Members projects

India grows approximately 130 million tons of rice across roughly 108 million acres, making it one of the largest rice producers in the world. Traditionally, rice is cultivated by sowing seeds in a small nursery, where the seeds germinate into seedlings. The seedlings are then transferred manually into the main field and then grown with four to five inches of water at the base of the crop for the first six to eight weeks, mainly to
prevent weed growth.

In India, a region that faces severe water shortages, an agriculture process called direct seeding of rice helps growers avoid three water-intensive steps: puddling, transplanting and standing water. After successful trials with direct seeding in PepsiCo’s research and development fields, the company has developed a direct seeding machine for its farmers.

In 2010, PepsiCo expanded direct seeding and applied it to approximately 10,000 acres, saving more than 7 billion liters of water. And, because in direct seeding there is no water at the base of the crop, there is also a 70 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.