For the economic empowerment of smallholder wheat farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Kellogg Company and TechnoServe have announced the ‘Improving Livelihoods for Smallholder Farming Households in Uttar Pradesh’ program. It is important to mention that Uttar Pradesh contributes significantly to country’s total agricultural output. The program will help farmers to improve crop output, access better markets and help improve farmer livelihoods. The project will be executed with a membership base of at least 10,000 farmers.
The program is one of Kellogg Company’s endeavors to nurture the earth under its Better Days® initiative and is an extension of collaboration with TechnoServe that began in 2015, uplifting 12,000 cultivators from Madhya Pradesh in the process by offering resources & training, improving farm practices, productivity & livelihoods.
From 2019, Kellogg has significantly supported 32,605 smallholder farmers across the world, including 16,945 smallholders in India, outdoing its Global Sustainability Commitments to support 15,000 smallholders till 2020. Up to now, Kellogg has supported programs reaching over 433,000 farmers of all scales worldwide.
Indian farming households that comprise more than 50 percent of the country’s population, go through severe demand and supply side disruptions like loss of labour, lack of access to input or output markets & information channels & supply chain and logistical interruptions, further aggravated by novel Coronavirus. These challenges can impact farmers’ incomes and also hinder their ability to fund the next sowing season. To deal with this, the program will be focused on improving crop output and quality of produce by encouraging Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) & weather-based crop advisory.
Speaking on the initiative, Chief Sustainability Officer of Kellogg Company, Amy Senter said, “India has about 126 million smallholder farmers, accounting for 86 percent of total operational holdings in the country. But they have limited access to important resources that has a cascading effect on their livelihoods. We believe it is important to help people & communities grow. Our partnership centered on improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers in India contributes to our Better Days commitment to support one million farmers globally by the end of 2030.”
Commenting on the partnership, Country Director of TechnoServe India, Punit Gupta said, “The COVID-19-induced slowdown has impacted smallholder farmer economics severely & is expected to lower farmer household incomes by an average of over 30 percent across India. From a geographical perspective, UP is among the states expected to witness the greatest value loss, due to their projected value decline & significant contribution to India's total agricultural output value. Working with farmers to improve crop production and helping them access better markets would play an important role in bolstering farmer livelihoods & we are delighted to partner with Kellogg on this important effort."
Source - Kellogg
