US-based cereal company Kellogg has joined forces with Walmart to improve rice crop sustainability and help smallholder growers across the world.
As part of the initiative, the company will support rice growers and rice growing communities to help smallholder rice growers advance their practices, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
The company will also promote and support initiatives with producers in every country in which it sources rice globally, which will, by 2020, lead to a 25% increase in the adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices.
The initiative is said to be aligned with the Global Alliance on Climate Smart Agriculture, which is to be launched later this year at the United Nations Secretary General's Climate Summit in New York.
Kellogg president and CEO John Bryant said that as a grains-based company, the firm has a commitment both to the environment and to the people who grow those crops.
"Because rice is one of our largest ingredient purchases - used for Rice Krispies and Special K worldwide - it's appropriate that our new partnership with Walmart focuses on supporting smallholder rice growers as they work to improve their methods - and with that their yields and livelihoods as well," added Bryant.
