Bayer unveiled its direct-seeded rice (DSR) system at the 6th International Rice Congress in Manila on World Food Day, as reported by the United Nations. Farmers can achieve several benefits by transitioning from transplanted puddled rice cultivation to direct-seeded rice. These include a potential 40 per cent reduction in water use, a 45 per cent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and a 50 per cent decrease in their reliance on finite and expensive manual labour. The implementation of the DSR system is in complete accordance with Bayer’s recently disclosed strategy for regenerative agriculture, which aims to increase agricultural output while simultaneously promoting restoration.
As a result of these benefits, DSR can bring about a significant paradigm shift; by 2040, an estimated 75 per cent of all rice fields in India are projected to adopt this cultivation method, up from 11 per cent presently. Bayer aims to implement the DSR system on one million hectares in India by 2030, with its DirectAcres programme assisting more than two million early adopter smallholder rice producers.
Commencing operations, DirectAcres has yielded substantial results, with 75% of Indian farmers attaining effective plant establishment and 79% achieving a greater return on investment than rice grown via conventional transplantation. Bayer, therefore, intends to implement DirectAcres in additional Asia-Pacific rice-growing nations in 2024, beginning with the Philippines.
By building entire systems based on regenerative agriculture practises, the company addresses global food security and creates value for nature and producers, said Frank Terhorst, Head of Strategy & Sustainability at Bayer’s Crop Science division.
He added that direct-seeded rice is a remarkable illustration of a system with immense potential to generate a beneficial influence in the future.
A system that integrates digital solutions, seedlings, and crop protection
Rice farmers have historically cultivated seedlings in nursery facilities before relocating them to paddy fields that have been tilled, levelled, and inundated. In the following months, the water level must remain constant to promote the establishment and growth of the plants. Before the harvest, the field is drained by the farmer. Around 80% of the global rice harvest is cultivated using this technique.
At this time, Bayer is developing climate-resilient rice hybrids with increased yields that can be sown directly into the soil. They are bred to thrive in various agricultural environments using advanced R&D capabilities. By eliminating stagnant water, mechanisation can execute a significant portion of the laborious and time-consuming manual agrarian tasks. Due in part to the decreased reliance on surplus water, which was previously used to prevent weed growth, access to crop protection solutions will be crucial to the transformation. Bayer is devising new crop protection solutions, including a new rice herbicide, to ensure that the direct-seeded rice system’s weed management programme is effective and long-lasting.
Furthermore, Bayer’s digital platform FarmRise assists smallholder farmers by providing them access to essential inputs and services, advisory services, and machinery. Its overarching goal is to give rice farmers data-driven insights that enable them to make more informed agronomic decisions. Through FarmRise’s Carbon Programme, smallholders are also linked to the company and can generate supplementary income while simultaneously mitigating emissions.
Significant opportunity to lessen environmental impact
Rice, the third-largest commodity in the world, provides sustenance for over half of the world’s population. With the global population predicted to hit 10 billion by 2050, rice output must rise by 25% to meet demand and keep prices from fluctuating wildly. Simultaneously, rice production significantly contributes to global warming. According to estimates, rice production uses up to 43 per cent of the world’s total irrigation water, contributing to 1.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 12 per cent of methane emissions. 4,000 to 5,000 litres of water are required to produce one kilogram of cereal using transplanted puddled rice cultivation methods, which 150 million smallholder farmers utilise worldwide.
By reducing the water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions produced by methane-emitting bacteria that flourish in standing water, DSR has the potential to alter this situation. By reducing on-farm manual labour through mechanisation, the problem of a persistent labour shortage caused by rapid urbanisation in the rural areas of India is resolved. Recent findings from the Farmer Voice study, which Bayer supports, substantiate this: Labour expenses are cited by 22% of smallholder cultivators in India as one of the most significant obstacles to their operations.
Never has it been more important to collaborate to develop rice cultivation systems that are both economically viable and sustainable, Mike Graham, Head of Breeding at Bayer’s Crop Science Division, stated. He adds that Bayers’s direct-seeded rice system will assist smallholder rice farmers in mitigating and adapting to climate change while sustaining profitable enterprises, thereby enhancing the social well-being of the farmers and their communities.
Expertise ecosystem to revolutionise paddy cultivation on a large scale
Achieving scale-up and promoting widespread adoption of the transformation of rice production necessitates a concerted and collaborative effort from the entire food chain and industry, as well as beyond. This objective is enormous in scope and complexity. Bayer has collaborated with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Direct Seeded Rice Consortium (DSRC) for an extended period to pursue this objective. Bayer, IRRI, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a partnership at COP27 last year to enhance the standard of living of smallholder rice farmers. This collaboration will involve the implementation, evaluation of farms, and expansion of climate-smart rice varieties and agronomic techniques that have been improved.
Frank Terhorst further says that partnerships throughout the agriculture value chain will be vital to the scalability of regenerative agriculture solutions, adding that without establishing an ecosystem comprising professionals from both the public and private sectors, it will be impossible to promote adoption and ensure widespread availability of the most influential innovations, tools, and services.
Bayer pledged at the 2023 United Nations Water Conference to increase water efficiency by 25 per cent per kilogramme of rice produced by its DirectAcres-enrolled smallholder farmer customers by 2030. Increasing the cultivation area of direct-seeded rice to one million hectares by 2030 further aligns with the organisation’s sustainability objectives, which include empowering one hundred million smallholder farmers to increase their livelihoods, produce quality, and productivity in a sustainable manner while reducing the on-field greenhouse gas emissions per kilogramme of crop produced by 30 per cent for customers.
