Kisan Diwas 2024: Top CSR Initiatives Aimed at Improving Farmers’ Incomes in India

Farmer’s Day, popularly referred to as Kisan Diwas, is observed nationwide on December 23 each year. This particular day is marked to show appreciation, thanks, and recognition for the contributions made by the nation’s farmers. The day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister of India Chaudhary Charan Singh, known as the “Champion of Peasants,” to recognise his significant contributions to the agricultural industry.

In 2016, PM Narendra Modi announced the goal of ‘doubling the farmers’ income’ in the country by 2022 as compared to the base year 2015-16. The idea was to improve the lives of the farmers through the 75th-year anniversary celebrations of India’s Independence, fondly called ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic backlash caused because of it, India has not been able to meet its target.

While the incomes of the farmers have not doubled as yet, there have been efforts made across the countries by various entities to ensure that they are faring better. In this effort, India Incorporated has also played a significant role.

CSR Initiatives Improving Farmers’ Incomes in India

HDFC Bank to Boost Incomes of 5 lakh Marginal Farmers by 2025

HDFC Bank has committed to increase the income of 5 lakh marginal farmers earning less than Rs 60,000 annually by 2025, as part of its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, HDFC Parivartan.

HDFC Bank’s focus on rural development reflects its continued commitment to fostering sustainable growth and uplifting vulnerable communities. Launched in 2014, HDFC Bank Parivartan was established with the vision to contribute to the socio-economic development of communities across India. Since its inception, Parivartan has grown into one of India’s largest CSR programmes, active in 28 states and 8 Union Territories.
With a CSR expenditure of over Rs 5,100 crore over the last decade, Parivartan has consistently aimed to empower individuals by creating sustainable livelihoods, fostering sustainable development, and making real-life changes.

Kaizad M Bharucha, Deputy Managing Director, HDFC Bank said, “The bank, under its CSR initiative, plans to impart skill training to nearly 2 lakh individuals to equip them with capabilities that drive self-sufficiency. Bringing 2 lakh acres of unirrigated land under irrigation, fostering agricultural productivity, and offering scholarships to 25,000 meritorious underprivileged students to improve access to education are some of the initiatives the bank intends to undertake.”

Apple Unnati Project by Coca-Cola India Private Limited (CCIPL)

Along with partner organizations, Coca-Cola India has been working with fruit farmers since 2011, under the Company’s flagship project – Unnati, which covers fruits such as Mango, Apple, Orange, Grapes and Litchi and priority commodities like sugarcane. The project has been successfully extended to 11 states, spread across nearly 1,00,000 acres, and 2000+ demo farms while benefiting 350,000+ farmers so far. Coca-Cola India’s plan for the next three years is to cumulatively benefit 500,000+ farmers through training and capacity building.

CCIPL teamed with Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (IDHT) as its Implementation Partner of Project Apple- Unnati in Uttarakhand to promote the well-being of farmer communities, boost yields, and propagate sensible use of natural resources.

The Project Apple Unnati aimed to increase apple productivity in India, particularly in Uttarakhand, by introducing global best practices, primarily focusing on ultra-high-density plantation (UHDP), resulting in a significant increase in quality, productivity, and profitability per unit of land, and thus significantly increasing farmers’ income. This in turn was also expected to serve as a stimulus for India’s apple production to become self-sufficient.
Project Unnati is part of Coca‑Cola’s Fruit Circular Economy initiative, which is a key pillar of the Company’s ESG priorities – Sustainable Agriculture. This initiative focuses on driving farm-level efficiencies through the implementation of best-practice techniques, such as ultra-high-density plantation (UHDP) and drip irrigation.

Over the past 12 years, Project Unnati has helped empower and enable nearly 4 lakh fruit farmers across 13 states and Union Territories in India, as per a statement issued by the company. Focused on seven crop varieties Mango, Apple, Orange, Grapes, Litchi, Coffee, and sugarcane, the program is aimed at propelling the horticulture supply chain and building agriculture production capacities across the country.

ACC empowering dairy farmers in Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh

ACC, the cement and building material company of the diversified Adani Portfolio along with the Adani Foundation is transforming the lives of dairy farmers in villages near ACC Jamul in Chhattisgarh by enabling them to improve their dairy production through sex sorted semen (SSS) artificial insemination (AI) for the livestock.

The Foundation’s Livestock Development Project (LDP) provides access to SSS AI services, training, and guidance, empowering dairy farmers to enhance their livestock and boost their incomes. The SSS AI technology increases likelihood of birthing a female calf from 50% for regular AI to 90% and is hence helping dairy farmers.

ACC and Adani Foundation have established the Annapurna Milk Collection Centre in Annibaijal village, near ACC Tikaria, in collaboration with Mother Dairy. This project supports over 100 dairy farmers across 10 villages, and has quadrupled their milk collection.

The initiative, launched in May 2023, has significantly increased daily milk collection from 100 to 400 litres, benefiting the dairy farming community. It also ensures fair practices, timely payments, and quality-based pricing for milk. The Annapurna Milk Collection Centre, managed by the Annapurna Mahila Samiti, ensures transparency in the milk collection process, leveraging modern tools like milk analysers for quality control. Farmers are now paid between Rs. 55-70 per litre based on the fat and solids-not-fat (SNF) content, encouraging high-quality milk production and fair returns.

