1.
IMPACT OF SYSTEM OF ROOT INTENSIFICATION
METHOD OF CROP CULTIVATION IN BIHAR

2.
About PRAN
 PRAN is a public charitable Trust under
Indian Trust Act 1882.
 PRAN grew out of PRADAN, Gaya
 Involved in SDTT-SRI Project and Livolink
Foundation research trials since 4 years
Mission- Enhancing food security through
Preservation and Proliferation of Rural
Resources and Nature

3.
OPERATIONAL DISTRICTS

4.
PROJECT BLOCKS IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS
11 Blocks in Gaya, 4 Blocks in
Nalanda and 2 Blocks in
Munger District

5.
PRAN TARGET GROUP: THE SMALL AND MARGINAL
FARMERS
 High rates of food insecurity and no cash availability
 Low productivity of major food security crops (rice, wheat).
 Average rice yield (Gaya): 1.6t/hec
 Average Wheat yield (Gaya):2t/hec
 Poor rain-fed and flood affected agriculture
 Very low Irrigation availability and lack of access to electricity; high
cost of diesel
 Poor and ineffective market infrastructure
 Weak agriculture supply chains especially for small and marginal
farmers
 Poor productivity of vegetable crops and insufficient processing
units
 Lack of support from government to poor and marginal farmers (SC
and OBC)

6.
PRAN STRATEGIES
 Awareness generating in communities
 Use of audio-visual (SRI film) and flex extension
materials/manuals
 Campaigning in villages by old experienced SRI
farmers
 Village meetings by PRAN staff for awareness,
motivation and adoption
 Associating with Government Extension and Research
Programs ( ATMA, KVK, Research Institutions, etc)
 Organizing workshops of various stakeholders: Block,
district, State, Agricultural universities and others
 Participating in Kisan Melas

7.
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT VILLAGE
RESOURCE PERSONS(A CRITICAL AND BASIC REQUIREMENT )
The best practiceners identified
by
Villagers/women CIGs/VO and
PRAN are trained
intensively in 3-4 phases
including:
 Motivational and Capacity
Building Training
 Technical Skills
 Learning by doing
 Repeated Engagement and

8.
PRAN’S APPROACH
 Pro-poor Incentives to VRPs
 Pro-women incentives to staff and VRPs
 Facilitating women CIGs/Vos/SHGs
 Weekly review and plan of operations
 Building on strengths in stakeholders
 Credit is to be given and not to be taken
 Collective ownership of successes and failures
 Giving priority to Emotional Quotient and minimal importance to
Intelligence Quotient
 Non-Negotiable - Maintaining Integrity at all levels
 Maintaining 75% motivational and 25% technical
 Panch S (satya, Samay, Seva,Sanskar and Samanta) and Panch J
(Jal,Jungle, Jameen, Janwar and Jan) (Principles of development
in to practice )

9.
ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY THROUGH APPROPRIATE
TECHNOLOGIES: SYSTEM OF ROOT INTENSIFICATION (SRI)
 Low external inputs (seed, fertilizers, water, labor)
to make this within reach of resource poor
families.
 High productivity to provide sufficient food grains
to small and marginal farmers
 Sustainability (maintaining soil carrying capacity
for future generations)
Root is the mouth of the plant – keep
that healthy
Enhanced root volume and weight than normal
method
Assumptions behind SRI method
(different from green revolution in
the country)

10.
PRINCIPLES OF SRI
1. Priming of seeds & planting material
2. Young age seedlings/sprouted seeds
3. Wider spacing
4. Single/Few/ seedlings/seeds
5. Use of Integrated Nutrient Management/organic/natural fertilizers
6. No standing water in field; keep soil moist
7. Interculture with weeders to aerate soil and improve root health
8. Surface sowing/transplanting
9. Providing space(pit) for roots to grow to maximum potential
10. Nutritional and microbial security to rhizosphere
11. Organic relationship of human with trees and plants
12. Emotional relationship of practiceners and farmers with the growth
stages of crops

11.
MAIN STEPS OF SRI PADDY
1. Prepare Seeds 4. No Flooding of Field
2. Young Age of Transplanting (10-14 days)
3. Single seedlings with wide spacing
5. Interculture with weeders
6. Natural fertilizers and pesticides

12.
IMPACT OF SRI IN FOOD-GRAINS AND OILSEEDS
 Achieving Food Security: Marginal and
poor families adopting SRI in Paddy and
wheat are getting secured food-grains.
 Earning Cash Income for Improved
Livelihood Security: The family adopting
SRI in Paddy, Wheat and oilseed
,Vegetables are getting surplus cash.

