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Walmart Foundation has announced a new five-year strategy that aims to reach 1 million smallholder farmers by 2028 with at least 50 per cent women.
A statement said the grants will be extended to non-profit organisations working in the areas of collectivisation and farm aggregation to boost farmer incomes across several States, including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
It said the foundation has announced two new grants alongside the new five-year strategy.
The grants include a $3 million to ‘TechnoServe’ for smallholder farmers in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh aiming to reach 24 FPOs (farmer producer organisations) and 30,000 farmers, with 50 per cent of them expected to be women; and a $5,33,876 grant to ‘Trickle Up’ aiming to reach 1,000 women smallholder farmers in Odisha, connecting them with two FPOs.
Extension of investments
The statement said this five-year strategy is an extension of the Walmart Foundation’s investments since 2018 to improve farmer livelihoods in India and expand their access to commercial goods markets.
As the new set of grants starts to roll out later this year, they will build on the results of a new impact study conducted by Sambodhi, an India-based impact measurement firm, that assessed the efficacy of Walmart Foundation’s investments thus far.
The study examined many a number of initiatives put forth by NGO grantees in the area of FPO capacity building and indicated that interventions by implementing partners contributed to strengthened systems and processes at the FPO level, higher revenues and profitability as well as increased representation of women at the farm level and in FPO leadership.
Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, said in a statement that the welfare of smallholder farmers is one of the top priorities of the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Along with launching multiple measures to increase farmer incomes, the government has initiated setting up more than 10,000 FPOs in the country that will help them get the maximum return on their produced.
“I congratulate Walmart Foundation for committing to support 1 million farmers by 2028, and especially for their focus to benefit women farmers,” the statement quoted him as saying.
Identifying solutions for small farmers
Kathleen McLaughlin, Executive Vice-President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Walmart Inc and President of Walmart Foundation, said the Walmart Foundation’s latest commitment builds on its efforts to identify solutions that can systemically help create shared value for all stakeholders.
Strategic philanthropy can act as a strong instrument in rewiring yesterday’s systems and enhancing economic opportunities for smallholder farmers while promoting the inclusion and empowerment of women, McLaughlin said.
Rajneesh Kumar, Senior Vice-President, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart, said Flipkart is committed to building a resilient and inclusive agribusiness supply chain.
“We know that grocery empowers local stakeholders, and working closely with the Walmart Foundation, and programmes such as Flipkart Krishi Samarth, we are creating a holistic ecosystem that helps farmers prosper by leveraging the opportunities that the digital economy presents. Helping empower women, and in this case, women farmers, and ensuring inclusive growth is at the centre of all our initiatives,” Kumar said.
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