Underscoring
its ESG focus and commitment to sustainable business practices, Welspun India
Limited, is supporting BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) and organic cotton
(non-GMO) as part of its WelKrishi program.
In
association with government and international organizations, the initiative is
committed to educating and assisting the farmers associated with Welspun in
sustainable agronomic know-how, post-harvest handling, market linkages, access
to finance, and awareness on social issues. All administrative costs are borne
by Welspun.
Dipali
Goenka, CEO & Jt MD, Welspun India Limited, commented that, sustainable
cotton farming is the key to unlocking a radical transformation across the
textile value chain in the interest of environmental conservation while lifting
millions of people out of poverty by providing a more stable income and
improved working conditions.
Under
the initiative, Welspun has set up farm field schools to train farmers in
sustainable agronomic know-how and equip them with the necessary technological
skills. Besides education and awareness-building, it is providing non-GMO
cotton seeds to organic farmers at a subsidized rate of 25-50%.
Welspun has also rolled out
Sourcetrace, a complete farm management solution, designed to empower the
farmers with visibility into the entire agriculture value chain from the field
to the market. Besides alerting the users about issues with the crop, the app
delivers expenditure information to the farmers while enabling seamless audits
of the area under cultivation.
Further,
the initiative saw the brand offering financial support to farmers to deploy
water-saving farming equipment, contributing INR 8,000 per farmer for sprinkler
and INR 20,000 per farmer for drip irrigation system. Since 2017, the WelKrishi
project has empowered over 15,000 farmers and 75,000 farm workers across more
than 375 villages in Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat to sustainably produce
more than 20,000 metric tons of cotton.
Source: APN News
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