The demand for rice on the world market is constantly growing. However, despite the Green Revolution, production levels are insufficient to meet demand. Irrigated rice production is carried out by millions of farmers around the world. The technique is based on an almost permanent flooding of rice paddies, which makes it an enormous source of methane production. As a result of increasing population pressure and the frequent lack of land and water, other cropping systems will have to be used in order to increase rice production. The intensive rice farming system developed in Madagascar in 1983 by Fr. Henri de Laulanié is innovative, and can considerably increase productivity without the need to add inputs, which are often expensive and difficult for small-scale farmers to access.

This technology is also available in: English (ID7666)