SEEDS of SUCCESS STORIES OF IFC’S WORK TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN AGRIBUSINESS VALUE CHAINS CONTENTS SEEDS OF SUCCESS. STORIES OF IFC’S WORK TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN AGRIBUSINESS VALUE CHAINS 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1 INDIA In India’s Jharkhand, A Farmer’s Journey from Subsistence to Surplus............................................. 2 A Sweeter Business for Female Sugarcane Farmers in India’s Uttar Pradesh...................................4 Bypassing Brokers: Creating Safe Spaces for Women Farmers in Tamil Nadu, India.........................6 The Krishi Sakhi Effect: Women Farmers Who Positively Impact Their Communities......................8 BANGLADESH With Hybrid Seeds, Business Blossoms for Women Smallholders in Bangladesh........................... 10 Training and Tech Help Khulna’s Women Farmers Thrive in Bangladesh........................................12 NEPAL How a Solar-Powered Water Pump Is Changing Lives in Makwanpur, Nepal.................................14 How Climate-Smart Training Aids Women Smallholders in Southeastern Nepal.......................... 16 © International Finance Corporation 2019. All rights reserved. 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 Internet: www.ifc.org The material in this work is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. IFC encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portions of the work promptly, and when the reproduction is for educational and noncommercial purposes, without a fee, subject to such attributions and notices as we may reasonably require. IFC does not guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the content included in this work, or the conclusions or judgments described herein, and accepts no responsibility or liability for any omissions or errors (including, without limitation, typographical errors and technical errors) in the content whatsoever or for reliance thereon. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the executive directors of the World Bank or the Governments they represent. The contents of this work are intended for general informational purposes only and are not intended to constitute legal, securities, or investment advice, an opinion regarding the appropriateness of any investment, or a solicitation of any type. IFC or its affiliates may have an investment in, provide other advice or services to, or otherwise have a financial interest in some of the companies and parties named herein. All other queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to IFC Communications, 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433. The International Finance Corporation is an international organization established by Articles of Agreement among its member countries, and a member of the World Bank Group. All names, logos, and trademarks are the property of IFC and any such materials may not be used for any purpose without the express written consent of IFC. “International Finance Corporation” and “IFC” are registered trademarks of IFC and are protected under international law. II SEEDS OF SUCCESS. STORIES OF IFC’S WORK TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN AGRIBUSINESS VALUE CHAINS According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women make up on average 43% of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. Female participation in value chains is critical, yet they still face gender-specific constraints and challenges in owning, accessing, and controlling resources that affect their productivity, livelihood, and income.  These are stories of collaboration, gender advancement, and women empowerment. Our protagonists have many things in common: they are women, they are farmers, and they have benefited from their participation in IFC and its partners’ initiatives in agribusiness value chains. We believe in creating and implementing Gender-Smart Solutions to close gender gaps in the sector, thus increasing agricultural yields and revenues, improving wages, and helping women expand to new, favorable markets. In our experience, supporting women as agents of change positively impacts the well-being of their communities.  