Live Webinar Details

Date: 30 October 2024
Time: 09:00 AM CET (UTC+1)/3:00 PM ICT (UTC+7)
Venue: MS Teams webinar (online)

What to Expect

Join Trusti Yuni Widiastuti, SRP Standard & Assurance Manager, for a live demonstration and Q&A session where you’ll learn how to:

• Create and record SRP rice processing.
• Request a Transaction Certificate, including for multiple shipments.
• Monitor and manage your SRP-verified inventory.
• Inquire about label and claim assessments through the platform.

Speaker

Trusti Yuni Widiastuti, SRP Standard and Assurance Manager

Why You Should Attend

This is a key opportunity to get hands-on experience with SRP RiceTrace and ensure you’re ready for its full launch. Don’t miss out!

How to Join

This live session is exclusive to SRP members. A registration link will be sent to all members via email. For any assistance or additional information, please contact us at assurance@sustainablerice.org.

Reminder: Register for Our Upcoming Conference

Be sure to register for the SRP Global Sustainable Rice Conference & Exhibition 2024, where you can connect with industry experts, explore SRP RiceTrace in person, and gain deeper insights into sustainable rice production.

We look forward to your active participation and helping you maximize the benefits of SRP RiceTrace. For any questions or further information, please contact us at assurance@sustanablerice.org.

Live Webinar Details

Date: Thu, 26 September 2024
Time: 3:00 PM ICT (UTC+7)/10:00 AM CET (UTC+1)
Venue: MS Teams webinar (online)

During the sessions, we will cover:

RiceTrace Processing Features for Participating Operators:
Explore the key tools and functions within the SRP RiceTrace, including how to efficiently manage, track, and verify the SRP-verified rice transactions and inventory.

Issuing Transaction Certificates:
Learn the step-by-step process for issuing Transaction Certificates, including the requirements and significance behind them.

Interactive Q&A

Speaker

Trusti Yuni Widiastuti, SRP Standard and Assurance Manager

Why You Should Join the Webinar

With the full launch of the SRP RiceTrace scheduled for November 2024, it is important that all Participating Operators are well-prepared to use the platform. This webinar is a key opportunity to get familiar with the platform’s features and ensure your operation is ready to meet SRP traceability requirements.

Action Required

Please register the staff member responsible for handling Transaction Certificate submissions and processing within your operation site(s) by emailing us at assurance@sustainablerice.org. Kindly include the current inventory volume of rice produced to facilitate accurate tracking and verification in the system.

How to Join

This live session is exclusive to SRP members. A registration link will be sent to all members via email. For any assistance or additional information, feel free to contact us at assurance@sustainablerice.org.

We look forward to your active participation.

Live Webinar Details

Date: Thu, 15 August 2024
Time: 3:00 PM ICT (UTC+7)/10:00 AM CET (UTC+1)
Venue: MS Teams webinar (online)

Who Should Attend

This session is held specifically for VUs who have previously registered for SRP RiceTrace. If you have not yet registered, please contact assurance@sustainablerice.org.

Why You Should Join the Webinar

Attending this live webinar is a must for VUs in order to understand and leverage the full functionality of SRP RiceTrace. Your participation will help ensure you can efficiently use SRP RiceTrace and comply with SRP requirements in a streamlined way. This is a valuable opportunity to be among the first to try out this new tool and enhance your operations.

During the sessions, we will cover:

• Introduction and overview of SRP RiceTrace
• Requesting and managing SRP Transaction Certificates
• Interactive Q&A session to address your queries

Speakers

• Wyn Ellis, SRP Executive Director
• Trusti Yuni Widiastuti, SRP Standard and Assurance Manager
• Tarida Dalai, SRP Standard and Assurance Officer

How to Join

Please note, this live webinar is open to SRP members only, A registration link has been sent to all SRP members via email. Should you need any assistance, please contact assurance@sustainablerice.org.

We look forward to your active participation and to helping you in maximizing the benefits of SRP RiceTrace.

