Project
SAIRISI: Sustainable Italian Rice
Overview
SAIRISI is an ongoing collaboration between local farmers, millers, buyers and other stakeholders to demonstrate sustainability across the supply chain while improving and future-proofing rice production in Northwest Italy.
- Duration
- 2016-2019
- Location
- Italy
- Commodity
- Rice
Topics:
The challenge
Only 0.4% of the world’s rice is produced in Europe. Italy currently makes just over half of all Europe’s rice. But the continent still imports rice to meet its needs. To win a bigger share of the European market, Italian rice needs to be produced sustainably. Unless Italian rice production is made more sustainable through initiatives like knowledge sharing and increasing subsidies for farmers, the amount of rice produced will fall and farmers will face growing economic uncertainty.
Objectives
- Improving rice farming sustainability
- Increasing efficiency in economic performance
- Facilitating collaboration between farmers and buyers
- Reducing environmental impact
- Using resources more efficiently
- Safeguarding food security
Support
- Research and knowledge-sharing by Ente Nazionale Risi
- Training by Ente Nazionale Risi on topics including soil precision, nutrient management and the EU Common Agriculture Policy
- Access to, and training on, SAI Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) tool
- Field visits to enable farmers to appreciate best practices in the region.
Achievements
- Enabling stronger relationships across the rice value chain
- Empowering rice farmers by providing a platform for knowledge sharing
- Decreasing GHG emissions
- Reducing water waste
- Improving soil quality
- Increasing biodiversity
- Demonstrating the effectiveness of SAI Platform’s pre-competitive collaboration model
