New Delhi, 23 September, 2020: World’s leading agriculture company Corteva Agriscience has helped over 2,00,000 Indian farmers to "resume work, while staying safe" as the COVID pandemic continues to challenge the demand and supply frameworks and disrupt the livelihood of smallholder farmers.
The company partnered with governments and local communities to ensure health and safety of farmers during the pandemic. It partnered with non-government organizations such as PRADAN, Sewa Bharati and CHD Group, Corteva to support over 200,000 plus beneficiaries during the last few months.
The company set up PPE production unitsin the vulnerable communities of Jharkhand and Bihar,providing temporary employment to women farmers in times of financial difficulty. As a result, it helped in producing over 16 lakh personal protective equipment (PE) and distributed it to farmers across 220 villages.
The company also supported farmers and their families in these regions by providing two meals every day for two months. It provided a total of 145,000 kg of food packaged as survival kits that included other hygiene essentials - supporting migrant workers.
Sharing thoughts on company’s COVID relief initiatives, Dr. Aruna Rachakonda, Marketing Director, Corteva Agriscience, South Asia, said, "We’re committed to enriching the lives of those who produce. Our long-term goal is to improve farmers’ livelihoods and operations while conserving resources and sustaining the land. As these farmers were not able to step out to tend to their fields, demand and supply frameworks were being challenged. Our initiative was targeted to help smallholder farmers and migrant workers resume work, while staying safe."
Corteva formed multiple district and block level WhatsApp groups through which volunteers kept in touch with the communities for new updates and information sharing. Through these WhatsApp groups, the communities received updated information around lockdown rules, special transport arrangements and government care package distribution.
The volunteers also supervised sanitation and transportation of farm products till market yard and undertook health monitoring initiatives in seed and research farms in about 20 villages, through public health outbreak surveillance methodology.
The Corteva team also worked with local government bodies to help run quarantine facilities in the affected communities, and provided PPEs, food and medical facilities at 15 government established quarantine centers.
Corteva Agriscience has a diverse portfolio of agriculture related products - including a balanced and diverse mix of seed, crop protection and digital solutions focused on maximizing productivity to enhance yield and profitability.
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