SRP has recently announced the upcoming launch of the SRP Assurance Scheme Version 2.0, set to take effect on 1 January 2024. The launch reflects SRP’s dedication to continuously enhance our tools to meet the dynamic needs of the global rice sector.

Key highlights of the SRP Assurance Scheme 2.0:

• Streamlined process: We’ve simplified the verification process to make it more accessible for producers, Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) and value chain actors.
• Robust data management: Our comprehensive data management system ensures robust data integrity and monitoring, reinforcing transparency and analytics.
• New fee structure: The Assurance Scheme 2.0 includes adjustments to the fee structure, available on our webpage for your convenience.

Rewatch the webinar here.

The “Introducing SRP Assurance Scheme 2.0 – Key Changes” webinar will introduce stakeholders to the latest enhancements of the SRP Assurance Scheme 2.0. This session is a must for all SRP stakeholders, especially conformity assessment bodies (CABs).

Agenda

1. Introduction to SRP Assurance Scheme 2.0: Obtain a concise overview of the SRP Assurance Scheme 2.0 and the rationale behind the latest version.
2. Key Changes and Updates: Gain insights into the significant modifications, improvements, and additions to the scheme.
3. Interactive Q&A Session: Engage with the SRP team to clarify any queries and concerns you may have.

Who should attend?

• SRP members from all stakeholder constituencies, especially Conformity Assessment Bodies, Authorized Training Providers, Supply Chain Actors
• Other stakeholders interested in SRP and its activities

The webinar is open to the public. Please click the link below to register for the webinar. SRP may record the webinar for interested parties who are unable to attend live.

Why attend?

• Get ready! Be ready to make full use  of the SRP Assurance Scheme to transform your rice value chain cost-effectively.
• Enhance compliance: Learn what the changes will mean for conformity assessment processes and ensure seamless compliance.
• Learn how to start: Understand the steps towards getting verified, use of the SRP-Verified on-pack label and the SRP Authorized Training Program.

Speakers

• Wyn Ellis, SRP Executive Director
• Trusti Yuni Widiastuti, SRP Standard and Assurance Manager
• Umer Maqsood, SRP Capacity Development Manager and MEL Adviser

Rewatch the webinar

Recent years have seen rapid growth in development and uptake of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based technologies in Southeast Asia, driven primarily by lower cost and wider coverage of Internet access, accompanied by wide smartphone penetration even among lower income groups. Farmers already use a wide array of. ICT-based tools such as mobile-based information and advisory services, tools for farm recordkeeping, drones for crop monitoring and targeted use of inputs, B2B smartphone-based applications to facilitate communication and business negotiations, remote auditing and other GIS-enabled innovative services. Many of these have enabled the emergence and viability of the concept of ‘Smart Farming’.

ICT based solutions offer potential to empowering Myanmar’s farmers and address some of the enormous challenges that remain in transforming the country’s rice sector. As part of its mandate, the NORAD-funded Myanmar Climate Smart Rice (CSR) Project aims to leverage ICTs to build capacity and support adoption of scalable solutions with transformative potential. It is also anticipated that ICT-based solutions developed under the current project may have wider utility beyond Myanmar, in other rice-growing countries in Asia and around the world.

So, how can SRP, its members and the wider development community help unlock the promise of ICTs to deliver transformative outcomes for rice, and perhaps offer models for extrapolation?

To explore this question a 2-day online ICT workshop (half-day sessions) hosted by SRP¹ was organized with the support of Myanmar Climate Smart Rice Project implementing partners². The workshop explored the status of the latest ICT innovations today in the global rice sector, documented challenges to upscaling and identified opportunities for further innovation.

Summaries of the two days are provided below and a recording of the workshop is available on SRP’s YouTube Channel.

Day 1: Overview of ICT applications in the global rice sector and horizon scanning for future innovations relevant to Myanmar

Wyn Ellis (Executive Director, Sustainable Rice Platform) welcomed participants to the workshop, highlighting the importance of ICTs to the global food system and in the specific context of SRP’s mission to transform the global rice sector. widescale adoption of climate-smart sustainable best practices, helping farmers and protecting the environment.