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We greatly appreciate our protagonists sharing their experiences and respond to our questions for this booklet. We would also like to express thanks to IFC donors and clients who partnered with us to support the implementation of projects in the region: DONORS CLIENTS “ The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative “ DCM, Shriram, India (We-Fi) “ Olam India, India “ The Government of Korea “ Big Basket, India “ The Government of Australia “ mPower Social Enterprises Limited, Bangladesh “ The Government of the Netherlands “ Supreme Seeds, Bangladesh “ The Government of Japan “ Business Oxygen (BO), Nepal “ Climate Investment Funds “ Saral Urja Nepal (SUN) “ Pilot Program on Climate Resilience “ Sharda Group, Nepal “ The Government of Canada “ Better Life Farming Alliance: Bayer Crop Science, Netafim, Yara Fertilizers, DeHaat, and Bigbasket 1 INDI A In India ’s Jhark hand , A Farm er’s Journ ey from Subs isten ce to Surp lus Rubi Devi manages a Better Life Farming Alliance (BLFA) retail center in Jharkhand, where she helps fellow women smallholders access the equipment and advice they need. Life has not always been easy for Rubi Devi, who used to manage her family’s four- acre tomato farm in the north-central Indian province of Jharkhand. Burdened with household duties as well as those of her farm, Rubi was short on time and lacked the training and job skills she needed to increase her farm yields and income. The Better Life Farming Alliance (BLFA) has helped Rubi turn things around. In a pilot program supported by IFC’s initiatives to empower Women in Agribusiness Value Chains, in collaboration with private sector agri-input companies—Bayer Crop Science, Netafim (and IFC investee client), Yara Fertilizers, DeHaat, and Bigbasket, BLFA has helped Rubi and women farmers like her access better quality agricultural inputs such as seeds, crop protection, and fertilizers and provide access to markets. 2 In regular onsite visits, BLFA staff gave advice prevent them from adopting new farming and and delivered Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) business practices. BLFA will endeavor to provide training, while helping identify higher-paying an opportunity to women smallholders farmers wholesalers to purchase her tomatoes. and empower them economically and socially as producers and entrepreneurs.” The result was an astounding boost in productivity and profits for Rubi’s farm, with annual yields That ambitious goal involves providing a gender- rising from 3.5 metric tons of tomatoes per hectare sensitization and awareness program for BLFA to 18 metric tons. Rubi, however, sensed a bigger extension staff, mobile phone-based e-learning opportunity. The knowledge she received had been services that circumvent barriers to women’s transformative, while other women farmers across attendance of in-person trainings, and directly the region hungered for similar breakthroughs. working with women smallholders through trainings on agricultural techniques, financial She applied to run one of the 5,000 planned literacy, and Agribusiness Leadership Program BLFA centers, and today runs a one-stop shop for trainings. BLFA-approved agricultural inputs and advice on sustainable agriculture techniques. “The increase For Rubi, the results speak for themselves. in yields due to inputs supplied by the BLFA partners “I want other women to join this has encouraged me to start my own Better Life Farming business as well and empower Center,” said Rubi. “This way, I can provide similar support to other women farmers by sharing the themselves,” she said. knowledge I have gained on access and use of better quality agricultural inputs” PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS The value of IFC’s continued support for women has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sponsors of the Better Life Farming Alliance which has exacerbated the challenges women (BLFA) include IFC, Bayer Crop Science, farmers face in accessing key agricultural trainings, Netafim, Yara Fertilizers, DeHaat, and securing markets for their goods, and ensuring Bigbasket. BLFA currently operates in the food security for themselves and their families. low-income regions of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, and works to provide end-to-end farm solutions to smallholders to improve BLFA is working to help women entrepreneurs farm yields and incomes. overcome barriers and be the change makers for other fellow women and men farmers in the agri Project Donors: The Women Entrepreneurs sector, particularly in underserved and remote Finance Initiative, the Government of Korea, geographies. By 2025, BLFA aims to have improved Australia, and the Netherlands the capacity of up to 2 million smallholders through 5,000 farming centers similar to Rubi’s. Mr. D. Narain, Managing Director, Bayer CropScience India said, “Long-standing obstacles faced by rural women - such as limited access to land, credit, inputs or technical assistance-, INDIA | In India’s Jharkhand, A Farmer’s Journey from Subsistence to Surplus 3 INDI A A Swee ter Busin ess for Fema le Suga rcan e Farm ers in India ’s Utta r Prad esh Smallholder Pushpa Devi tends her family farm in India’s north- central state of Uttar Pradesh. When Pushpa Devi assumed responsibility for her family sugarcane farm after the death of her father, the obstacles she faced were daunting. Located in the farming community of Saidapur in India’s north-central state of Uttar Pradesh, the farm had been run for generations according to ancestral farming techniques. Yields were low and intense manual labor – most often performed by women – was required during the growing and planting seasons. Pushpa dreamed of running the farm a better way, but with the land inherited by her brothers, who acted as absentee landlords, Pushpa could not apply for credit or enroll in conventional farmer training programs. 