Louis Dreyfus Company initiates new program in India to educate local smallholder farmers on sustainable cotton farming

In 2022, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) launched ‘Project Jagruthi’ in India, to train and support local cotton farmers in adopting more sustainable farming practices, as part of its commitment to empowering smallholder farming communities – in India and around the world – to improve their livelihoods for the long term.

Project Jagruthi was initiated in response to a pink bollworm outbreak that occurred in late 2021 and resulted in significant yield losses for many farmers, due to limited knowledge of pink bollworm management.

As part of the initiative, LDC conducted a series of educational workshops to support cotton farmers in mitigating threats such as pink bollworm and white fly infestations that are affecting cotton crops in India. During the workshops, specific methods were demonstrated alongside technical advice from experts to help minimize yield losses due to pest outbreaks, thereby increasing production and income. Field demonstrations of measures such as pheromone traps were also conducted.

Through the project, LDC has trained more than 2,500 farmers in scientific and technical pest control methods to date and equipped them with over 15,000 pheromone traps. In September 2022, LDC embarked on its second series of workshops across southern and central India, aiming to reach over 7,500 farmers in total across India’s cotton states and distribute 40,000 pheromone traps by the end of the year, to support effective pink bollworm management.

Sumeet Mittal, LDC’s Head of Cotton for India, said: ″LDC is committed to working toward a safe and sustainable future, helping to feed and clothe a growing global population sustainably. Project Jagruthi is a perfect example of what we can do in this regard, and we look forward to ramping up this and other projects to empower India’s smallholder farmers for greater resilience and a more sustainable future.″