Achieving this mission will require effective collaboration across the stakeholder spectrum, the ability to harness ICT tools to drive scale and impact, and most importantly, imagination to harness new technologies, find new business models, and unlock the potential of technology convergence to address multiple sustainability challenges affecting rice smallholders.

He highlighted the workshop’s goals to learn more about the frontiers of digital agriculture, to understand what kind of services already exist in the digital space, and to help participant better evaluate their functionalities and how they might contribute to scaling and impact.

He then welcomed Makiko Yashiro (Senior Programme Officer, UNEP) who, in her opening remarks, stressed UNEP’s focus on ICTs as part of the agency’s increasing focus on rice within its Sustainable Food Systems portfolio. She also stressed the integral role of ICTs within the Myanmar Climate Smart Rice Project currently undern implementation.

Dr. Arjumand Nizami (Country Director, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation Pakistan) illustrated in her keynote address how ICT-driven disruptive innovation during the pandemic carries particular relevance to Pakistan’s rice sector. She highlighted the benefits of new technologies for food production and food safety, and how ICTs can be harnessed to mitigate negative environmental impacts of food production.

Paul Nicholson (Vice President and Head of Rice Research & Sustainability, Olam International) discussed how Olam is asking key questions that are fundamental to wide-scale implementation of digital tools: How should we communicate to farmers? How should we collect, verify and share our data while making sure such data are effectively used for continuous improvement? And how can we ensure interoperability across data platforms?

Rakesh Munankami (Project Manager, Myanmar CSR Project, Helvetas Myanmar) then provided an overview of the Myanmar Climate Smart Rice Project and the role of ICTs, and presented digital tools currently used for information sharing, online training, and monitoring.

The following speakers presented a range of public and private sector-led global, regional and country-level ICT initiatives in the rice sector, through case studies in Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India.

Malvika Chaudhary (Regional Coordinator-Asia, Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, CABI) introduced the global Plantwise programme, an ‘e-Plant Clinic’ concept in which farmers consult Plant Doctors, data are collected via tablets, analyzed and used to improve plant health, including by means of smartphone-based advisory services.

Ruud Grim (Senior Advisor & Coordinator, G4AW, Netherlands Space Agency) presented the application of GIS & ICT tools through the ‘Geodata for Agriculture & Water (G4AW) Programme to monitor rice performance in the field while allowing easy data collection and analysis through linkages with ‘Big Data’. Together with maize, rice has been the focus of most G4AW projects (11 projects) in Asia and Africa. EO data is used to Interpret plot-level conditions (e. g. temperature, soil moisture, vegetation) and weather forecasting, allowing for targeted interventions (site-specific advice), resulting in environmental sustainability by applying inputs more effectively. In addition, digital tools allow for traceability throughout the value chain, resulting in improved monitoring of social and environmental sustainability of the rice.

Peter Fröhlich (CEO, AgriCircle) presented the Rice Information Management System (RIMS), a new digital decision support system (DSS) utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data and integration of advanced sensor/satellite technology. The goal is to provide real-time advisory and prediction modelling services for farmers, supply chain actors and governments.

Ashu Sikri (Product Strategist, Digital Green) provided an overview of how Digital Green Is empowering farmers to lift themselves out of poverty through grassroots partnerships and data sharing in Bihar, India. Over the past decade, Digital Green has partnered with state governments in India to deliver video based advisory services on agricultural production practices, including sustainable rice, to more than 2 million farmers, 90% of whom are women.  Digital Green seeks to build on the success of its community video approach and launch a program to coach smallholder farmers on sustainable practices and build an open monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV) toolkit to track, verify and quantify their climate impact.

Sadman Sadek (Country Manager, Viamo Bangladesh) spoke on the topic of mobile-based behavior change campaigns and remote training. He introduced Viamo, a social enterprise with a presence in 36 countries and projects in 146 countries, focusing on digital Inclusion. In 2020, 30 million people accessed Viamo’s platform. He described how using Viamo’s m-Extension model, farmers can access information, markets, financial solutions, and remote training utilizing SMS and voice messaging systems.

