriculture
Sharecropping in non-traditional agro-export production: the Abougnon contract for pineapple cultivation in Côte d’Ivoire
Eur. J. Dev. Res.
A history of farming systems research
Ending Extreme Poverty in Rural Areas: Sustaining Livelihoods to Leave no One behind
Rice-based production systems for food security and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa
Int. Rice Comm. Newsl.
Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can It Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? [online] The World Bank
Negotiating Access to Land in West Africa: A Synthesis of Findings from Research on Derived Rights to Land
An economic analysis of modern rice production technology and its adoption behaviour in Tamil Nadu
Agric. Econ. Res. Rev.
Niger: Small-scale and simple for sustainability
Agricultural labour productivity and industrialisation: lessons for Africa
J. Afr. Econ.
Micro irrigation-based vegetable farming for income, employment and food security in West Africa
Farming Systems and Poverty: Improving Farmers’ Livelihoods in a Changing World
Evaluation of system of rice intensification (SRI) for enhanced rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in the Guinea Savannah zone of Ghana
Curr. Agric. Res. J.
FAO framework on rural extreme poverty: Towards reaching Target 1.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Adoption of agricultural innovations in developing countries: a survey
Econ. Dev. Cult. Chang.
AW: Trainierte Personen SRI (Re: persons trained in SRI)
Cited by (4)
Surveying the Evidence on Sustainable Intensification Strategies for Smallholder Agricultural Systems
2023, Annual Review of Environment and ResourcesClimate change adaptation options to inform planning of agriculture and food systems in The Gambia: A systematic approach for stocktaking
2022, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems