AGRICULTURE & RURAL DEVELOPMENT
We are working with farmers to plant the seeds of a prosperous future by helping them better understand their soil, irrigation, fertilisers and seeds to maximise their harvest. Initiatives to enhance their understanding of other aspects of their businesses, like the packaging and marketing of their products, have also been put into action.
These measures will ensure that farmers, including those who are women, are able to maximise their productivity while also empowering them with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their market.
Women Farmers
supported in Sinnar and Nashik through
BISLD in 2019-2020
Widowed Farmers
in Osmanabad supported from
2019 to 2021
National Farmers’ Day, or Kisan Divas celebrations in Maharashtra and Gujarat, in collaboration with Finolex Industries on 23rd December, 2021
Rural development in the tribal communities of Kolli Hills in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu
Rural development in the tribal communities of Kolli Hills in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Centre for Rural Development)
To ensure a better life for tribal communities, we have collaborated with the Centre For Rural Development (CFRD) to initiate rural development projects at Kolli Hills in Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu. We signed an agreement on January 14th, 2023, in the presence of NV Bala, President, HR Communication and CSR, Ashok Leyland; Mr Xavior, Secretary, CFRD and M Rizwan, the local Finolex Industries representative, along with Sachin Kulkarni and Team MMF.
The project was inaugurated on January 20th, 2023, in the presence of Krishna Balaji, Regional Manager, Finolex Industries Ltd, Tamil Nadu; Mohamad Rizwan, Finolex Sales Representative, Salem, Tamil Nadu; and Mr Xavior, Secretary, CFRD.
We are grateful to N V Bala for his introduction and support towards starting intervention in the tribal communities of Kolli Hills. This initiative benefits 10 Gram Panchayats in Kolli Hills by empowering its tribal communities and supporting its primary and high schools.
The objectives of this initiative are:
- To ensure a better life for the tribal community in Kolli Hills.
- To render skill training to 300 disadvantaged youth and women and assist them with gaining trade and employable skills so that they can access viable employment by the end of the project.
- To enable 300 disadvantaged youth and women to have a viable livelihood source or a job placement to obtain a better income that improves their living standards by the end of the project.
- To improve water and sanitation facilities in Primary and Middle Schools in Kolli Hills. This will help create a healthier atmosphere and ensure dignity for the school children.
Agreement with BAIF to upscale support to tribal women farmers with skill training and livelihood opportunities in Silvassa, Gujarat
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Shapoorji Pallonji Pvt Ltd, BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development)
It is a known fact that women experience gender inequality issues across the world in varying degrees and need support. When you look at the larger canvas, women from tribal communities in a third world country have it far harder than their compatriots. They need our support at many levels to bring an uplifting change into their daily lives.
So we have upscaled a fairly new initiative in Silvassa, Gujarat, to support tribal women farmers with training in farming and livelihood opportunities. This project has been a collaboration with Shapoorji Pallonji Pvt Ltd and on-ground implementation partner BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development (BISLD) since 2021-2022.
Agreement with BAIF to upscale support to tribal women farmers with skill training and livelihood opportunities in Silvassa, Gujarat
The project was implemented for over a year and improved agricultural practices of 60 women farmers who further sensitised around 300 women farmers on efficient farming practices. It promoted farm mechanisation with women farmers at the village level and non-farm livelihoods through mushroom cultivation among 150 women from landless as well as small and marginal farming households.
In order to implement a sustainable approach to this project, we plan to build a cadre of 5 women changemakers who will build the capacity of 110 other champion tribal farmers. We plan to promote improved agricultural practices of creeper cultivation, floriculture and vegetable farming, and register these farmers with micro, small and medium enterprises for mushroom production.
For this purpose, we signed an agreement with BAIF on February 9th, 2023, in the presence of VB Dyasa, Regional Director – West Zone, BAIF; Mrs Rajashree Joshi, Program Director, BAIF; Abhishek Pandye, Chief Program Executive, BAIF – Gujarat and Team MMF. Our objective is to train women farmers in new techniques of mushroom cultivation and support them with market sales so that they can earn a livelihood.
Team FIL, HGS and ground partners from Ramanagra district
Integrated school and village development program in Ramanagara District, Bangalore
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
At Mukul Madhav Foundation, we are committed to bettering the lives of rural India. So we look for ways to support the infrastructural development in villages.