Otini Mpinganjira (Program Lead, Precision Agriculture for Development, PAD) explained how PAD leverages evidence-based mobile phone communications to improve farmer productivity and environmental resilience in Odisha, India. PAD’s Ama Krushi programme uses non-smartphone channels such as SMS, call centres and voice messages to provide relevant information to farmers. Simple, targeted messages can impact knowledge and adoption of sustainable practices, while the volume and framing of messages are important factors in influencing farmer responses. The platform was developed by Precision Development (PxD), a global non-profit organization with operations in ten countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. PxD reached 5 million users in 9 countries in Q1 2021.

Discussion

During the dialogue session moderator Jan Willem Ketelaar (SRP Outreach Coordinator) discussed with representatives from the Myanmar Climate-Smart Rice (CSR) Project (Kenneth Shein (Co-Founder, Prime Holdings), Marci Baranski (International Rice Manager, UNEP) and Ye Win Paing (Project Manager, Helvetas-Myanmar)), opportunities and challenges for scaling out ICT-based innovations in the Myanmar Climate Smart Rice Project.

Points discussed during the dialogue session included the enormous potential of ICT-based innovations to drive transformation of the rice sector towards sustainability. Opportunities for smallholders participating in the Myanmar CSR project to benefit from adoption of ICT innovations are equally clear. However, to realize these benefits it will be important for development stakeholders to invest in digital infrastructure and literacy training in order to bridge the still existing digital divide. Finally, with a greater emphasis on digital solutions for verification and certification, recording of quality primary data, including on use of farm inputs, by smallholder farmers will be increasingly important. This might require additional investments, including in capacity building efforts.

Jan Willem Ketelaar then concluded Day 1 of the workshop and provided an outline of Day 2 ahead.

Day 2: Exploring SRP’s vision for M&E and performance assessment and use of ICT tools.

Keith Jones (SRP Board member and Chair, SRP M&E Committee) welcomed participants and after an overview of the day’s programme, shared SRP’s vision for an organizational M&E programme currently in development. He underscored the aim to move from practice-based monitoring to quantify the impacts of best practice adoption using the SRP Performance Indicators. He also stressed the social as well as technological dimensions inherent to the challenge; building trust among users to share their data requires a deep understanding of the social context, including cost, access to smartphone and internet, digital literacy and incentives such as provision of valuable knowledge or market services to the user.

Zafar Iqbal (Manager Sustainability, Rice Partners Pvt Ltd, RPL) then presented ICT approaches to farmers in the Pakistan Water Productivity Project (WAPRO) funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), RPL’s parent company, Better Grain, was a pioneer in developing and implementing a rice sustainability program. So far, 28,000 Better Grain Smart Farmers have received SRP training, and Better Grain sources from 1,200 SRP audited farmers, with 100% traceability. 80 rice millers have also been trained in SRP. RPL uses the AKVO proprietary platform to enable field staff to collect field data directly via tablets or smartphones. Complementing this are SMS Alert Services on pest management, a 24/7 helpline to promote better agronomy practices, use of social media messaging Including WhatsApp. Facebook and YouTube channels to deliver and reinforce messaging.

Better Grain’s Smart Digital Cards are bar-coded, allowing farmers rapid access to a range of concessionary discounts on goods and services as part of SRP participation. These include farm inputs, loans, medical services, agricultural machinery, soil and water analysis reports.

Rishikesh Sapre (Director, Mantle Labs) discussed the challenge of unlocking agronomy, financial services and carbon markets for smallholders. He explained how ICTs can drive financial inclusion, which has hitherto been largely ignored in rice by mainstream actors. With newer carbon markets only available in the Americas and Europe, the vast majority of small farmers around the world have no cost-effective access to financial services such as farm credit or crop Insurance. He introduced the Mantle Labs Geobotanics platform- an AI-powered GIS solution serving the entire agri value chain, with special focus on financial and risk models, and a free farm management system for farmers. The Geomatics Crop Loss Index also offers a cutting-edge index insurance product, requiring no calibration or ground-truthing. The platform manages around USD 20 billion in client portfolios, processing around 500 m hectares daily.

