Norman Uphoff, Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), called the Système de Riziculture Intensive in French, was developed through the work of Fr. Henri de Laulanié, S.J., who lived in Madagascar from 1961 until his death in 1995. Having been trained in agriculture at the National School of Agriculture (ENA) in France before World War II, he brought a basic knowledge of agricultural science to the task of raising rice production, but most of what he learned about rice was learned from working closely with farmers and from observing rice plants very closely. He regarded the rice plant as his teacher, “mon maitre” (Laulanié 1993)