Value-added biological system of rice intensification (sri) for improved economics and environmental health: an economic case study from northern Thailand

Rice is a staple food of many parts of the world, with Thailand consistently in the top 3 global rice exporters. However, due to the practice of costly input utilization over several decades, the sustainability and biological backbone of rice production has deteriorated around the country, pushing many Thai farmers to use more synthetic chemical inputs and go into greater debt. The current study presents the case of a northern Thai rice farmer who learned and began practicing an alternative system of rice production (SRI- System of Rice Intensification), which has resulted in reduced costly inputs, improved rice production, improved environmental health, and improved economics.