Empowering farmers to become active participants in sustainable rice production processes

Manila, Philippines (17 October 2023) — Private sector representatives attending the 6th International Rice Conference (IRC 2023) discussed how climate financing initiatives supported by Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) methodologies can help farmers access financial support to become active participants in sustainable rice production processes.

In line with the theme of IRC 2023, Gene to Globe , Bill Salas, Chief Strategy Officer at Regrow Ag, cited MRV as a prime example of technology that influences changes in the rice industry from gene to satellites.

Culture and varying agronomic conditions heavily affect data at the farm level, according to Mr. Salas. In addition, data from smallholder farmers can be really specific which means that constantly varying conditions can significantly change. It is important that MRVs are cognizant of these uncertainties and that they be flexible to accommodate them so that they can continue to evolve and make the impact of farmer-provided data more understandable to farmers themselves.

Regrow Ag has been supporting farmers’ decision-making at field level through AgResults where they use satellite equipment and capture radars to collect high-quality data that then eliminates uncertainties in MRV caused by varying rice landscapes.

“Farmers are at the center of these initiatives,” said Salas. “Impacts of sustainable practices can be exciting in theory but in reality, it is important that farmers understand their climate impact. This is so they are more encouraged to adopt sustainable agricultural techniques.”

Rice cultivation is one of the biggest sources of methane ) gas in the agriculture sector. However, it also has the highest mitigation potential which makes it a promising crop for reducing GHG emissions.

“If you want to talk about climate impact you need good quality data to support your claims,” said AgriG8 CEO…