13.
PRAN HAS SUCCESSFULLY PILOTED SRI IN THE FOLLOWING CROPS-YIELD
ENHANCEMENT CERTIFIED BY SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS IN
VILLAGES
1. SRI Paddy enhancement by 100%
2. SRI Wheat enhancement by 50%
3. SRI Green gram enhancement by 50%
4. SRI- Tomato-Yield enhancement by 55%
5. SRI-Chili-Yield enhancement by 22%
6. SRI-Brinjal-Yield enhancement by 45%
7. SRI-EFY-Yield enhancement by 80%
8. SRI-Sugarcane-Yield enhancement by 85%
9. SRI-Rapeseed-Yield enhancement by 150%

14.
PRAN IS PILOTING SRI-ELEPHANT FOOT YAM (OL) WITH
MARGINAL FARMERS IN GAYA
 First Sri-Elephant Foot Yam crop in 2012
 Yield: 102.3 tons/ha under SRI vs. 25 tons/ha
farmers practice
 Market price 10 RS/kg plus long storage
capabilities to ensure good market price
 2013: 79 Farmers planted Elephant Foot Yam
 2014: Plan with 200 Families
High growth of shoot and
girth

15.
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS
A woman in her SRI plot
SRI-Chili Initial Stage
SRI Sugarcane
SRI-Chili Initial Stage
SRI-Brinjal

16.
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS CONTINUED ……
A VRP looking at SRI Tomato
HarvestingSRIRapeseed
64 panicles from 2 seeds of wheat
YoungSRIRapeseed
Young SRI Wheat Plant

17.
SRI-VICIA FABA BECOMING FAMOUS AMONG
SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS

18.
RESULT OF SRI-VEGETABLES(2012-13)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Tomato Brinjal Chill Cauliflower
Existing Yield(qn/acre)
SRI-Yield(qn/acre)

19.
PRAN FARMERS HIGHLIGHT “SRI VIDHI” IN GANDHI MAIDAN, GAYA
ON REPUBLIC DAY EVERY YEAR
VILLAGE RESOURCE PERSONS (VRPS) AND SMALL AND MARGINAL
FARMERS PARTICIPATING IN JHANKI. ALL WEAR YELLOW SARI AS
COLOR OF SRI VIDHI.

20.
TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED AND PRACTICED AT
PRAN PROJECT
1. SRI-implements: 3 –in-1 SRI vidhi weeder
2. Work on generations of SRI-Wheat seed drill
3. Tool for easy spacing used in SRI transplantation
4. Fertilizer (made by us and practiced by farmers):
Sripranamrit and Sribakaramrit
5. Bio-pesticide (made by farmers ) we learnt this from
Subhash Palekar
6. Locally manufactured sugarcane eye extractor after
procuring from N.Delhi
PRAN works in conjunction with partners(blacksmiths,company) to
develop technologies appropriate for marginal farmers in Bihar.

21.
EXAMPLES: PRAN TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Local Fertilizer and Bio-Pesticide
Production
3—in—1 SRI vidhi Weeder Tool for Spacing SRI Paddy
SRI-Sugarcane Eye extractor

22.
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT: SRI –SEED DRILL
PRAN is thrilled that after several generations of experimenting with SRI-
wheat direct seeders, a highly functional and low cost seeder was finally
completed in December 2013 by Kolkata based company Agro Vison. This
wheat-seeder significantly decreases the labor involved in SRI-wheat.
4th Generation SRI-Wheat Seeder:
80% Satisfaction Level
5th Generation SRI-Wheat Seeder: PRAN satisfied with
this version and will promote amongst farmers. Already
Received 30 at cost of Rs 4,000/-per machine

23.
LOCAL FUNGICIDES

24.
LOCAL PESTICIDE

25.
LOCAL MANURES

26.
ADOPTION OF SRI-PADDY WITH PRAN
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
2009-10 2010- 11 2011- 12 2012- 13 2013- 14
No. Of Families
Acre
Year 2009-10
(Drought
Year)
2010-11
(Drought
Year)
2011-12
Irregular
rainfall
2012-13
Rainfall in
August
2013-14
Drought Year
Families
5,994 5,217 18,764 26,142
10,249
(vs15,000 plan)
Percentage
Growth from
Pervious Year in
Number of
Families
N/A -12.96% 259.67% 39.32% - 60.79%
Acres 761 650 3,140.49 6,921.4 3349
Acres per Family 0.13 0.12 0.17 0.26
0.33 (vs0.30
planned)
Average Yield 7 t/ha 6 t/ha 6 t/ha 6.5 t/ha 5.97 t/ha

