Frere Chatillon 29  

Philosopher and priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

The SRI methodology was synthesized in the early 1980s by Fr. Henri de Laulanié, S.J., who came to Madagascar from France in 1961 and spent the next (and last) 34 years of his life working with Malagasy farmers to improve their agricultural systems, and particularly their rice production, since rice is the staple food in Madagascar. Rice provides more than half the daily calories consumed in Madagascar, a sign of the cultural and historic significance of rice to Malagasies, but also an indication of their poverty. Fr. Laulanié want to help farmers improve their productivity without being dependent on external inputs because Malagasy households had so little purchasing power.

Fr. de Laulanié (above) established an agricultural school in Antsirabe in 1981 to help rural youths gain an education that was relevant to their vocations and family needs. Though SRI was "discovered" in 1983, benefiting from some serendipity, it took some years to gain confidence that these methods could consistently raise production so substantially. In 1990, together with a number of Malagasy colleagues, Fr. Laulanié established an indigenous non-governmental organization (NGO), named Association Tefy Saina, to work with farmers, other NGOs, and agricultural professionals to improve rural production and livelihoods in Madagascar.