Implementation of the Intensive Rice System Project

Implementation of the Intensive Rice System Project

The rice production has a strategic importance for the food security of the Dominican people. This is why the country, as a way of seeking alternatives and management and production mechanisms to achieve higher levels of production with the use of less input, has been, since 2015, supporting the development of the project "Growing more with less: Adaptation, validation and promotion of Intensive Rice Farming System (SICA) in the Americas as a response to climate change." This project, which is developed with financial resources from the FONTAGRO Program is implemented in both Colombia and the Dominican Republic ending in December 2017. In the Dominican Republic, the counterpart institution for its implementation is the Dominican Institute of Agricultural and Livestock Research (IDIAF) and the National Council for Agricultural Research (CONIAF).

During the period from April 18 to 21, 2017, a technical mission with the objective of carrying out follow-up and monitoring activities in the implementation of the project in the country. The purpose of this visit was to obtain the participation of the specialists in training workshops for technicians and producers, as well as presentations on the progress and overall results of the project to date, and at the same time, the process of implementation of the project in the validation plots of SICA in the country.

Two workshops were developed: one at the Juma Experimental Station, Bonao, Monseñor Noel Province and the second at Ranchito, Province of La Vega with the participation of 20 technicians and 34 producers from the following entities: Ministry of Agriculture, IDIAF, Instituto Agrario Dominican Republic (IAD) and producers in the area.

The visitors had the opportunity to exchange views and experiences with producers from Juma, Bonao and Ranchito, in La Vega Province, where demonstration plots are currently being installed in use of SICA, as well as how to receive experiences from producers of the Hacienda Estrella in the province of Santo Domingo Norte, where producers not listed in the project have adopted the rice production modality using the SICA as low density mechanized sowing model.

At the end of the visit, the mission expressed its satisfaction with the progress of the project in the country and urged technicians and producers to maintain a systematic workflow and collection of the field information recommended in the basic protocols, in order to guarantee the reliability of the results to be obtained and to ensure that they obey the guidelines set forth in the project objectives, allowing, if these results prove to be positive, a future empowerment in the use of this system by the small and medium-sized rice producers.