Spanish food company Ebro Foods has announced it is partnering with the Thai government, Mars Food,, and a German governmental agency to improve economic and social conditions for local farmers as well as adopt a new rice cultivation system to mitigate climate change.
The project, dubbed 'Sustainable Hom Mali Rice', is set to run from 2018 until 2020 and should support more than 1,200 Thai rice producers from 12 different rice centres in the Roi Et province (or changwat) of Thailand.
The goal of the programme is the production of 3,500 metric tonnes of Hom Mali rice, while reducing chemicals and lowering the environmental impact of rice production culture.
Improving Production Conditions
According to the 'Sustainable Rice Plaftorm', a UN-supported partnership which is the basis of the initiative, rice culture uses more than a third of the world’s irrigation water for production. This reality exposes Southeast Asian farmers to events caused by climate change, such as rising sea levels, salinity, temperature rise, drought and flooding.
The adhesion to such a standard is highlighted by Mars Food's Sineenart Chuichulcherm, global commercial director, who commented,"This initiative is part of Mars Food’s journey to source rice from farmers working towards the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) standard.
"In 2016, Mars Food reached an important milestone and now all basmati rice is sourced from farmers working towards the SRP standard - representing 10 percent of our overall rice volume."
Developing Sustainable Rice
For Ignacio Yuste Sanchez, regional managing director for Herba Bangkok (a division of Ebro Foods), the agreement shows the brand's commitment to improving sustainability. "This project forms part of our commitment to sustainability in the sector, since Thailand plays a major role in the group’s rice supply chain," he said.
Speaking for the Thai government, Anan Suwannarat, general director of the Thai rice department, said, "Hom Mali rice has been declared the world's best rice and Thailand is one of the world's leading rice exporters, yet rice farmers are among the lowest earners in the country's agriculture sector.
"Many Thai rice farmers face rising production costs and fluctuating prices. Under this project, we will join forces in developing a sustainable quality of rice."
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
