
Olam Agri, German agency ink MoU to scale up sustainability in agri-food sector
The two will collaborate across staple agriculture supply chains.
Olam Agri has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to scale up sustainable development in the global agri-food sector.
Under the MoU, the two will collaborate across staple agriculture supply chains that include rice, cotton, and rubber in developing markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
The three key objectives of the MoU are to support sustainable food production whilst protecting natural resources; improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers; and establish sustainability and traceability across supply chains.
For joint projects, GIZ and Olam Agri identified six priority intervention areas such as nutrition-sensitive regenerative agriculture; harvest and post-harvest loss reduction; access to finance for smallholders; economic inclusion and rights; management of crop residue; and ecosystem services.
The MoU follows years of cooperation between the two organisations since 2008 in Africa. In the rice supply chain, the Sustainable Rice Platform has led to decreased usage of water, fertilisers, and the emission of methane.
Moreover, the Market Oriented Smallholder Value Chain rice project in Southeast Asia has improved the livelihoods of more than 28,000 smallholder farmers, raising their incomes by 20%.