Potential of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to Contribute to the Policy Objectives: Paradigm of Three-Tier Approach in Southern Telangana—A Case Study of Narayanpet

A programme effort for SRI impact assessment has been undertaken in 20 project villages in the Narayanpet block. The villages have been pooled under four clusters, for which quantitative and qualitative analyses have been carried out on water usage, input cost, plant growth, farmer group collectivization, gross and net returns of SRI, and conventional paddy cultivation. The result shows that significant water saving was achieved for SRI, i.e., 8586 m 3 ∙ha −1 under tubewell irrigation over conventional. This approximation has served as an auxiliary to the number of pumping hours and number of irrigation days that have been reduced for SRI. Less utilisation of water and distance maintained in SRI has benefited in reducing the biotic and abiotic stress caused by snails and nutrient deprivation, respectively. The total yield for a sampled number of SRI farmers has been found to have a 22% increase for the total expenditure difference of Rs. 6153, i.e., 13% less than conventional paddy farmers, which highly impacts the SRI farmers’ net income, i.e., 69% more than the conventional returns. The SRI method has a lower labour deployment of 8 people/ha than the conventional method, which requires 16 people/ha with a constant price of Rs 250/person. Input cost saving in these two categories has ranked top and has fetched maximum production efficiency among the others. The seed cost at a fixed price of 32 Rs/kg was significantly (87%) reduced for SRI as 8 kg per ha was required rather than the conventional that required 62 kg/ha. Social benefits were listed based on the qualitative analysis and were transformed using the theory of planned behaviour.


Introduction
Rice is a predominantly grown staple crop in the southern parts of India, which constitutes about 2.77 million ha with a production of 98.74 lakh metric tons, making Telangana stand out at ninth position in the area and eighth position in production [1]. Production has been increasing for the past five years, despite the fact that the amount of an area was fairly marginalised during 2017-2018 (see Figure 1). The estimated area has increased remarkably to eight lakh ha during 2019-2020, which is attributable to the irrigation facilities provided by the Government of Telangana through 38 major and minor projects, along with mission Kakatiya, Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS), and tank system [2].
However, the productivity has been remained stable or decreased due to poor linkage of irrigation and drainage systems under government programmes like the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), whose foremost strategy relies on hybrid rice technology and fertilizer application, i.e., macro and micro. Second, captivation of Conventional management practices by the farmers and policy-driven non-farm mechanization [3].

Methods
The system of rice intensification as explained above consists of a series of practices that begin with systematic land preparation followed by Harrowing and leveling as conventional practice. Transplanting seedlings of 8 -16 (DAS) old i.e. two-leaf stage at 25 cm (length ×breadth) in a square spacing method with an elastic tape-marked rope. One to three seedlings per hill, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation followed by mechanical weeding (1 -3) using a rotary weeder before canopy closure. Total 120 farmers were pooled under 4 clusters as each cluster contains 5 villages and those practices and results are studied were thus comparable (Table 1).
SRI data was collected during the crop season, whereas conventional data was collected at the end of the season. The total mean area under the sampled rice crop was 0.27, of which SRI constitutes approximately 0.14 ( Table 2), which is non-significant to conventional practice because the farmers sampled for this study are small to marginal landholders who are highly ambiguity intolerant during the project's early days. As a result, SRI practice was implemented in a very small amount of land, i.e. 0.025 -0.050 acres, for which they have observed impeccable results, as explained in this article whereas for an area expansion in subsequent years is not depicted. This study has investigated the Environmental impacts by measuring the number of pumping and irrigation hours as proxy variables for water saving in SRI and conventional management practices. Economic impacts measured were based on cost savings on seed quantity, fertilizer application, and labor deployment, which are directly proportional to the net returns on production efficiency. Congenial relations among adjacent field

Results and Discussion
Environmental impacts Table 3 displays the findings from rabi 2019, Kharif, and rabi 2020 based on interviews with two farmer groups (20 members in each group comprise the same size of the bore wells operated by a 5HP submersible motor) and four cluster coordinators. The amount of water used to irrigate one hectare was calculated using the borewell discharge capacity of 3 lit/sec, which is a crude approximation, so a margin of error has been considered. However, the significant difference found between SRI and conventional practice was during the active tillering stage at around the first and second weeding and booting (Panicle development) to flowering stage serves as a reasonable approximation and auxiliary to the estimated pumping hours and irrigations. These findings are consistent with [6] [7] in which the potential of SRI serves in reducing the quantum of ter-saving technology was adopted. Figure 2 depicts the water applied at each growth stage of a crop, with the cumulative water requirement for SRI being less at active tillering to panicle initiation without compromising tiller count, which may be due to a reduction in soil hypoxia, which further facilitates root proliferation [8] [9].
SRI paddy, on the other hand, had a much taller and stronger root system than the conventional weak root system (Figure 3). This could be due to improved nutrient access and increased soil biota, which are facilitated by timely weed management and soil loosening with the help of a cono weeder (a mechanical practice carried out between the rows of SRI paddy fields every 15 days) [6] [10]. This operation is convenient only in fields with plant spacings ranging from 20 × 20 to 25 × 25 cm, and it also allows for easy identification of pests and diseases.
According to a farmer named Ramulu from one of the project villages called Abhangapur: The severity of the snail attack at the collar region of the SRI paddy was reduced during the first 30 -45 DAT, which is normally a susceptible stage for snail attack because paddy leaves are very slender. This could be related to the fact that less water was used for SRI, causing snails to hibernate.

