FPOs-Industry Interface on SDGs
A farmer uses Ghanajeeamruth in his Banana Plantation in Agrapally Village./ Atul Loke for Panos Pictures/Food and Land Use Coalition
Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) India has launched its first action coalition in India. This action coalition brings together four organisations, viz. Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative India, WWF India, and World Resource Institute India (WRI India). The action coalition has been named as Food and Land Use India (FOLU India) Action Coalition for Responsible Sourcing & Trade of Commodities (in short FOLU India CREST).
Background
Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, and smallholders are the dominant force of Indian agriculture, given 87% landholding are below 2 hectares and 71% under 1 hectare (NSO, 2021). Experts and practitioners agree that collectivisation of smallholders help them better integrate into agri-value chains, access inputs and production techniques better and strengthen linkage with the market. Over the years, Government of India has designed schemes/programmes to support smallholders, with the landmark scheme introduced in the year 2020 to form 10,000 FPOs by 2023-24.
As the downstream component of the agricultural value chain continues to embrace the sustainability agenda, it becomes increasingly important for stakeholders upstream including Farmer Producer Organizations to be able to meet their requirements. This entails carrying out Sustainable agriculture practices and thereby meeting sustainable sourcing requirements of buyers and brands, paving the way for Potential Win-Win for FPOs & Buyers. In addition, FPOs can formally be integrated in national and international agricultural commodity value chains.
Overview
Towards achieving the SDGs, CRB aims to provide capacity building to FPOs. As a result, they will be better equipped to engage with industry/market actors. There are many buyers and brands in agricultural value chains who have sustainability commitments to meet. By encouraging Champions amongst FPOs on sustainable agriculture practices will help to meet the continuously evolving requirements by buyers and brands further downstream. Furthermore, such capacity building will benefit FPOs as well as it will contribute to smallholder welfare and environmental protection.
Objectives
- Support partnerships that promote inclusivity, equity, and sustainability for stakeholders along the agricultural value chain including Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), national level agri-businesses to MNCs.
- Create wider visibility about a Framework based approach that will help FPOs and interested stakeholders along the agricultural value chain to contribute to the SDGs, and enable its uptake across geographies, landscapes, commodities, etc
Activities
An Orientation workshop was held in Guwahati, Assam on 9 February, 2024 to formally introduce a program being designed by the three organisations (NERAMAC, CRB and MMGLD) to be implemented in partnership with select Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in the North Eastern Region. The workshop aimed to build basic awareness and understanding on the SDGs and to support FPOs to identify, assess and monitor progress on specific SDG targets using the Framework for FPO-Industry Partnership on Sustainable Development Goals. Please view the Post Event Report here. Please find a brief Video Summary here.
The Framework for FPO Industry Partnership on Sustainable Development Goals has been co-developed by Centre for Responsible Busines and IFHD (India Foundation for Humanistic Development). The Framework was officially launched on 2 May 2023. It has received the blessings of Dr. Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
Caption: Mr. Rijit Sengupta, CEO, Centre for Responsible Business presenting a copy of the Framework to Dr. Ashok Dalwai, Chief Executive Officer, National Rainfed Area Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
A Session titled Consultation on Framework for Community Institutions and Industry Partnership was held as part of the Catalyst 2030’s Catalyzing Change week in 2023 which provided an opportunity to introduce the Framework. In addition, it allowed industry and experts from civil society to share their reflections on the Congruence of Community Institutions (including Farmer Producer Organizations) and Industry. View the Recording Link.
Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) and India Foundation for Humanistic Development (IFHD) co-hosted a Consultation on 3 August, 2022 in Bengaluru, India. The Consultation was an opportunity for FPOs, a target user group of the Framework for FPO Industry Partnership on Sustainable Development Goals to critical inputs on improving/ refining the Framework for wider acceptability and for larger dissemination and adoption by the industry.
Participants at the CRB-IFHD co-hosted Consultation in Bengaluru which included IFHD-supported FPOs as well as CRB and IFHD team members working on the Framework as well as experts who joined on-line (not shown)
A Session co-hosted by Centre for Responsible Business and the India Foundation for Humanistic Development (IFHD)was held as part of the India and Sustainability Standards Dialogues and Conference in October 2021. The session envisioned creating stakeholder awareness of a proposed framework and simultaneously to better understand the requirements to fulfill the vision of FPOs being competitive, resilient and having better access to finance and markets
View the Proceedings of the Roundtable Discussion on a Sustainability Framework to nudge FPOs and Markets closer here.
Useful Resources
For further information, please contact
Mr. Rijit Sengupta
CEO
Email: rijit@c4rb.in
Phone: +91 (11) 41088853
Ms. Nitya Chhiber
Senior Programme Officer
Email: nitya@c4rb.in
Phone: +91 (11) 41088853
