Viro Eco-
Projects Fund

By shopping at a Viro merchant you support global environmental eco-projects such as reforestation, renewable energy, conservation and more - making a significant, positive contribution to the environment through carbon reduction or sustainability initiatives.

Eco-Projects that have made a difference...

Here is an example of the kind of difference that your support can make improving people lives and caring for our planet through sustainable, eco projects. 

The rice revolution

Many farming families across Asia struggle to grow enough rice to feed their families, let alone repay debts for things like seed and fertilisers. An innovative rice-growing technique is reaping big rewards as well as being environmentally sustainable.

Chhim Yonn, a rice farmer from Koh Preas village in northern Cambodia, smiles broadly as he describes a new rice-growing technique known as the System of Rice Intensification or SRI.

"If you come at the time the rice is seeding, it is wonderful to watch. The rice grows very quickly, in a very big bunch. One rice stem splits into two shoots, then four, then eight, each with hundreds of husks. It is like a miracle. I feel very excited when the rice is very big, very green and very healthy. It means my family will have more rice to eat and a better life."

Contributions from Australia is supporting farmers in Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka and India to grow rice using the SRI method and the results so far are astounding — in many cases, yields have doubled and production costs halved. Fewer farmers are in debt and families have more food to eat throughout the year while using environmentally sustainable methods.

"With the traditional rice technique we simply did not grow enough rice, even for consumption. We couldn’t sell any. We ate all that we grew," says Wan Wong, the model SRI farmer for Koh Preas.

"Since using SRI, rice yields have doubled. It is due to results like these that more and more rice farmers across Asia are steadily taking up SRI. While rice is one of the region’s most important crops, it has also become increasingly expensive to grow due to the cost of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, the amount of seed required and the low yields being produced. Also, the stress associated with growing rice — mainly the financial costs, subsequent debt and severe food shortages — can lead to desperation and even suicide. Not to mention the negative environmental impact.

Developed in Madagascar in the 1980s, SRI allows farmers to produce rice in a much more affordable, environmentally-friendly way.

SRI uses organic compost, natural pesticides and hand-weeding instead of expensive chemicals and does not genetically modify the rice. Instead, by carefully managing planting, soil, water and nutrients, SRI uses half the water and much less seed than traditional rice-growing methods, promotes improved soil quality and stronger root and canopy growth, and produces less methane emissions and much higher yields.

As a result, rice-farming families have more food throughout the year and are sometimes able to store enough rice to plant the following year, thereby reducing cash outlays for subsequent crops. Some farmers have even been able to sell their rice. And while it often initially proves to be much more labour intensive than the traditional method, many farmers agree that the results are worth it.