Roundtable report: exploring HREDD in agricultural supply chains, India (session 2)

12 September 2025

Supplier Engagement and Grievance Mechanisms were the focus topics of a twentyfifty roundtable this week, which explored shared challenges and opportunities in implementing human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) in India’s agricultural supply chains.

The roundtable built on topics and themes which attendees had established as priorities in a previous roundtable in July.

Open dialogue and peer learning

Having worked closely with clients in the agricultural and FMCG sectors over many years – and built trusted, long-term partnerships – we recognised the opportunity to bring them together for a candid, collaborative conversation.

The session discussion was confidential to encourage open dialogue and peer learning.

twentyfifty Sector Director, Food & Agriculture, Helen Mant gave some context for the challenges and opportunities, and our expert guest speaker was Local Implementation Partner Rishi Sher Singh.

We heard from individuals from several leading global companies in the FMCG and agriculture sectors about their unique experiences in conducting HRDD and tackling human rights risks – and what had worked well for them 

Senior Consultant Venetia Paiz-Merino facilitated the roundtable.

Trust, empathy and local presence

The roundtable enabled a discussion that considered multiple perspectives.

Similar threads ran throughout the conversation, relating to:

• how trust is foundational, and that suppliers respond when they are respected and their lived experience is acknowledged
• how empathy is not just a soft skill, but a strategic requirement
• how practicality is often more effective than perfection
• the importance of local presence - people like facilitators and field staff - and of shared ownership  

 The discussion surfaced valuable insights for example around scale and highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing in driving systemic change. 

We’re grateful to all who joined us and contributed so thoughtfully.

Get in touch

If you're interested in learning more about our work in Agriculture supply chains in India, or joining future discussions, please get in touch with Venetia at venetia.paiz-merino@twentyfifty.co.uk.