Finally, Geomatics uses the latest remote sensing innovation and carbon market expertise to monitor practices such as tilling, cover crops, flooding analysis and temporal evolution of biomass. These data are then used to model net sequestration at a high level of detail.

This was followed by a presentation on developing a digital knowledge management and adaptive learning system for sustainable rice landscapes, delivered by Beau Damen (Natural Resources Officer – Climate Change and Bioenergy, FAO) and Satish Nagaraji (Senior Manager – Digital Agriculture (M&E & Tools, ICRISAT).

The Sustainable Rice Landscapes Initiative (SRLI) is a consortium of 6 organizations (FAO, UNEP, SRP, IRRI, GIZ and the World Business Council For Sustainable Development), dedicated to upscaling adoption of climate-smart sustainable best practice in rice through a landscape-based approach. The key elements of SRLI are sustainable management practices in rice-based production systems, market-based instruments and landscape management to optimize ecosystem services. So far, SFLI has mobilized $58,4m in grant financing under GEF-7, with $668m committed in co-financing by project partners.

FAO is currently developing a digital knowledge management and adaptive learning system for sustainable rice landscapes projects funded by GEF/GCF. This Knowledge Management system (KMS) should be designed to demonstrate accountability and promote organizational learning for the benefit of the overall program and to provide an evidence base that supports investment.

Key questions related to the SRLI projects include integration of value chains within landscapes, and the use of ICT tools to create new services that drive market demand for SRP rice?

Continuing, Satish Nagaraji then summarized the ICRISAT MEASURE system, a digital M&E system that can collect and organize reporting data from multiple stakeholders at multiple levels of aggregation, and that is already functioning with a large user base. MEASURE also Incorporates a beneficiary management system.

Kazuki Saito (Sustainable Farming Systems Flagship project leader, AfricaRice) introduced AfricaRice’s new smartphone-based tools for M&E and performance assessment relevant to the rice sector and SRP in particular. This includes a yield prediction tool and a digital data collection and decision support tool for farmers based on the SRP Standard and Performance Indicators. The tools have the advantage of offline functionality, availability in multiple languages, and immediate calculation of SRP Standard scores and Performance Indicators. This allows advice to be tailored to individual farmer needs, on the spot. The tool has been used for M&E in 3 countries in Africa, with over 1,200 farmers interviewed to date.

The ‘Rice SCOUTER’ rice yield estimator offers a rapid, low-cost and labour-saving approach to estimate rice yield as well as above-ground biomass using RGB images and machine learning. The Android-based application Is currently undergoing testing under diverse growing conditions with JICA, GIZ-CARI before release.

Discussion

In the panel discussion “Assessing ICT schemes for M&E purposes” moderated by Keith Jones (SRP M&E Committee), panelists Beau Damen, Kazuki Saito and Rakesh Munankami discussed several questions posed by the moderator. The first question examined current SRP M&E requirements: what kind of data are needed, how and by whom are they to be collected? Incentives are essential where data are to be collected by farmers (e. g. via smartphone-apps). Farmers need to understand and value the benefits of sharing their farm data. Though access to ICT tools and internet coverage/cost in rural areas represent barriers to adoption. Internet penetration and smartphone ownership are both accelerating rapidly even among low-Income groups in rural areas.,

As many data platforms are funded under development projects, post-project sustainability of ICT data systems is a second key question. Participants commented that involvement of the private sector as well as development of self-sustaining business models are important considerations in this regard.

Finally, panelists agreed that it was of fundamental importance to generate a stronger body of evidence linking adoption of best practices under the SRP Standard with field impacts of adoption, as measured by the SRP Performance Indicators.

Wyn Ellis wrapped up the workshop, thanking speakers and participants for a rich and valuable exchange. He reminded the workshop that gender empowerment had not received due attention in this workshop, but is a crucial lens for designing ICT systems. He also noted that many of the schemes presented during the workshop are funded via projects, raising the question of post-project maintenance? Can we design best business models to ensure that systems are self-sustaining?

