Manila, Philippines, October 16, 2023 — On UN World Food Day, Bayer revealed the intro of its direct-seeded rice (DSR) system at the 6th International Rice Congress in Manila. Moving from transplanted puddled rice growing to direct-seeded rice can assist farmers to lower water usage by approximately 40 percent, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by as much as 45 percent and decrease farmers’ reliance on limited and pricey manual work by approximately 50 percent. The intro of the DSR system is completely in line with Bayer’s just recently revealed technique to regenerative farming which will make it possible for farmers to produce more while bring back more.
Driven by these benefits, DSR has the prospective to be transformational with 75 percent of overall rice fields in India anticipated to change to this growing approach by 2040, in contrast to approximately 11 percent today. By 2030, Bayer prepares to bring the DSR system to one million hectares in India, supporting over 2 million early-adopter smallholder rice farmers through its DirectAcres program.
Currently underway, DirectAcres has actually seen substantial success with 99 percent of indian farmers accomplishing effective plant facility and 75 percent a greater roi compared to rice grown utilizing the standard transplanted technique. Bayer prepares for that reason to present DirectAcres in other rice growing nations in Asia Pacific, beginning with the Philippines in 2024.
“We are constructing whole systems based upon regenerative farming practices that develop worth for farmers and nature alike which assistance deal with the concern of international food security,” stated Frank Terhorst, Head of Strategy & & Sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science department.
“Direct-seeded rice is an exceptional example of a system that holds big capacity to develop a favorable effect moving forward.”
A system integrating seeds, crop security and digital services
Typically, rice farmers very first grow seedlings in nurseries before transplanting them in tilled, levelled and flooded paddy fields. Over the subsequent months the water level need to stay consistent to make sure that the plants develop and grow. Quickly before the harvest the farmer drains pipes the field. Some 80 percent of the world’s rice crop is today produced utilizing this technique.
Now, utilizing sophisticated R&D abilities, Bayer is creating climate-resilient rice hybrids with greater yields that can be planted straight in the soil and reproduced particularly for the various farm environments. By eliminating the standing water, equipment can carry out much of the otherwise time consuming and strenuous, manual farming practices. The lowered reliance on excess water– utilized partially to avoid weeds– implies access to crop defense options will be essential to the change. To resolve this, Bayer is establishing brand-new crop security services consisting of a brand-new rice herbicide to make sure an effective and resilient weed management program for the direct-seeded rice system.
In addition, smallholder farmers are supported by Bayer’s digital platform FarmRise which offers farmers access to advisory services, essential equipment, other inputs and services and with a longer-term goal to supply rice farmers with data-driven insights to empower them to make much better agronomic choices. FarmRise likewise links smallholders to the business’s Carbon Program allowing them to make extra earnings as they lower emissions.
Substantial capacity to decrease ecological effect
The world’s third-largest crop, rice, sustains over half the worldwide population. With international population anticipated to grow to 10 billion by 2050, it is approximated that rice production will require to increase by 25 percent in this very same timeframe to fulfill need and keep rates steady. At the exact same time rice is an essential factor to environment modification. It is approximated that rice production adds to 1.5 percent of overall worldwide GHG emissions, 12 percent of methane emissions and takes in approximately 43 percent of the world’s overall watering water. Grown by 150 million smallholder farmers worldwide, 4,000 to 5,000 liters of water are required to produce one kg of grain utilizing transplanted puddled rice growing approaches.
DSR has the possible to alter this by decreasing the water usage and the GHG emissions produced by methane giving off germs that flourish in the standing water. The decrease of on-farm manual work– through mechanization– addresses the concern of continous labor scarcity in the Indian countryside due to fast urbanization. This has actually been just recently verified in the Farmer Voice research study supported by Bayer: 22 percent of Indian smallholder farmers see labor expenses as one of the greatest obstacles to their operations.
“The requirement to come together to form more financially feasible and sustainable rice growing systems has actually never ever been so pushing,” discussed Mike Graham, Head of Breeding at Bayer’s Crop Science Division. “Our direct-seeded rice system will assist smallholder rice farmers adjust to, and alleviate, environment modification while running successful companies, enhancing their own and neighborhood’s social wellness.”
Environment of professionals to change rice growing at scale
The improvement of rice production is an aspiration that is huge in size, complex and will need a collective and collective effort by the whole market, food cycle and beyond in order to advance adoption and give scale. To this end, Bayer is working along with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and has actually taken part in the Direct Seeded Rice Consortium (DSRC) for several years. Simply in 2015 at COP27, Bayer revealed together with IRRI and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) a collaboration to enhance the lifestyle of smallholder rice farmers through the intro, on-farm screening and scaling of enhanced, climate-smart rice ranges and agronomic practices.
“Partnerships throughout the farming worth chain will play a vital function in bringing regenerative farming options to scale,” included Frank Terhorst. “Only by producing an environment of professionals throughout the personal and public sector will we have the ability to advance adoption and make the very best development, tools and services extensively available.”
At the 2023 UN Water Conference, Bayer dedicated to enhancing water usage by 25 percent per kg of rice produced by its smallholder farmer consumers registered in the DirectAcres program by 2030. Bringing direct-seeded rice to one million hectares by 2030 likewise adds to the business’s sustainability objectives of decreasing consumers’ on-field GHGs per kg of crop produced by 30 percent and empowering 100 million smallholder farmers to sustainably increase their performance, enhance the quality of their fruit and vegetables and improve their incomes.
About Bayer
Bayer is a worldwide business with core proficiencies in the life science fields of healthcare and nutrition. Its services and products are developed to assist individuals and the world prosper by supporting efforts to master the significant difficulties provided by a growing and aging international population. Bayer is dedicated to driving sustainable advancement and producing a favorable effect with its organizations. At the very same time, the Group intends to increase its making power and produce worth through development and development. The Bayer brand name represents trust, dependability and quality throughout the world. In financial 2022, the Group utilized around 101,000 individuals and had sales of 50.7 billion euros. R&D costs before unique products totaled up to 6.2 billion euros. To find out more, go to www.bayer.com
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