Walmart Foundation announces $4.8 mn grants to Digital Green, TechnoServe

The Walmart Foundation has announced $4.8 million in grants to Digital Green, a development organisation, and TechnoServe, a non-profit organisation, to enable programmes that help small farmers access advanced agriculture technology, training on sustainable farmer methods, enhanced access to formal markets, and skill and capacity building for farmer producer organisations (FPOs).

The grants are part of the Walmart Foundation’s commitment made in September 2018 to contribute $25 million over the next five years to improve farmer livelihoods in India, an official statement said.

With this announcement, the Walmart Foundation has contributed over $10 million out of its promised $25 million, the statement added. 

Walmart India also announced it would increase its direct sourcing from farmers to 25% of produce sold in its Cash & Carry stores by 2023.

“We hope the Walmart Foundation’s commitment, alongside the work of Walmart and Walmart India’s direct farm sourcing teams, will help drive real momentum in sustainable agriculture development in India and we encourage others to join us in our commitment,”said Kathleen McLaughlin, president, Walmart Foundation and EVP, chief sustainability officer, Walmart. 

Digital Green is a New Delhi-based development organisation that empowers small farmers by harnessing the collective power of technology and grassroots-level partnerships. 

The Walmart Foundation’s grant of $1.3 million to Digital Green will help it develop Farmstack, a digital data platform designed to provide services and enhance the livelihoods of Andhra Pradesh farmers, specifically targeting lower-income communities in FPOs, the statement said. 

US-based TechnoServe, a non-profit organisation operating in 29 countries, works to build competitive farms, businesses and industries. 

TechnoServe will use its $3.5 million grant to help develop and train up to 20 FPOs and facilitate market linkages by setting up procurement and aggregation systems. 

The grants are expected to create a meaningful impact for more than 81,000 farmers including more than 29,030 women farmers (many of whom are organised into FPOs) in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, the statement said.