4 Seeking planting advice from neighboring farmers, “The water requirement after crop suppliers, and wholesalers, Pushpa found herself planting on my farm has decreased, restricted by Uttar Pradesh’s male-dominated agriculture community. and soil health has improved,” said Pushpa. “The yield increase has boosted But Pushpa remained determined. When she my income and enabled me to add a joined the Climate smart sustainable sugarcane new tractor to my farm.” production project also known as Meetha Sona, her farm began to thrive. Enrolling in the IFC-supported For shareholders, the empowerment of women initiative alongside 2,000 other women farmers, farmers has translated into added profits. she received training on techniques to improve “We acknowledge the contribution of women soil health, water efficiency, and incorporate smallholders in our sugarcane value-chain,” said mechanization into smallholder operations. Roshan Tamak, executive director of DCM Shriram’s sugar operations, who stresses that the She received coaching that seeks to overcome trainings will continue. “We have decided to deepen the gender-based obstacles she continually faces. our gender engagement to tap into the potential of our Conducted by Indian conglomerate DCM Shriram women smallholders to further improve farm yields (an IFC investee client) and launched with support and incomes.” from IFC’s initiatives to empower Women in Agribusiness Value Chains, as well as Solidaridad DCM Shriram is currently exploring ways to further Asia and Coca Cola India, the training builds on a bolster smallholder incomes. Together with IFC detailed IFC assessment of the roles women play in and other key partners, it is supporting 20,000 India’s sugarcane industry, as well as the barriers that women farmers in sugarcane growing regions to prevent them from assuming leadership positions. adopt dairy farming, a complementary activity to sugarcane farming. Drawing on that assessment, DCM Shriram used women trainers to coach participants on entrepreneurship and financial literacy in addition PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS to sustainable agricultural techniques. The program has been a success, increasing reported The Meetha Sona Unnati program is farm yields among participants by 25 percent. managed by DCM Shriram Limited with support from IFC, Solidaridad Asia, and Coca The value of IFC’s continued support for women in Cola India, and aims to build the capacity agribusiness has been heightened by the COVID-19 of farmers, increase agricultural yields, and pandemic, which has exacerbated the challenges conserve water and improve soil health. DCM women farmers face in accessing key agricultural Shriram is one of India’s largest business trainings, securing markets for their goods, conglomerates, with a strong focus on and ensuring food security for themselves and agribusiness. their families. Project Donors: The Government of Korea For Pushpa, the program has been transformative. and Australia According to her estimates, yeilds have risen from 60 to 100 metric tons of sugarcane per hectare. INDIA | A Sweeter Business for Female Sugarcane Farmers in India’s Uttar Pradesh 5 INDI A Bypa ssing Brok ers: Crea ting Safe Spac es for Wom en Farm ers in Tami l Nadu , India Smallholder Sundarmmal Periyasamy inspects her harvest in India’s southern- most state of Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane farmers in India’s southern-most state of Tamil Nadu often find themselves at the mercy of unpredictable rains, water scarcity and scorching heatwaves. And women farmers in this region face additional hurdles: limited control over assets and incomes, but also the male-dominated agricultural exchanges that are supposed to ensure a fair price for their goods. 