On October 28th, 2022, we signed an agreement with Samarpaka Seva Trust in Bangalore for the integrated school and village development program in the Ramanagara District in Bangalore in the august presence of – and with support from – Dr C N Ashvathnarayan, Minister of IT & BT, Government of Karnataka; Mrs Ritu Prakash Chhabria, Managing Trustee, Mukul Madhav Foundation; Dr Avinash Menon, District Collector, Ramanagara; Digvijay Bodke, CEO, Ramanagara; Natarajan Radhakrishnan, President and CIO, Hinduja Global Solution (HGS) school; Shilpa Harsh, Senior VP, HGS schools in the Ramanagara District along with Team Samarpaka and Team MMF.
This project will support the Magadi Block of the Ramanagara District in building 41 toilets at 9 government schools, installing 7 RO plants – 2 in schools and 5 in the villages – and providing 254 desks and seating arrangements at 6 government schools.
We have begun these inaugurations and are happy that our efforts will transform rural communities into more comfortable and safer places.
Rural development in the tribal communities of Kolli Hills in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Centre of Rural Development)
We have collaborated with the Centre for Rural Development to initiate rural development projects at Kolli Hills in Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu. We signed an agreement on January 14th, 2023, in the presence of N V Bala, President, HR Communication and CSR, Ashok Leyland; Mr Xavior, Secretary, CFRD; Mr Rizwan, the Finolex Industries representative from Namakkal; and Sachin Kulkarni with Team MMF.
We are grateful to Mr N V Bala for his introduction and support towards starting intervention in the tribal communities of Kolli Hills.
This initiative will benefit 10 Gram Panchayats in Kolli Hills by empowering its tribal communities and supporting its primary and high schools.
Integrated village development talk at the school
The objectives of this initiative are:
- To ensure a better life for the tribal community in Kolli Hills.
- To render skill training to 300 disadvantaged youth and women and assist them with gaining trade and employable skills so that they can access viable employment by the end of the project.
- To enable 300 disadvantaged youth and women to have a viable livelihood source or a job placement to obtain a better income that improves their living standards by the end of the project.
- To improve water and sanitation facilities in Primary and Middle Schools in Kolli Hills. This will help create a better, healthier atmosphere and ensure dignity for the school children.
Coconut breaking for the solar light
Illuminating tribal villages in rural districts of Maharashtra
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
As part of an ongoing initiative since 2017 to support rural villages with illumination, we have recently brought Non-Conventional Energy Source to support rural and tribal families in Maharashtra. We provided 20 streetlights in Vadawali and Sange Nane villages in the Palghar district to create a safe pathway for villagers after sundown.
We have, in the past, also supported…
- 1,248 families with solar lights and a solar pump in the tribal villages of Palghar and Gadchiroli.
- 250 families in 4 wadis in Panawadi with a solar water pump to pump out water from the dam to various other places.
- 10 high mast lamps to Khadki Gram Panchayat (100 km from Pune) to support the village hereby impacting 10,000 villagers.
- Umed Parivar, a differently abled home in Pune, and a home for the children of sugarcane labourers in Pathardi, Ahmednagar, with a solar water heater.
- Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre in Khadki, Pune, with a hydrotherapy pool to support veterans in their therapy.
- 40 solar streetlights in Sonale and Shele villages in June 2022.
On January 13th, 2023, we illuminated the pathways and common areas of Sonale and Shele villages in Palghar with 36 streetlights in the presence of the Sonale village sarpanch, Dr Prabhakar Sawant; school teachers Pravin Charoskar, Bhagwanta Kondar and Sachin Patil; the two Shele village sarpanches, Mrs S J Bhidse and Kiran Kavte; and Vivek Shinde, Sr. Executive, Sales at Finolex Industries Ltd.
Cold storage facility provided to farmers in Ahmednagar – Agriculture
(Backed by Finolex, Supported by Gaurinand Farmers Producer Organisation)
Gaurinand Farmers Producer Organisation (GFPO) is an Indian non-government company involved mostly in agriculture and allied activities and currently operates in Shani Shinganapur, Ahmednagar. They approached us with an appeal for cold storage in December 2022 to support farmers by enabling them to store seeds during the crop season for future use.
