A farmer in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has set a new record in rice production using the system of rice intensification (SRI) method. Mr. Sethumadhavan from Alanganallur produced a bumper harvest of 24 tonnes of paddy per hectare, according to Jaisingh Gnanadurai, joint director of agriculture in Tamil Nadu. SRI originated in Madagascar 30 years ago and is based on four main cropping principles: Transplanting seedlings to the field at a very young stage; reducing plant density to allow the optimal development of each plant; enriching soils with organic matter; and reducing and controlling water application. The method is more labour-intensive but needs fewer seeds and less chemical fertiliser which is why it has received little support from agribusiness. Sethumadhavan, who has been a farmer for 15 years, said he used the common CR 1009 rice seed, a variety which usually does not produce more than six tonnes per hectare. The farmer ploughed the green manure crop Daincha into the soil as organic manure and only topped up the nutrient supply with some inorganic fertilizer. He alternated between wet and dry conditions, did not allow water to stagnate and used only a hand-pushed kono-weeder. “This is a state record. The Tamil Nadu government has advocated a second green revolution by using more organic fertiliser and less inorganic fertilizer,“ Gnanadurai said. Norman Uphoff, professor at Cornell University and a keen promoter of SRI, put the record harvest into perspective by saying that not too much attention should be given to statistical “outliers“. “[It is] averages that feed hungry people and raise farmers out of poverty, not records,“ he told The Guardian.