Walmart Foundation announces USD 1.2 mn grant to Transform Rural India

New Delhi: Walmart Foundation on Thursday announced a grant of USD 1.2 million (nearly Rs 10 crore) to the Transform Rural India Foundation to aid improving livelihoods of 15,000 women rural farmers in Uttar Pradesh by increasing their average base income.

The grant will be used in a two-year project that will primarily focus on creating ten self-sustainable women-led FPOs (farmer producer organisation) and a platform for women farmers to strengthen and diversify their livelihoods, the foundation said in a statement.

"This project strongly resonates with our commitment to reach 1 million farmers by 2028 with at least 50 per cent women. This investment will broaden our outreach to more women in rural areas and solidify our impact by promoting sustainable increase and unlocking additional sources of income," Walmart Foundation Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Julie Gehrki said.

Under the project, the FPOs will receive assistance to develop business plans, post-harvest infrastructure, and to build necessary systems and processes including digital book-keeping and management control systems among others, the statement said.

Moreover, the grant will support training and capacity-building sessions for women farmers along with the adoption of climate-resilient practices such as soil health improvement, organic mixtures for crop nutrition and protection, and water management, among others.

It will establish 'Krishi Value Hub' to undertake processing activities for identified buyers through white-label goods, which other companies can sell as their brands, and for the deployment of an enterprise resource planning system. The interventions will include value chains like pulses, cereals, and horticulture crops, apart from poultry, fisheries, and goat rearing.

"This grant from the Walmart Foundation will help develop and demonstrate the institutional model for marginal and women farmers; we are grateful to Walmart Foundation and hopeful to build these lighthouses," Transform Rural India Foundation (TRIF) Managing Director Anish Kumar said.

TRIF will support 15,000 women in productive roles within the FPOs by leveraging self help groups promoted by the Deendayal Antodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), a government programme, the statement said.