The System of Rice Intensification known as SRI – also as le Systéme de Riziculture Intensive in French and la Sistema Intensivo de Cultivo Arrocero (SICA) in Spanish - is a methodology for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice cultivation by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients. SRI practices lead to healthier, more productive soil and plants by supporting greater root growth and by nurturing the abundance and diversity of soil organisms. The agroecological principles that contribute to SRI effectiveness have good scientific bases. SRI concepts and methods have been successfully adapted to upland unirrigated rice, and they are now being extrapolated to other crops like millet, wheat and sugar cane.

On 23 January 2009, a number of experts and practitioners met at IFAD to discuss the pros and cons of SRI.

• Modern farming and rural poverty:  Pros and cons of SRI, by Willem A. Stoop
• The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), by Norman Uphoff, CIIFAD
• SRI: Achieving More With Less: A Learning Tool for Knowledge Dissemination, Mei Xie, World Bank Institute
• The system of rice intensification (SRI) in Rwanda, by Jonas Bavugamenshi National Coordinator of Union of Rice Cooperatives (UCORIRWA)
• International rice commission, by FAO