The System of Rice Intensification is an alternative to the traditional way of flooded rice cultivation and is showing promise in addressing the problems of water scarcity, high energy usage and environmental degradation. The SRI method involves synergy of five important farm management techniques. Vibhu Nayar V. K. Ravichandran The global community is faced with two challenges this millennium; one, the increased scarcity of water as seen from the droughts in Australia, parts of Asia and Europe and, two, the demand-supply mismatch in the availability of cereals such as rice, exacerbated by galloping prices. This is all the more critical in Asia, where 90 per cent of the world's rice is grown and consumed. World Development Indicators The availability and efficient utilisation of fresh water resource is a major constraint on agricultural growth. The Table illustrates the gap between the natural resource availability and utilisation levels in Asia. On the one hand, Asia is constrained by resource gap and, on the other, socio-cultural practices encourage water guzzling crops. In India, rice alone accounts for 85 per cent of the water consumed in agriculture. It is estimated that by 2025, an area of 17mha under rice in Asia cultivation will face water scarcity, concomitant with global shortfall in production of over 200 million tonnes. Some of these trends are manifesting in India as well, with stagnating yields and decreasing coverage of rice from 44.6 mha in 2000-01 to 41.9 mha in 2004-05. An IFPRI report also indicates that there has been a 21 per cent drop in cereal consumption over the last 25 years. Since rice is such a crucial crop for Asia, the challenge is to improve its water utilisation efficiency and productivity. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is an emerging solution to these challenges. This method is an alternative to the traditional way of flooded rice cultivation and is showing promise in addressing the problems of water scarcity, high energy usage (40 per cent saving) and environmental degradation. SRI is a synergy of five important management techniques. It encompasses careful transplanting of 14-day young seedlings at wider spacing (23x23cm) on a square with only one seedling per hill, water management that keeps the soil moist but not continuously flooded