Rewatch the workshop on SRP’s YouTube Channel: Day 1 and Day

¹ The third session is to be held in early-mid August and will be hosted by Myanmar Climate Smart Rice Project Management Unit office.

² The Myanmar Climate-Smart Rice (CSR) Project, funded by the governments of Norway and Switzerland and managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was launched in 2019 with the aim of promoting climate-smart rice production among Myanmar’s rice smallholders and connecting them to markets through adoption of the SRP Standard for Sustainable Rice Cultivation. The project’s four implementing partners (Helvetas, Prime-Agri, SRP and UNEP) are working in three rice-production regions in the country, representing different agro-ecological and economic contexts.

This webinar was convened by SRP to share key findings and recommendations of an Oxfam- commissioned study of the effectiveness of MSIs in the agricultural sector, including the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), one of four MSIs covered by the review. (The others are the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative (ASIC). The report was co-authored by Jan Willem Molenaar and Sjaak Heuvels.

Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) in the agricultural sector emerged in the 1980s and are credited with shaping business practices across a number of high-profile and critical supply chains. However, their effectiveness in driving change has since been questioned, and the evidence base for tangible improvements across key social and environmental impact areas remains relatively weak.

The review of MSIs was commissioned by Oxfam within the context of its GRAISEA¹ initiative and is entitled: ‘An assessment of overall effectiveness of agricultural multi-stakeholder initiatives with specific attention to smallholder inclusiveness, and recommendations for improvement’².

Speakers:

• Jan Willem Molenaar (Aidenvironment)
• Madeline Brasser (Oxfam)
• Nguyet Minh Le (Oxfam)

Opening Remarks: Wyn Ellis (SRP Executive Director)

Closing Remarks: Matthias Bickel (GIZ and Chair of the SRP Board)

Moderator: Roong Tepkaew (SRP Secretariat)

Participants: 20 attendees; with 56% representing CSOs/NGOs/Unions, 13% governmental organizations and 13% research institutions.

Summary of the webinar

Welcoming remarks

Wyn Ellis (SRP Executive Director) contextualized the theme of the webinar. With MSIs in the agricultural sector emerging in the 1980s, voluntary standards have since played an increasingly prominent role in shaping supply chains across a range of high-profile commodities. However, some of these schemes have become seen as focused on implementing best practices and somewhat less on monitoring their impacts.

This leads to the key question investigated in the Oxfam-commissioned report: How effective are MSIs as a mechanism to drive change in issues such as social equity, smallholder inclusiveness and environmental conservation in their respective supply chains?

Report abstract

The report is divided into two parts. Part A focuses on how MSI influencing targets are able to include and create benefits for small-scale producers. The targets are the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative (ASIC). Part A ends with seven recommendations for MSIs to become more inclusive towards small-scale producers. Part B discusses current and potential roles of MSIs in general, beyond the four current GRAISEA targets, focusing on several key topics relevant to GRAISEA and Oxfam: Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), Gender equality and women’s empowerment, Fair pricing and trading practices, Purpose-before-profit Business models, Assurance models, Digital Solutions, Landscape approaches, Sector Governance, Proliferation of Standards and Voluntary vs Mandatory Standards). The report concludes with recommendations for MSIs to engage on these topics and for Oxfam/GRAISEA to support such engagement.

1. What can Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives do to become more impactful?” (Jan Willem Molenaar, Aidenvironment, and report co-author)

Key findings of the review were presented, noting that these views are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Oxfam’s positions. The presentation focused on three topics: Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), Fair pricing and trading practices; and Sector governance.

• Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD)
  • HRDD are increasingly incorporated into regulatory frameworks, and protection of human rights is increasingly prioritized in the design of voluntary standards. However, the focus is still overwhelmingly on producers, with little emphasis on other value chain actors, where HRDD is generally weakly embedded and implemented within existing processes.
  • MSIs could play a greater influencing role in driving the incorporation of HRDD within existing processes, through knowledge sharing, development of additional analytical and evaluation tools, and public policy advocacy.

