COVID has made it difficult for NGOs and CSR implementation agencies to continue on-ground work. But at the same time, it has also given opportunities to these agencies to bring innovation in their work strategy and find alternative ways to continue their work in such crises.
In this interview with TheCSRUniverse, Tanager’s Country Representative in India, Amit Kumar Singh shares how his organisation tweaked its work strategy and adopted new work practices to continue engagement with the communities. An expert in agribusiness and market development strategy, Singh carries a rich and diverse experience of over one-and-a-half decades. In this conversation, he also talks about CSR investment opportunities in the agriculture sector and also highlights Tanager’s key CSR projects in this area.
Scroll down to read the full interview.
Interview with Amit Kumar Singh, Tanager’s Country Representative in India
Q: COVID outbreak has made ground-level work very difficult. What are the key challenges that you are facing towards implementation of your projects?
A: Our projects primarily work with small and marginal farmers and farmers’ collectives (FPOs) to strengthen their capacity for production and marketing of their produce. During the lockdown, the field activities were halted, which resulted in losing critical time to support the FPOs in marketing of the Rabi crops. On-the-ground training has become more difficult.
One of the main challenges at the farm level is to ensure the safety and well-being of the communities where we work, as well as our own staff. We also want the communities to continue to be engaged.Now a days, the community members are worried that if somebody is coming from outside into their village, they are exposed to the risks of contacting COVID-19. The project also works with a lot of stakeholders like government departments, KVK, Agriculture universities, buyers and service providers. During this pandemic time, it has become more difficult to arrange physical meetings for planning and advisory.
Q: COVID has brought strict protocols. How have you changed the strategy for implementation of your projects?
A: COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to make modifications in the strategy. This also enabled us to think creatively and use digital initiatives, which are safe and reduce the risk of spreading the virus. We used digital platforms for providing advisory services to the farmers. We also used online meetings and training platforms to strengthen the capacity of the team. We had to review the project strategy and planning and alter the same to align as per the current context. The strategy also had to look at the potential scenario and include alternative plans in case the situation changes.
Q: What are the emerging social needs where you plan to focus more in the months to come?
A: The current COVID-19 scenario is very dynamic and we are regularly assessing the community needs so as to be prepared to respond to specific needs. We would continue to follow the safety and precaution norms while working with the community like social/physical distancing, use of face masks and washing hands/using sanitizers. Currently the project interventions have re-initiated with the community which is helping us to remain focused and assess the situation on a real-time basis.
Q: What are the key projects that you are implementing in India now? Please share names of your partners along with briefs of key projects that you implemented in the financial year 2019-20?
A: Some of the key projects that we worked listed below:
Andhra Pradesh Farmer Market Readiness Program Phase I and II
The programme is funded by Walmart Foundation.Andhra Pradesh Farmer Market Readiness Project Phase I worked with Farmer Producer Organization to equip more than 17,000 with improved access to markets, support for gender equality, and training on good agricultural practices.
Phase II continues this work, with an expanded reach to 13 FPOs, including seven new FPOs, and includes new crops and improved support for gender equality. Our main goal with this work to make FPOs market ready, viable businesses beyond the life of the project.
Shubh Mint
Shubh Mint is a five-year Mars Wrigley-funded effort to increase the yield of mint oil and mint-related incomes for over 22,000 smallholder mint farmers in Uttar Pradesh India. The project works to ensure the sustainability of the mint industry and works to achieve productive and equitable livelihoods for both male and female farmers in the supply chain.
Shubh Mint promotes a combination of agronomic and distillation practices to produce higher quantity and quality mint yields, improve the socio-economic condition of mint farmers, build and strengthen Farmer Producer Companies, improve outcomes for women, and reduce water usage.
Mangal Moongfali
This project funded by Mars Wrigley and IFAD works with 3,000 peanut/groundnut farmers in Gujarat to help increase their incomes by improving productivity and reducing the likelihood of aflatoxin in their peanut yields.
Siddipet Horticulture Project
The Siddipet Horticulture Improvement Project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme, supported small holder women farmers in Telangana to adopt organic cultivation techniques, reach improved urban markets for their produce and reduce their dependence on high cost chemical inputs.
Q: What are the social opportunities where corporate investment can bring a major change?
A: Corporations have a large role to play in bringing about change in Indian agriculture. Here are some points of engagement:
- Investing in technology-based interventions to increase the productivity
- Initiatives that enable new research and tech to reach the farm level
- Increased funding for agriculture-based programs that will result in better economic outcomes for farmers
- Corporate business investments that help Farmer Producer Organizations and/or Farmer Producer Companies access the buying potential of their supply chains
