Usuario:Hokand/Taller

El sistema intensivo del cultivo de arroz (también conocido como SICA, o por su acrónimo ingleza, SRI) es una metodología para el crecimiennto de la cosecha de arroz en agricultura. Es un sistema que usa menos agua, requiere trabajo intensivo, es orgánico, y usa plantas de semillero más jovenes espaciados solos, y la deshierba por mano con instrumentos especiales. Fue desarollado en 1983 por el padre jesuita francés Henri de Laulanié en Madagascar^[1] Sin embargo, el examen y la propagación del sistema por todas partes del mundo que produce arroz no ocurió hasta algunos años después, con la ayuda de universidades como Cornell.

Historia e ideas centrales del SICA

Los prácticos que resultaron al SICA empezaron en los años 1960 por las observaciones de Henri de Laulanie. Principales incluía applicando les included applying a minimum quantity of water and the individual transplanting of very young seedlings in a square pattern.^[1]

Los conceptos y la practica del SICA continua su evolución, porque ahora son adaptandose por areas secanos y con la conditions and with transplanting being superseded by direct-seeding sometimes. The central principles of SRI according to Cornell University, New York are:^[2]

La tierra del arrozal debe should be kept moist rather than continuously saturated, minimizing anaerobic conditions, as this improves root growth and supports the growth and diversity of aerobic soil organisms.
Rice plants should be planted singly and spaced optimally widely to permit more growth of roots and canopy and to keep all leaves photosynthetically active.
Rice seedlings should be transplanted when young, less than 15 days old with just two leaves, quickly, shallow and carefully, to avoid trauma to roots and to minimize transplant shock.

La propagación del SICA

The spread of SRI from Madagascar to around the globe has been credited to Norman Uphoff, former director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York from 1990 to 2005. In 1993, Uphoff met officials from Association Tefy Saina, the non-governmental organisation set up in Madagascar in 1990 by de Laulanie to promote SRI. After seeing the success of SRI for three years when Malagasy farmers previously averaging 2 tons/hectare averaged 8 tons/hectare with SRI, Uphoff became persuaded of the merits of the system, and in 1997 started to promote SRI in Asia. Uphoff estimates that by 2013 the number of smallholder farmers using SRI had grown to between 4 and 5 million.^[3]

Evaluación del SICA

Proponents and critics of SRI debate the claimed benefits and many questions about it remain unresolved.^[4] Wageningen University has also published an article discussing the challenges of evaluating SRI in which one concluding sentence read: "Although the technical aspects of SRI have been contested, it clearly exists as a real social phenomenon".^[5]

The question at hand seems to be: is SRI better at delivering increased yield and other benefits to rice farmers, such as healthier soils, when compared with established recommended best management practices for rice production?

Instances del éxito

Proponents of SRI claim its use increases yield, saves water, reduces production costs, and increases income and that benefits have been achieved in 40 countries.^[6] Uphoff published an article in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability that states that SRI "can raise irrigated rice yields to about double the present world average without relying on external inputs, also offering environmental and equity benefits".^[7]

A special issue on SRI in the non-SCI scientific journal Paddy and Water Environment collected recent findings in support of SRI.^[8]

In 2011 a young farmer named Sumant Kumar set an unverified and uncontrolled new world record in rice production of 22.4 tons per hectare using SRI, beating the existing world record held by the Chinese scientist Yuan Longping by 3 tons.^[3]^[9]^[10]

Criticismo

The productivity of SRI is under debate between supporters and critics of the system. Critics of SRI suggest that claims of yield increase in SRI are due to unscientific evaluations. They object that there is a lack of details on the methodology used in trials and a lack of publications in the peer-reviewed literature.^[11]^[12] Some critics have suggested that SRI success is unique to soil conditions in Madagascar.^[13]