• Fair pricing and trading practices
  • Many MSIs have developed voluntary standards for producers. However, the level of resources invested by supply chain actors in driving adoption of sustainable farming practices is highly dependent on the respective trading relationships with buyers.
  • In many cases standards are overwhelmingly producer-focused; the key role played by downstream supply chain actors in incentivizing change is often overlooked, partly because companies are reluctant to discuss their trading practices.
  • More emphasis is needed on living incomes and living wages, and MSIs can play a very important role in this regard, e. g. by adopting requirements on risk- and cost-sharing, price-setting, trading practices and influencing public policies on price-setting, supply management, trade policies as well as knowledge development and sharing.

• Sector governance
  • To drive impactful change, it is important to focus beyond “islands of success” (individual supply chains that do well, but that operate in a generally lower performing environment. Beyond enhancing governance within MSIs it is important to foster an enabling operating environment at sector level. This will require coordination among actors to ensure alignment of the policy and regulatory landscape as well as investment and incentive structures.

During the Q&A session, the convening role of SRP in aligning stakeholder interests around common goals was discussed. Clearly, MSIs offer a space for open discussion and constructive dialogue across stakeholder groups, with the aim of formulating common long-term goals and identifying approaches to achieving them at sectoral level. For SRP, this engagement will be important to ensure buy-in and legitimacy. SRP’s strategy should strive to accommodate a wider range of needs and interests espoused by both members and other stakeholders; this will be crucial as a process for building trust. It was noted that SRP has prioritized the inclusion of civil society actors within the membership, and also the adoption of a consultative process in developing SRP tools that can be widely endorsed across the stakeholder spectrum.

2. Rice Smallholder Inclusion at SRP: A Matter of Equality (Madeleine Brasser, Oxfam Novib)

Despite a quadrupling of rice exports between 1989 and 2017, prices have fallen, and farmers receive only a small fraction of the retail price. Retailers need to take responsibility to drive equity in their value chains, including establishment of sustainable sourcing policies for rice. Smallholders need to be seen and treated fairly as key value chain partners.

Building on earlier recommendations presented by Jan Willem Molenaar, a number of additional recommendations for SRP were presented as follows:

• Become a platform where innovative, purpose- rather than profit-driven business models are co-created and piloted
• Develop tools for women and men farmers
• Stop supporting old-school exploitative business models
• Encourage long-term relations/contracts/partnerships
• Establish inclusive governance (currently there is no representation of smallholders within SRP)
• Develop smallholder inclusion strategy, e.g. through National Chapters to foster inclusion of smallholder groups
• Robust monitoring and learning system (already working on this, linked to SRP Performance Indicators)

Limited capacity and resources should not absolve SRP from these responsibilities.

The subsequent Q&A/discussion session discussed the importance of demonstrating economic benefits of sustainable rice farming in order to foster smallholder inclusion in SRP supply chains. More evidence is needed to better understand how sustainability standards such as the SRP Standard can contribute to improving economic outcomes for smallholders, whether through higher returns, lower risks or savings in production costs. Further work is needed in order to establish and articulate this business case for smallholders, including women smallholders.

Madeleine Brasser noted that though standards play an important role, they are themselves insufficient to address the issues facing rice smallholders. Collaboration among actors throughout value chains is needed to engage with and incentivize smallholders. Strengthening of smallholder organizations will be key and smallholders need to be made visible.

Closing remarks (Matthias Bickel, GIZ)

Though MSIs should not be regarded as ‘silver bullets’. They offer value in terms of identifying the interests of diverse stakeholder groups and offering a forum for dialogue and alignment among them. It is vital therefore that MSIs bring the ‘right’ actors to the table and articulate issues and interests transparently so that solutions can be found.

SRP’s vision can be reached if multiple actors work together to raise issues and develop solutions, including civil society, research institutions, governments, and private sector value chain actors.

Rewatch the webinar on SRP’s YouTube Channel: SRP Webinar: Effectiveness of Multi Stakeholder Initiatives.

^{1 Gender transformative and responsible agribusiness investments in South East Asia (GRAISEA)
2 Full report available here.}