Felis’s Innovations in SRI rice techniques – Number 1

Felis and his gigantic seedling nursery

Gee, we have some creative problem solvers on our staff at MCE-A! Felis Bere, SRI Implementation leader, had a problem. Lots of rice seeds to germinate and later plant out. To build the usual bamboo nursery frames was time consuming for cooperative members and everything would have to be transferred to the fields for transplanting – more work! Plus he needed enough seedlings for 8 hectares of rice fields. Here is his solution. These frames are placed on existing rice field land. The trays of seedling plants can be easily picked up and taken to another location for translanting, and the trenches of water keep the bugs away. This nursery will produce enough rice seedlings for 8 hectares of SRI rice in Sekar, Maliana. That’s 32 tonnes of rice soon to hit Timorese tummies!