27.
RABI SRI CROPS
SRI
CROP
NO.
OF
FAMIL
IES IN
2012-
13
AREA
IN
ACRE
IN
2012-
13
Acrea
ge/far
mer in
2012-
13
NO.
OF
FAMIL
IES IN
2013-
14
AREA
IN
ACRE
IN
2013-
14
Acrea
ge/far
mer
in
2013-
14
SRI-
Wheat 7,368 782.98 0.11 5268 709.80 0.13
SRI-
Rapese
ed
3,205 336.21 0.10 1559 172.53 0.11
SRI-
Vegeta
bles
586 35 0.06 2212 137.45 0.06
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
SRI Wheat SRI Rapeseed SRI Vegetable
Family 2012-13
Area 2012-13
Family 2013-14
Area 2013-14
SRI Other Crops Acreage 0.10 vs planned
0.15 per family

28.
IMPACT ON MAIN STREAM INSTITUTIONS IN
SRI PROMOTION
 BRLPS promoting SRI-crops in all project
districts. Demonstration of SRI-Paddy by GoB in
5 lakh acre and promotion in 20 lakh acres. Also
promoting SRI-wheat all over state .
 Bihar got Krishi Karman Award for highest ever
production of Paddy in state in 2013
 Women farmers were used by government to
share their experiences and demonstrations in
all 38 districts
Former State minister ,GoI, Agatha Sangma
observing wheat closely
Agriculture minister, GoB, Dr. Narendra
Singh operating the manual seed drill
The chief minister(the then minister,Welfare, GoB
released SRI-rapeseed manual in a Cluster adhivesan

29.
PRAN FARMERS GOT AWARD AT NATIONAL LEVEL
 Santosh Kumar got award from Sri
Sharad Pawar (July2013)while Jayjeet
Kumar got award and a cash prize of
Rs 50000/- from Sri Narendra
Modi.(Sept 2013)
 PRAN got first prize from Bihar
Agricultural University for displaying
innovative and sustainable farming
practices in February 2014
 PRAN got award of Rs 10000.00 for
innovating SRI implements suitable for
small and marginal farmers from Bihar
Innovation Forum II. PD, Deputy PD ATMA, District consultant,
Department of Agriculture and block level
officials involved in yield estimation

30.
RESEARCHES ON SRI
• A farmer from Gaya had been helping
scientists at Indian Agriculture Research
Institute, New Delhi (IARI) to experiment SRI-
Paddy and Wheat since 2-3 years .
• Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
Patna (ICAR) is also getting good results in
wheat and Paddy
• Wheat Research Institute, Karnal (WRI), and
Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard, Bharatpur
asked for Package of Practices of SRI-crops
IRRAS Research Field in Mohanpur block,Gaya
IIRD,Hyderabad scientist in SRI-Brinjal
plot with district officials Research projects with Livolink
Foundation

31.
PRAN, JAIN IRRIGATION SYSTEMS LTD. & ALICIA
HARLEY , HARVARD UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION
ANU-DEVI SHOWS
COLLECTIVE ACCOUNT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Solar Powered Pump Provided By JAIN
Irrigation
JAIN Irrigation Staff learn from PRAN
Farmers, including VP Agronomy Dr. Soman
 2013 Piloted scheme to bring solar powered irrigation
and drip irrigation to seven farmers in Rajapur Village,
Gaya district Bihar
 1 solar powered pump and drip irrigation facilities
provided by JAIN Irrigation Systems Ltd.
 Farmer collective manages solar pump and drip
system– collecting Rs 20/-per hour to pay for future
repairs
 If successful, opportunities to scale this model under
consideration with support from JAIN and Harvard
University
Farmers signing collective agreement

32.
FOCUS : INCOME TO A HOUSEHOLD HAVING 0.5
ACRES/OWNED OR RENTED
Area of
Interventio
n
Output Amount(
Rs)
Remarks
SRI-Paddy 0.4 acres 13.2 qt grains
and 13.2 qt straw
17160 Securing foodgrains
to small and marginal
farmers
SRI-Wheat 0.3 acres 4.8 qt grains and
4.8 qts straw
6960 Securing foodgrains
to small and marginal
farmers
SRI-Rapeseed 0.2 acres 2 qt grains and 8
qts fuel wood
and broom(jharu)
8000 Used in household for
families and animals
and cash sell in
market
SRI-
Vegetables
0.3 acres -household
vegetable
consumption and
sell
20000 The family does SRI-
Vegetables in 0.1
acres for 3 seasons in
a year
For families taking land on