Comment to 'The System of Rice Intensification: Time for an empirical turn', [NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 57 (2011) 217-224]

摘要

An article published a year ago in NJAS considered reasons for the controversy amongst agricultural scientists regarding the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), proposing that an integrated, socio-technical perspective on agricultural innovation be employed to gain a better understanding of SRI and other such innovations [1]. While the article offered many useful insights, its being subtitled ‘Time for an empirical turn’ suggested that the controversy derives crucially from a paucity of empiricism regarding SRI. In fact, much more evidence on SRI has been available from the outset than sceptics or critics have been willing to acknowledge. This raises questions not considered in [1] about why such evidence was ignored or dismissed.