Contesting crop sciences: A critical examination of alternative knowldge claims in rice production

Scientific explanations of crop production offered by crop sciences contributed to remarkable progress in the productivity levels of various food and non-food crops. The cognitive authority of science of crop production derived from the modern-scientific rationality, however, claimed to have obscured alternative, competing, reflexive knowledge claims in agriculture for a very long time. Moving beyond the linear model of modern science, alternatives to crop production have started to emerge outside the scientific institutional realm. One such example is the system of rice intensification (SRI) that emerged in the precincts of civil society. SRI offers alternative explanations on the biotic agents of rice cultivation such as rice plant, soil, and abiotic agents such as water, light and nutrients and thus demands for re-examination of assumptions of science of crop production. Considered as a civil society innovation SRI claims authority on the grounds of it’s pro-poorness in comparison to modern rice cultivation strategies.  Interspersed with empirical evidence, the present paper attempts at deciphering the contesting knowledge claims in rice cultivation and examines the evolution of SRI and its adoption in India.