About 10,000 smallholder farmers in Andhra Pradesh are set to benefit from the introduction of sustainable irrigation products and practices under a programme offered by International Development Enterprises-India (IDEI) and supported with funding from the Walmart Foundation.
Providing a grant of $750,000, the Walmart Foundation will help IDEI take its Integrating Smallholder Farmers Into Market Systems programme to ten districts in the state.
The programme aims to introduce sustainable irrigation products and practices. The programme is expected to generate an additional $7.4 million in annual farming income in the state at the end of the project period, with individual gains of $400 per smallholder farmer household per year. Substantial water savings in agriculture are also anticipated, amounting to 33.4 million m3 of water saved for the state during the programme.
“Income poverty affects 1.3 billion people around the world and is a huge challenge. But simple solutions, like affordable modern irrigation, can make a massive difference. We have already helped more than 8 million people of farming families improve their output and standard of living, and we are determined to now do the same for tens of thousands of smallholders in Andhra Pradesh,” said Amitabha Sadangi, Chief Executive of IDEI.
The IDEI grant is a part of the Walmart Foundation’s commitment, announced in September 2018, to invest $25 million (approximately ₹180 crore) in philanthropic initiatives to improve farmer livelihoods in India over the next five years. Under this commitment, $2 million grant to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, was launched last year with the unveiling of a groundnut processing facility. “This approach helps to create sustainable livelihoods for farmers by increasing production and helps to preserve important natural resources for the future,”said Karrie Denniston, Senior Director, Walmart Foundation.
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