THE GOLDEN HOOF AND GREEN MANURE - MEAT: A Benign Extravagance - page 104

One such innovation which has attracted considerable attention is SRI rice, a system de-
veloped in Madagascar by Fr Henri de Laulanie, which involves transplanting seedlings
further apart so that the plants tiller outwards and develop more vigorous roots and fuller,
healthier shoots. The system is not inherently organic, but is usually practised using organ-
ic fertilizers. In Madagascar yields improved from around 3.5 tonnes per hectare to eight
tonnes, and the system has since been employed with success in about 20 countries, includ-
ing Laos, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and the Gambia. In China yields of 12 to 16 tonnes
have been reported, both by the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development
centre, and by the private sector Meishan Seed Company. 41
However, when the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) (the organization foun-
ded by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations which pioneered the green revolution with its
IR8 rice hybrid) tested the SRI method they found that there were no significant differences
between SRI and conventional cropping systems. 42 The results were reported in an article
in the scientific journal Nature , entitled 'Feast or Famine', in which the authors suggested
that SRI was a diversion from 'more promising approaches' such as genetic engineering,
and that 'SRI has no major role in improving rice production generally'. 43 This spat seems
to be another example of the Monbiot Maxim - that yield is a function of one's political
position.
In his book, Smil draws attention to one promising organic method of fixing nitrogen
from the atmosphere: 'Since the late 1950s monsoonal Asia has added an intriguing form
of green manuring by cultivating and distributing floating Azolla ferns [also called duck-
weed fern], which harbour N- fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena . Fern stocks are preserved
in nurseries for distribution to flooded fields where they could double their mass in just
a few days, producing sometimes more than one tonne per hectare of phytomass per day.
After the plantlets die and settle to the paddy bottom, their mineralized nitrogen helps to
raise rice yields in paddies.' 44 In 1980, China was reported to have 3.2 million acres of

paddy fertilized with Azolla . 45
A more recent report on the use of Azolla as a nitrogen fertilizer comes from the Journal
of the North Eastern Council , in Shillong, India, where, we are informed, 'farmers have
apathy in using chemical fertilizers'. The report states that 10 to 12 tonnes of Azolla ma-
nure per hectare reduces nitrogen fertilizer requirement by 30 to 35 kg, suppresses weeds
and prevents water evaporation. Azolla is also a good feed for fish, and when dried can be
fed to poultry. 46
The problem with Smil's analysis is that, although he allows that synthetic nitrogen has
its downside, he doesn't examine whether things could have been done differently. The
acknowledgements at the front of Enriching the Earth give credit to corporations such as
BASF, and industry bodies such as the International Fertilizer Development Centre - but