We signed an agreement to collaborate with GFPO for this purpose, on December 31st, 2022, in the presence of Nitin Bankar, Director Gaurinand Farmers Producer Company Ltd; Suresh Bankar, Former Trustee of Shani Shinganapur Devasthan Trust; Bhausaheb Landge, Progressive Farmer; Yogesh Raut, Area Sales Manager, Finolex Industries Ltd; and Amit Bankar, Finolex Retailer.
Cold storage Agreement signing
The objective of this collaboration is to help 450 farmers in and around Shinganapur with the following:
- Farmers cultivating crops like pulses, cereals, oil seeds and onion seeds can store their agricultural produce in this facility.
- The cold storage facility maintains the moisture, colour and germination of agricultural produce for longer periods, thus maintaining its quality and extending its life span.
Chiars donated by FIL MMF at Gram Gaurav Prathishthan Pani Panchayat
Donation of toilet units and plastic chairs to farmers in Pune
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd)
We donated two individual toilet units and 30 plastic chairs to the Gram Gaurav Prathishthan Pani Panchayat, Khalad, Pune, in the presence of Dr Sonali Shinde, trustees, members of their staff, the local representative from Finolex Industries Ltd, Nilesh Ghule, and our MMF representative, Jitendra Jadhav.
These chairs can be used by the farmers who attend the training sessions on organic farming techniques and new concepts at the venue.
National Kisan Divas celebration in Nashik, Ratnagiri and at Bojadra village in Gujarat
#FinolexNeAnalaPaniShetaPikaliSonyavani
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development, Agriculture Department of Ratnagiri and Golap Gram Panchayat)
At Mukul Madhav Foundation, we play a vital role in the lives of farmers and their families. We celebrated National Kisan Divas by organising a few notable events across the country where we offered support to farmers.
Kisan Divas is the day to honour the passion and sacrifices of our farmers each year. We at Finolex Industries Ltd and Mukul Madhav Foundation believe that we have to take care of their social and economic well-being by offering them access to the most recent agricultural research and techniques.
Farmers and beneficaries given spray pump and seeds.
Together, we have empowered farmers by helping them to better understand their soil, irrigation, seeds, fertilisers, water conservation and storage of agricultural produce to make the best use of their harvest.
We also offer women farmers, agriculture students and children of farmers education scholarships, livelihood opportunities and food.
We are inching closer to achieving our UN Sustainable Development Goals #1 (No Poverty) and #2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030.
We observed Kisan Divas in Nashik on December 23rd, 2022, by signing an agreement with BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development (BAIF Livelihoods) for project SATHI – Catalysing Sustainable Ecosystem and Economic Wellbeing of Rural Women in Trimbakeshwar, Nasik. We intend to train 100 women farmers in the field of agriculture.
The objectives of the project are
- Empowering Women Farmers
- Training and Capacity Building
- Entrepreneurial Incubation & Support
- Mobilisation, Communication & Outreach
- Quality of Life Management
- Facilitating convergence with ongoing government schemes
The celebration took place in the presence of 250 women farmers, Padma Shri Rahibai Popere, the village sarpanch, Team BAIF, the Regional Manager of Finolex Pipes, Vishwajeet Hargude, and Team MMF.
On December 24th, 2022, we celebrated Kisan Divas in Bojadra village, near Masar in Gujarat by offering 50 small farmers their farming needs.
After our recent survey and meeting with individual farmers of Bojadra village, the farmers and Bojadra Gram Panchayat requested us to support farmers having less than three acres of land with their farming needs.
So, on the occasion of Kisan Day, we distributed fertilizer sprayer pumps, and seeds of wheat and pearl millets to 50 small farmers in Bojadra, near the Finolex Industries plant at Masar, Gujarat.
The event was attended by the village Sarpanch, farmers and the Gujarat representatives of Finolex Industries Ltd, Sanjay Ugale and Nitul Barot.
The village Sarpanch expressed his gratitude to Finolex Industries Ltd for their work towards the development of the village. He added that it was a matter of pride for Bojadra village from Jambusar Taluka to receive support for the first time and hoped for our continued support for the progress of the farmers and the village.
We also celebrated Kisan Divas at Golap village in Ratnagiri on December 24th, 2022 in collaboration with Agriculture Department Ratnagiri and Golap Gram Panchayat by arranging a workshop for the vegetable farmers in the vicinity. With this workshop, we aimed to educate farmers about new cultivation techniques and the importance of using organic fertilisers and pesticides.