With 16 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the village, the initiative, supported by local, Ms. Santosh Singh, empowers women at various levels of the dairy value chain. The Mother Dairy chilling plant at Gauriganj block further strengthens this supply chain, ensuring that milk is efficiently collected and transported.

CSR initiative to train 10,000 farmers on Sustainable Farming Practices

LT Foods, the 70-year-old Indian-origin global FMCG Company in the consumer food space, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – National Research Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM), to train 10,000 farmers in the country on Sustainable Farming Practices.

The move is a part of LT Foods’ larger ESG goals to train 50,000 farmers on Sustainable Farming Practices by 2025. LT Foods has already trained c.20,000 farmers under its Sustainable Rice Production (SRP) programme. The programme aims to bridge the gap between conventional and sustainable rice production through Integrated Crop Management.

ICAR-NCIPM is an apex body for coordinating, guiding, and managing research and education in Integrated Pest Management. As per the MoU with ICAR-NCIPM, the training would be provided to farmers in the States of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and Madhya Pradesh (M.P.).

The farmers will be educated and guided on the optimum use of resources like water, pesticides, fertilizers etc., so as to keep the agricultural process regenerative and support the ESG goals of reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and water consumption. ICAR-NCIPM will prepare literature related to Integrated Crop Management (ICM) in Rice as a component of Sustainable Rice Production (SRP) and provide consultancy in managing key pests and diseases in rice through ICM. It will also help in the dissemination of rice-ICM technology as a component of SRP to farmers through field schools and training.

CSR initiative to empower women farmers in Nashik, Maharashtra

Alco-bev company Diageo India (United Spirits Ltd) has launched a unique micro enterprise initiative to empower smallholder women farmers in Nashik. The initiative will initially enable 100 smallholder women farmers with the skills and resources to tackle crop loss, food waste and ensure sustainable livelihood.
In collaboration with Savitribai Phule Ekatma Samaj Mandal (SPMESM) as the implementing partner and S4S Technologies as the technical partner, Diageo India is providing training, financial support and equipment to small holder women farmers to sundry surplus produce and enable last mile connectivity to the consumers through the food supply chain.

The program focuses on skilling women with the right methodology to cut, air-dry, and solar-dry vegetables like tomatoes, onions and ginger. This produce will then be supplied to hotels, restaurants and ingredient manufacturers to enable consistent supply for the food industry and stable income for these women micro entrepreneurs by creating a complete value chain.

Project Utthan by Coal India Limited

Poverty and the vicious cycle of debt had wreaked havoc on 27,000 farmer families in the coal mining districts of Angul, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Sundargarh. But things began to change in 2019 with ‘Utthan’, a community development programme initiated by Mahanadi Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL).

In 40 villages, the Rs 20.3 crore CSR project has assisted in the conversion of barren lands into high-yielding assets and the creation of sustainable farm livelihoods, benefiting roughly 25,000 people. The project has not only improved the economic situation of 6,200 disadvantaged SC/ ST/ OBC families, but it has also established a model for agriculture sector development that is being copied by the state’s larger population. “The interventions made by Utthan are bearing positive results in terms of livelihood,” says B. Sairam, executive director (CSR), CIL.

Wadi cultivation, a new farming strategy that involves intercropping with seasonal vegetables and horticulture, has been embraced under this project (mango, lemon and custard apple, etc). Utthan has benefited 6,500 farmer households. The goal of the CSR programme, according to CIL, was to improve the socioeconomic status of 27,000 SC/ ST/ OBC people living in the project region. Utthan, which is being phased in by the Pune-based non-profit BAIF (formerly Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation), aims to create sustainable livelihoods through a variety of innovative farm-sector interventions in agriculture, dairy, goatery, mushroom cultivation, backyard poultry, fodder development, and other areas.

By boosting sanitation, education, and menstrual hygiene, Utthan also hopes to build capacity and improve overall quality of life. In the long run, the project hopes to demonstrate a self-sufficient and inclusive development model that can be replicated by the rest of the world.

Apart from farming, Utthan is also assisting in the development of water storage facilities. To contain runoff water and prevent seepage, ponds are dug and the base coated with polythene sheets. Utthan has installed solar pumps in villages to assist lower the cost of farming. A self-help group of farmers who benefited from the project runs these.

Farmers pay 10% of the cost of components (fertiliser, plants, fencing material, etc.) and 40% of the cost of labour for Wadi development. Farmers contribute a bigger percentage of labour costs to encourage households to provide free labour and reduce man-day losses.

Utthan had already established 244 wadis, transforming 122 acres of barren ground into thriving crops. A total of 935 paddy farmers saw a 15-20% increase in production. Over the following five years, Utthan hopes to expand coverage to 2,500 paddy growers.

Because vegetable growing is such an important part of Utthan’s economy, farmers are being trained to use innovative techniques, such as trellis cultivation, to increase productivity. This effort alone has benefited more than 500 families. Water collection, surface storage (50 new ponds storing 4 million litres), and the installation of eight solar pumps have boosted irrigation potential on at least 50 acres. Additionally, nearly 800 families are benefiting from animals through dairy, goatery, and poultry operations, while 600 families have established kitchen gardens to raise nutritious vegetables.