Economic impacts
The ultimate derivative for capital gains is resource optimization at the farm level, which can be achieved only if one can keep up with their records. Table 4 Figure 2. Water applied at each growth stage of a crop: different letters indicate the significant difference whereas the same letters indicate the non-significant difference between SRI and conventional plots.    Table 5). In particular, the seed cost at a fixed price of 32 Rs/kg for SRI was significantly (−87 percent) lower as 8 kg per ha was required as opposed to 62 kg/ha for conventional. Labour deployment for weeding has usually been more for direct-seeded without puddled fields than transplanted puddled fields regardless of the distance maintained between the rows. However,  Harvesting costs were calculated for both cases based on the number of machinery hours used by farmers who used this method. Farmers who have adopted manual harvesting with the assistance of labour deployment have not been included, but the consequences are discussed.
Manual harvesting is advantageous in terms of proper cutting, which leaves field residue with less height and allows secondary tillage operations to be performed with ease and without straw being scattered in the field. However, labour availability, cost, and field conditions all play a significant role in implementation, whereas the machinery practice saves time but leaves more residue, affecting farmer time and traction efficiency. i.e., 69 percent higher than conventional returns. The fact that the SRI straw yield is lower than the conventional paddy yield indicates an improved harvest index (HI) ratio, which may contain some error due to difficulties in converting local measurements into a quantifiable total, but the results are consistent with farmer observations of the cultivation period. Figure 4 depicts a graphical representation of the capital difference between SRI and conventional paddy for the  Table 5. Figure 4. Representing the total amount spent on SRI and conventional paddy for which net and gross returns are received ha −1 .

Social impacts
In the project location, the promoting organisation has 211 functional farmer groups, with a total of 4220 farmers actively involved in sustainable agricultural interventions. A qualitative survey of 20 farmer groups was conducted to assess the effects of SRI on FGs collectivization (which includes significant savings, investment, utilisation, learning, and congenial relations) that strengthen their economic viability. This study classified adopters as low, partial, and full based on the adaptability of the SRI at the level of extent ( Figure 5). Accordingly, benefits were captured and analysed for seven farmer groups classified as low adopters shown in Figure 5. This means that the farmer group members who Table 6. Demonstrates farmer group collectivization and behavioural change as a result of SRI implementation: adapted from theory of planned behavior/reasoned action [11]. Note that an asterisk (*) denotes indecisiveness, a (**) denotes conferring responsibility to, and a (***) denotes assertion before and after implementation.  (Table 6). Nine farmer groups were classified as partial adopters, with average savings (Rs. 15,000 -20,000) and investment (Rs. 30,000 -31,500) that ameliorated overall behavioural change ( Table 6). In contrast, four groups of full adopters have been documented to practice SRI cultivation every season without fail, resulting in good savings, low investment costs, and assertive decision making (Table 6). Furthermore, it was discovered that farmer groups classified as

Conclusion and Policy Implications
This study assessed the significance of SRI in terms of water savings, input costs, plant growth, and social impacts, and discovered that the sampled number of characteristics is causing concern and wasting water, which, when combined with the pressure on sinking groundwater tables, makes water conservation less important in tubewell irrigation.
The approximation of water savings in this study is in line with the findings of [6], while input cost and plant growth parameters can be attributed to the ob- do not include family labour expenses, as some studies shows no significant difference in net returns when family labour is included [12]. If this study had included family labour at constant outside labour rates, the cost of SRI cultivation would have changed significantly, but the beneficial comparison between SRI and conventional practise would have remained constant. The common established belief about SRI is a labour-intensive method and associated with drudgery, but this analysis shows 60% reduction in labour cost which is the second highest contributor to total returns. Adjustments in the labour market for paddy cultivation have always resulted in two-way reflections at the village level, as deploying labour improves local employment while reducing labour intensity benefits smallholders [10]. Thus, policy and procedure compilations of the government, NGOs, SAUS, and other farmer cooperative societies should reform non-farm mechanisation towards farm mechanisation by facilitating custom hiring centres (CHCs) that support rural livelihoods through employment promotion.
The recuperation of self sufficiency in paddy cultivation is a policy debate for further maximization of the production [13]. Therefore, the findings of this study urge policymakers, FPOs, and other members of the farming community to comprehend the modified perceptions of SRI implementation and its consequences. Correlate them with the Farmer group (FGs) management-based strategy for collective decision making, which increases the chances of implementing crop diversification and, as a result, land productivity.
(WOTR). The authors are thankful to the W-CRes and Telangana RRC (WOTR) team for sharing their views and suggestions in writing up the study. The authors are also thankful to the Narayanpet block cluster coordinators for their assistance in conducting the survey and interviewing the farmers. The views and interpretations in this publication are those of the authors and routine disclaimer applies.