Samvad for Safalta – Conversations towards inclusive agribusiness

Farmer Producer Organizations, representing 44,000 farmers across six states in India and 15 leading agribusiness corporations have collaborated for Samvad for Safalta – Conversations towards inclusive agribusiness.

Arya has implemented a comprehensive program aimed at capacity building and field support to 54 FPOs from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Funded by CDC Plus and supported by Omnivore, members of these FPOs have undergone a detailed program designed by Arya for readiness to undertake post-harvest interventions as part of Omnivore and CDC’s Technical assistance program.

Harsh Bhanwala, ex-chairman NABARD, emphasized the importance of three crucial pillars – Social Capital, Technological Capital and Financial Capital for the success of any community initiatives. He emphasized that FPOs enable access to all these and can alleviate the status of smallholder farmers. “Private participation is a key to providing farmers with technology interventions, access to trading platforms, value chain and storage innovations, advisory services and mechanized services.”

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Sarah Marchand, Director CDC Plus, said that with the outbreak of COVID-19, there were big challenges expected in the society and in the way value chain systems worked. “We knew that we had companies in our portfolio that could respond quickly and make an impact on the people we wanted to support. We are very pleased to have supported this initiative and that Omnivore and Arya share our vision of integrating farmers and FPOs into the agribusiness value chain and forging ahead with an inclusive sector.”

Subhadeep Sanyal from Omnivore said the the company has always worked towards encouraging new technology in agriculture and ensuring it reaches farmers on the ground level for their economic growth. “We have great hope that with the coming together of farmer organizations and corporate houses a lot of solutions can be developed and we will continue to work towards impact.