6 Like many women farmers in this agrarian region, markets for their goods, and ensuring food sugarcane grower Sundarmmal Periyasamy found security for themselves and their families. it difficult to sell produce at her local Agricultural Produce Market Committee. In these bustling, For BigBasket, the combination of mentoring and state-licensed wholesale markets, farmers are direct purchasing has increased the quality and legally promised a living wage for their goods. In freshness of the goods it sells. “Through our Farmer practice, exchanges are intense, nearly all-male connect program, farmers have been able to increase environments where women like Sundarmmal their income by 10-15 percent,” said BigBasket CEO are often pressured to sell at discount rates to Hari Menon. “At the same time, consumers get fresher commissioning agents and middlemen. produce at competitive prices.” Things changed, however, when IFC client BigBasket is presently implementing other BigBasket – India’s largest online food and grocery methods for empowering women smallholders, store – opened a fruit and vegetable collection including direct pickup of produce for farmers with center in Sundarmmal’s community, a project limited mobility, occasional premiums paid to supported by IFC’s initiatives to empower Women women, and an SMS farming advice service that in Agribusiness Value Chains. builds off the company’s training and capacity building programs. Sundarmmal applied to BigBasket’s Farmer Connect program and received mentoring from agronomists on planting strategies and PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS ways to mitigate climate risks. This training led Sundarmmal to shift from water-intensive BigBasket is an Indian online grocery delivery sugarcane to farming diverse crops such as okra, service. Currently, Big Basket delivers around banana, and radish, helped her manage exchanges 70,000 orders per day across 25 cities. that often prove intimidating and also gain access BigBasket has created a Farmer Connect to crop storage infrastructure. Program which connects over 7,000 smallholders with the supply chain and “My household income has increased customers to provide fruits and vegetables in fresh condition. by around 20 to 25 percent because of crop diversification and the practices I learned,” said Sundarmmal. “These fruits and vegetables consume less water compared to sugarcane and give me quick income.” The value of IFC and BigBasket’s initiative has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated the challenges women farmers face in accessing key agricultural trainings, securing INDIA | Bypassing Brokers: Creating Safe Spaces for Women Farmers in Tamil Nadu, India 7 INDI A The Krishi Sakhi Effect: Women Farmers Who Positively Impact Their Communities Smallholder farmer Simranjeet Kaur shares her story in Fatehabad, district of Haryana (India). Simranjeet Kaur was a struggling smallholder farmer in Fatehabad, district of Haryana (India). Like most women in her village, Simranjeet is involved in rice cultivation activities, where female workers provide a massive source of cheap labor. Despite women’s contributions in farming and livelihoods, they have less access to training, credits, or market opportunities because of inherent gender biases and mobility restrictions. However, Simranjeet’s fortune was soon to be changed. In 2020, IFC and Olam India rolled out the Sustainable Rice Project, a program to help smallholder rice farmers address gender disparity and other challenges associated with paddy cultivation - such as insufficient and inadequate farm yields, poor processing quality, and limited market access-. In collaboration with the Government of India’s National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), this program supports women 8 farmers, identified as “Krishi Sakhis” (Women inputs. Eleven women farmers took this path Farmers’ Friends), with services, training, and self- since the implementation of the Sustainable Rice help group activities. Project. In Fatehabad, Krishi Sakhis like Simranjeet play a Additionally, Olam provides market access to critical role in disseminating project interventions. participants through buy-back of Sustainable Rice “By training farmers and sharing knowledge, Platform (SRP) compliant rice. “By partnering with Women SHGs (Krishi Sakhi) are becoming valuable IFC and NRLM, Indian basmati rice production business partners. Through this project, we became a conduit for landscape-level gender- are ensuring women’s empowerment, gender based social change. Through NRLM’s existing equality, and livelihoods improvement,” says Nitin Krishi Sakhi program, women entrepreneurs Gupta, Vice President Rice & Grains, Olam Agro established businesses around the distribution, India Private Limited. collection, and digitization of farm-level data. Through the Sustainable Rice Project, we shape By joining the Sustainable Rice Project, Simranjeet a win-win agenda: on one side, empowering was trained as an agent of change for her women and expanding income in the community; community. She learned about best practices on the other, creating the critical inputs necessary in sustainable rice cultivation and soft skills for Olam’s digital initiatives, like AtSource, to to better network and lead self-help groups improve the environmental footprint of rice, the in the within her village. “Participating world’s