Published: 30 Jan 2024

Author: Regrow Ag

Type: Member Spotlight

‍Regrow Ag today shared details of its participation in the “Transforming Rice Value Chains for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Development in the Mekong Delta” project known as TRVC. Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the project manager, the Netherlands Development Organization SNV, is collaborating with stakeholders in Vietnam to design the five-year project with the goal of shifting to low-carbon, climate resilient food systems in three provinces in the Upper Mekong River Delta: An Giang, Dong Thap and Kien Giang. Regrow’s Agriculture Resilience Platform has been selected as the program’s measurement, reporting, verification (MRV) technology.

With 80 percent of its 17 million people engaged in rice cultivation, the Mekong Delta is known as the “Rice Bowl” of Vietnam. Research conducted from 2020-2021 estimated that the region’s rice production volume reached approximately 24.8 million metric tons in a single year. Implementing and scaling climate-positive rice production practices are key to the future of the region’s agriculture and to decrease methane emissions.

To drive impact and collaboration across the value chain requires the ability to quantify and monitor sustainable practices accurately. Cost-effective, scalable MRV technology is key to achieving these outcomes. Given Regrow’s experience with supporting programs that incentivize farmers transitioning to climate-positive practices in Vietnam’s Red River Delta rice production, the company’s platform will be used in several ways to support the outcomes of the program.

Smallholder farmers have traditionally been excluded from carbon markets due to relatively low levels of infrastructure, difficulties in aggregation, and high barriers to entry in terms of record-keeping. Regrow’s platform will support the TRVC project to distribute performance-based incentives, as well as support the project’s registration on the voluntary carbon market. Regrow’s combination of remote sensing and process modeling technology will provide reliable measurement and verification of greenhouse gas emissions outcomes, enabling smallholder farmers to achieve higher economic outcomes.

Dr. Bill Salas, Chief Strategy Officer of Regrow Ag, commented, “The Government of Vietnam has made a Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commitment to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, and achieve net zero by 2050.” He continued,

Ms. Thu Ha Tran, Team Leader of TRVC Project, commented “The TRVC Project will support sustainable livelihoods for 200,000 rice farming households on a scale of 200,000 hectares to contribute to the implementation of the Project 1 million hectares of high-quality rice from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In addition, the Project pioneered the design and use of an internationally recognized GHG measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system to generate approximately 200,000 carbon credits; contribute to Vietnam’s NDC and be ready for credit exchange from 2028 when Vietnam’s carbon exchange officially operates.”

Published Date: January 30, 2024