Global firms form 'good rice alliance' for Indian farmers

Four big global companies -- Bayer, GenZero (a wholly-owned arm of financial major Temasek), Shell and Mitsubishi -- have decided to scale up their carbon credit programme in nine states to empower farmers.

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

The credits are generated through the adoption of smart agriculture practices -- Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR).

Since over a year, the project, which was being run on a pilot basis, has positively impacted 10,000 farmers, covering more than 25,000 hectares. Bayer and Mitsubishi are global leaders in the agriculture space while Shell is big in energy.

Called 'The Good Rice Alliance,' the pilots so far have already generated around 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) methane emission reductions annually from agriculture, according to an official statement.