This informative workshop was attended by 150 vegetable cultivating farmers and dignitaries such as Ajay Shende, Agricultural Development Officer, Ratnagiri; Dr Sunil Ghavale from Coconut Research Centre, Bhatye, Ratnagiri; agricultural officers from Madhav Bapat Taluka, members of Golap Gram Panchayat and the representatives of Finolex Industries Ltd and Mukul Madhav Foundation.
Ajay Shende and Dr Sunil Ghavale offered their valuable guidance on organic farming and the use of pesticides. They also lauded the presence of women farmers in this program. The workshop was followed by a question and answer session that marked active participation by the farmers, who were delighted with this knowledge-sharing session.
At the end of the workshop, we distributed pouches of vegetable seeds to the farmers of the villages near Golap, bringing approximately 39 acres of land under cultivation. The session was followed by lunch.
The members of Golap Gram Panchayat, the agriculture officers and the farmers from Golap thanked Finolex Industries Ltd and Mukul Madhav Foundation for our whole-hearted efforts to empower the farmers with our initiatives.
Action Aid and Team MMF interaction done with 60 families
Enabling sustainable livelihoods for the tribal communities in the Vadodara district
We organised an orientation programme and formal inauguration with the on-ground implementation partner, Action Aid, of our project to enable sustainable livelihoods towards the general well-being of tribal communities in the Vadodara district, Gujarat.
This year-long project will cover the following objectives:
- To directly benefit 300 families with livelihood support, skill building and linkage to government schemes and entitlements
- To indirectly reach out and benefit a population of 1,500 scheduled tribes across 10 villages in three blocks of the Vadodara District
- To support 60 families with individual and collective livelihood opportunities
- To support 20 youths with a vocational skilling programme that will empower them to be gainfully employed
- To support at least 50 per cent of the families with a livelihood support and skilling programme that could increase their family income by 30 per cent
The orientation program held at Vadodara on December 21st, 2022, was attended by the Vadodara village sarpanch, the team from National Rural Livelihoods Mission, women, youth, community leaders, local journalists, ActionAid Gujarat Team and the representatives of Finolex Industries Ltd and Mukul Madhav Foundation.
Inauguration of Central Agriculture Testing Laboratory in Solapur
(Backed by Finolex Industries Ltd, Supported by Madha Welfare Foundation)
We collaborated with Madha Welfare Foundation for one-time infrastructure support to construct a Central Agriculture Testing Laboratory in Solapur.
Madha Welfare Foundation and Vitthalganga Farmers Producer Organisation have jointly started a new project to fortify the farmers of the locality by building a Central Agriculture Testing Laboratory.
This project will enable farmers to test their soil and water for better yields. This is an integrated project on a cooperative basis in Western Maharashtra which will not only benefit farmers from Solapur districts but also from Pune, Osmanabad, Satara, Sangli and Ahmednagar districts. This initiative will support 25 per cent of the agricultural sector and in turn, the major farming districts in Maharashtra state.
Dignitiries at the opening of Agriculture testing lab
The initiative was launched in the presence of Milind Shambharkar, District Collector; MLA Shri Babanrao Shinde; MLA Shri Sanjaymama Shinde; Shirish Deshpande, IPS Solapur; Dilip Swami, CEO ZP Solapur; Nitin Dharmik, Excise Officer Solapur; Balasaheb Shinde, District Agri Officer, Marathe Pomegranate Research Centre, Solapur; Ajit Venkataraman, CEO, Finolex Industries Ltd; Vishwajeet Hargude, State Head: Sales and Marketing, Finolex Industries and Team MMF.
This initiative will enable the implementation of many more activities and projects in Western Maharashtra. Such as
- Training for farmers at the agriculture testing laboratory
- Training women farmers to use fertilisers and natural farming methods
- This training can be made available to farmers from Solapur, Osmanabad, Satara, Sangli, Latur and Ahmednagar
- There is scope to store agricultural produce and transport it to other parts of India
- Linkages with other government bodies like Solapur Agriculture Department, National Research Centre on Pomegranate and farmer producer companies pan-India
- Post-harvest management, value addition and improving the knowledge of stakeholders for increasing production and marketing of agriculture products
