Walmart Foundation to help introduce sustainable irrigation project for India farmer

As many as ten thousand smallholder farmers in Andhra Pradesh will soon get benefit from the introduction of sustainable irrigation products & practices, under a programme offered by the IDEI (International Development Enterprises-India) and backed with funding from the Walmart Foundation.

The Walmart Foundation by providing a grant of $750,000 will help the International Development Enterprises-India take its Integrating Smallholder Farmers into Market Systems programme to 10 districts in the state.

The programme intends to introduce sustainable irrigation products & practices. It is also likely to generate an additional dollar 7.4 million in annual farming income in the state at the end of the project, with individual benefit of dollar 400 /smallholder farmer household per year. Considerable water savings in agriculture are also expected, amounting to 33.4 million m3 of water preserved for the state during the programme.

Chief Executive of IDEI, Amitabha Sadangi said, “Income poverty affects around 1.3 billion people around the world and is a very big challenge. But simple solutions such as affordable modern irrigation can make a huge difference. We have already helped over 8 million people of farming families enhance their output and standard of living and now we are determined to do the same for tens of thousands of Andhra Pradesh smallholders”.

It is important to mention that the International Development Enterprises-India grant is a part of the Walmart Foundation’s commitment, which was announced last year in the month of September, to invest 25 million dollar (approximately Rs. 180 crore) in charitable initiatives to improve farmer livelihoods in the country over the next 5 years. Under this commitment, 2 million dollar grant to the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics was launched in 2018 with the unveiling of a groundnut processing facility.

Senior Director, Walmart Foundation Karrie Denniston said, “This approach helps to create sustainable livelihoods for farmers by increasing output and helps to protect important natural resources for the future”.