Corporate Responsibility

Taking forward our commitment to produce more and improve farmers' lives, Project SHARE Sustainable Harvest - Agriculture, Resources, Environment) enables farmer engagement in sustainable agriculture. The four-year pilot program was launched in 2009-10 in partnership with the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP), a not-for-profit organization with one of the world's largest networks of agriculture and allied sector professionals. With the help of activities such as agriculture and extension services, innovation and skill up-gradation the project is helping the 10,000 farmer beneficiaries achieve higher yields and higher income.

Recognizing the importance of rice and wheat in global food security, Monsanto Company pledged $10 million to improve yields in these crops as part of its commitment to sustainable yield. Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program is the result of that pledge, established in 2009 in honor of two of the world's most pre-eminent rice and wheat breeders: Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr. Norman Borlaug. The primary objective of this prestigious fellowship program is to develop highly educated rice and wheat plant breeders who can serve as future agricultural leaders. As part of round three, globally 12 scholarships were awarded this year - 6 of which were from India.

Akshaya Patra Foundation, implementing one of the world's largest school-meal programs, partnered with Monsanto Fund to strengthen nutritional support for the government's Mid-day Meal program in Jaipur, Rajasthan. This partnership enabled establishing farming infrastructure to provide nutritional vegetables for the Mid- Day Meal program covering more than 150,000 students in 1,400 government schools in and around Jaipur. As part of this pilot initiative, vegetable infrastructure spread across 9 acres of fertile land near Govindgargh in Jaipur was set up to enable cultivation of over 30,000 kgs of carrot, beetroot, brinjal, okra, among others. With the intention of providing nutritious vegetables even during off-seasons, solar dehydrating plants were installed which facilitate storage of vegetables. Green houses have been set up to allow cultivation of vegetables that need special agronomic conditions. In its first year, the project established a saving of Rs. 3 lac on vegetable bills, trained 100 farmers on various farming techniques and enabled practical exposure and education on nutrition to 1,755 students.

Monsanto Fund's partnership with the Society for Educational Welfare and Economic Development (SEED) to improve the earnings of 100,000 small-holder farmers and women through better access to micro-credit and in farm and non-farm income generation in Chhattisgarh is one amongst our important commitments to improve farmer livelihoods.

The program implemented across 1,000 villages in 12 Blocks of Rajnandgaon and Dantewara districts of Chhattisgarh, worked on empowering underprivileged communities, thereby allowing them to augment their household income and also participate in the nation's development process. The project commenced with awareness creation and dissemination of information to the tribal communities through various education and communication activities on income generation, followed up by formation of 9,000 SHGs/farmer groups for collective economic development. The members of these SHGs were equipped with entrepreneurship skills and financial knowledge by organizing cluster level training programs.

Based on the ground conditions and community inputs, the many trades identified for these groups for setting up micro-enterprises and are encouraged to engage in - farming, horticulture, dairy, poultry, piggery, goatery, tailoring and stitching, forest produce processing and basket weaving. Facilitation of credit linkages are expected to continue beyond of the purview of the project.

In 2009, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were severely affected by floods in South India - the worst damage that can happen to soil quality and thereby agriculture. Continuing with the Company's relief efforts, Monsanto Fund entered into a partnership with the NGO Access Development Services (ADS) to work on an extended rehabilitation project in the two largely agrarian and highly fertile states. Working in 20 villages of Mahbubnagar and Raichur districts in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively, the threeyear project aims to rehabilitate some of the worst affected farmers by repairing their losses in terms of sand casting and soil fertility restoration, forming Farmer Producer Groups to conduct agriculture training and federating them in to Producer Business Groups (PBGs). As established by ADS in other parts of the country, the PBGs will be trained and strengthened to become distributors for seeds and fertilizers, taking the co-operatives model a step further.

Bharti Foundation's flagship initiative, Satya Bharti School Program, reaches out to over 30,000 children, with particular focus on the girl child, from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds by offering them access to free quality education through its 236 village primary schools and one senior secondary school. Through the partnership with Monsanto Fund, teacher training programs were conducted for a period of one year for 72 Satya Bharti Primary Schools across the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, covering more than 400 teachers and 15,000 children.

Compatible Technologies International (CTI) initiated a Fellowship program to support students pursuing M. Tech. studies in Technology and Development at CTARA (Center for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas) IIT Bombay. Monsanto Fund, with the common vision of improving the lives of rural households around the world, supported two CTI Program fellowships at CTARA. Graduates from this program are expected to lead development of rural India through professional engagement in Government, Non-Profit and Corporate CSR sectors. Some of them may also turn social entrepreneurs.

United Way of Mumbai, in collaboration the with NGOs, Action for Food Production (AFPRO) and Forum for Rural Development (FORD), partnered with Monsanto Fund, to improve lives of small and marginal farmers in 14 arid zone villages in Andhra Pradesh through strengthening agriculture practices and governance activities. The project focuses on capacity enhancement in identified Gram Panchayats to better access and leverage government schemes to improve agricultural production and livelihood of small and marginal farmers in the project areas. The project has positively impacted more than 1,330 families and 5,700 beneficiaries.

United Way of Mumbai and Monsanto Fund also successfully completed a three-year project aimed at ensuring food security for 5,000+ underprivileged households in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra initiated in 2008. The concept of kitchen gardens has been well accepted among women. They are now growing various vegetables and fruits in their backyard and fields and are more confident on self development with food and nutrition security. They also practice better hygiene and sanitation habits. Adolescent girls are now aware on menstrual hygiene and women have been educated about proper health care during pregnancy and reproductive child care.

Sikshana Foundation, committed to improving the educational standards in the public education system partnered with Monsanto Fund on a Literacy Enhancement project in Karnataka. The Project focuses on improving academic standards – ability to read and write, basic computation and expression as per the minimum learning levels defined by the Department of Education, thereby improving learning levels of students in rural primary government schools in the state.