Conservation Agriculture (CA) and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) are both agroecologically-oriented production systems that support more productive, sustainable, and resource-conserving farming, with synergies arising from their respective assemblages of reinforcing agronomic methods. This review article examines the compatibility between CA and SRI, considering examples of their being utilized in complementary ways. The application of CA principles enhances the growth, yield, and performance of the crops grown under the cropping system as well as the health and resilience of the whole ecosystem. SRI practices create more favorable conditions for the development of crop plants below- and above-ground, including conditions that can be enhanced by CA management. SRI practices such as reduced plant density m⁻² can elicit a better phenotypic expression of the genetic potentials of crops grown with CA. For these two agronomic systems to converge at the field level, some of their respective practices for plant, soil, water, and nutrient management need to be modified or aligned. One such adaptation is to practice SRI in CA systems on permanent, no-till, mulch-covered raised beds, with rainfall or irrigation water in the furrows between the beds furnishing and controlling water and providing weed suppression and improved nutrient recycling. SRI rice cropping can benefit from the CA practices of no-tillage, mulch soil cover, and diversified cropping, both in paddies and on raised beds. Several examples have shown that this convergence of cropping systems is feasible for smallholding farmers as well as for larger-scale producers and also that SRI practices within a CA system are amenable to considerable mechanization. Further research and experimentation are needed to identify and assess appropriate practices for capitalizing upon their synergies.

After some 40 years since when Fr. Henri de Laulanié synthesized the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methodology, and after more than two decades of experts and practitioners working intensively to disseminate SRI around the world, the time is ripe for a general reflection on what has been done, and especially on how to move forward with the upscaling of SRI methods. This short paper builds on the work carried out by SRI-2030 which, despite being a very young initiative, thanks to the support of the experienced SRI-Rice group from Cornell University, has connected with SRI experts from multiple countries and with various stakeholders of the rice sector. As the international community recognizes the importance of more sustainable and eco-friendly rice production in terms of food security, less water consumption, and adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, concerted actions should be taken to boost the uptake of SRI, an agroecological practice that tackles all these issues and also improves farmers’ livelihoods. However, the diversity within the rice sector and the various context-related barriers to its optimization require diversified strategies. The challenges facing us are global, and a coordinated, collaborative approach is needed. SRI-2030 was established to be a facilitator for the support of synergies among stakeholders in the rice sector with the aim of boosting the upscaling of SRI methods up to 50 million hectares by 2030, to slow the pace of global warming and improve people’s well-being.