Rice farmers are among the world's most vulnerable to climate change impacts such as rising sea levels, salinity, temperature rise, drought and flooding.
Rice is the daily staple for more than 3.5 billion people, accounting for 19% of dietary energy globally.-IRRI
SRP 10th Annual Plenary and Virtual Rice Week
Register now for "Rice, Resilience and Transformation": a week-long virtual event, which aims to discuss collaborative and innovative approaches in transforming the global rice sector.
The event, which also incorporates an Extraordinary General Assembly of Members, is convened as an annual gathering of SRP members and partners to discuss approaches and experiences of SRP members in adopting sustainable best practices in rice cultivation and in scaling impact among rice smallholders and stakeholders.
Delegates will include SRP members and representatives from governmental and international organizations, research institutes, private sector actors and civil society, as well as service providers, development partners and financial actors.
A series of webinar-style events will be held via an integrated web platform that will serve as a portal to access the event. With approximately 20 hours of webinar time dedicated to thematic topics, the daily sessions will feature a mix of keynotes, plenaries and panel discussions.
If you wish to contribute in any of these areas, please contact: namitha.bhat@gpj.com
SRP Assurance Scheme
The SRP Assurance Scheme and on-pack eco-label enables consumers to choose sustainable rice. By stocking SRP-verified rice, food retailers can make significant and measurable contributions to sustainability commitments and climate change targets. Industry actors will also be able to de-risk their supply chains and ensure stability by sourcing through SRP-verified suppliers.
The scheme is managed by GLOBALG.A.P., which oversees approval of qualified Verification Bodies responsible for third party auditing of producers and producer groups according to the SRP Standard.
Employing best practices in rice farming can reduce water use by some 20% and methane emissions from flooded rice fields by up to 50%. Farmers also benefit - switching to SRP practices can boost farmers’ net incomes by 10-20%. With 90% of the world’s 144 million rice producers living on or near the poverty line, this can make the difference between a secure livelihood and a family going hungry.
SRP Assurance Scheme Version 1.3
SRP Brand Manual (August 2020)
We are also pleased to announce approval of three normative documents relating to implementation of the SRP Assurance Scheme launched in September. These are as follows:
2. Chain of Custody (CoC) Policy and Standard v 1.0
3. SRP Assurance Scheme v1.3 Information Note No 1: Audit Guidelines
All three of these documents have been approved by the SRP Board on 9 December 2020, following a period of extensive stakeholder consultation, including a 30-day open public consultation for IMS and CoC documents, and come into effect immediately. We’re most grateful to all members of the SRP Chain of Custody Task Force, our members and external dialogue partners, particularly Oxfam, for your many suggestions and valuable guidance.
For transparency, we documented all changes resulting from the open public consultation - available upon request from the Secretariat. Summaries of the substantive changes to the IMS and Chain of Custody Standard documents are available here.
Summary of Changes SRP CoC Policy and Standard v1.0
Summary of Changes SRP IMS Standard v1.0
Finally, we are working on additional guidance to support implementation of the IMS Standard; this will be available in the coming weeks.
Let's talk about Sustainable Rice
Your voice matters - commit to #ChooseSustainableRice and share your rice story with us on Instagram (@srp_rice)!
Our online awareness campaign aims to broaden public awareness of the positive economic, environmental and social benefits of sustainable rice through the use of augmented reality (AR) on Instagram camera filters.
Through the campaign, we hope to connect with youth and online communities to promote a shift to sustainable rice production and consumption to combat hunger and climate change.