largest Green House Gas (GHG) crop”. Paul Nicholson, Vice President, Head of Sustainability, project put me at an advantage. Olam International Limited. Additional partners After being trained by Olam and IFC supporting the project are Bayer Crop Science, for on the cultivation of 1401 Basmati plant protection, and Netafim, for micro-irrigation Rice, I started to produce good demonstration and trials. quality rice at lower costs. With The value of IFC’s continued support for women the money I saved, I no longer visit has been heightened by the COVID-19 crisis, which moneylenders to finance my children’s has exacerbated the challenges women farmers education, and I can plan for alternate face in accessing key agricultural trainings, securing markets for their goods, and ensuring livelihoods. As I became a project food security for themselves and their families. and ICT champion, I also positively benefited my community by sharing my knowledge on climate-smart PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS sustainable agriculture practices with Olam Exports India Ltd. is a leading food and other 78 women and men farmers.”, agri-business, supplying food ingredients, says Simranjeet. feed and fibre to thousands of customers worldwide With this knowledge, Krishi Sakhis can also develop into entrepreneurs and establish small Project Donors: Korea and Japan shops to offer farm advisory or sell production INDIA | The Krishi Sakhi Effect: Women Farmers Who Positively Impact Their Communities 9 BAN GLAD ESH With Hybrid Seeds, Business Blossoms for Women Smallholders in Bangladesh Smallholder Shahana Begum in the field she and her family leased for farming in Bangladesh’s southern district of Feni. Bangladesh’s low-lying, coastal district of Feni is one of the most at-risk regions in the world when it comes to climate change. But for Shahana Begum, it is home. Shahana and her husband lease a small plot of land in Feni to grow rice and vegetables, feeding their family and earning a modest income to meet household needs. Like thousands of other farming families in southern Bangladesh, they face challenges due to the rising salinity levels in the coastal soil – a trend that is diminishing farm yields and threatening livelihoods. 10 For Shahana, however, yields have been up. 1,300 women farmers trained to adopt hybrid, Output on the land she rents has grown by more climate-resistant seeds and planting practices. than 25 percent since 2016, when she started The company has also trained more than 150 using salinity-tolerant hybrid seeds and attended women smallholders to promote hybrid seeds to a training hosted by Supreme Seed Company other farmers, and now sells mini-packets of more Ltd, an agribusiness firm in Bangladesh that than 150 cereal and vegetable seeds – an offering is supported by IFC’s Pilot Program on Climate designed for smallholders looking to grow a Resilience and initiatives to support Women in diverse range of crops on very small plots of land. Agribusiness Value Chains. “Because of the climate risks, commercial agriculture The value of IFC’s continued support for women is difficult to promote in polder areas,” said Supreme’s has been heightened by the COVID-19 crisis, which Managing Director, A.H.M. Humayun Kabir, has exacerbated the challenges women farmers referring to the low-lying, reclaimed farmland face in accessing key agricultural trainings, common on Bangladesh’s southern coast. “It is securing markets for their goods, and ensuring even more difficult to engage women because of the food security for themselves and their families. social restrictions on their interactions in public spaces. Supreme recognizes the challenges and is working to Use of salinity-tolerant seeds is already standard mainstream women in selected polder regions.” practice for many farmers in southern Bangladesh. But initially, Shahana was unable to access this essential resource because she was excluded from PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS traditional, male-dominated agricultural markets and distribution channels where retailers sold Supreme Seed Company Ltd. is a Bangladesh- these seeds. Instead, women rely heavily on seeds based agribusiness firm that specializes in retained from the previous harvests for subsequent the development of hybrid seeds for rice and planting. Over time, these “held back” seeds lose vegetables, including okra, yard-long beans, their regenerative capacity and are ill-suited to tomato, gourd, and hot peppers. withstand the pressures of a changing climate. Project Donor: Climate Investment Funds “After receiving training from Supreme, we started to use hybrid and stress-tolerant seeds which were high-yielding,” said Shahana. “Now we can grow vegetables and rice year-round, even in water-logged conditions, which has made farming more profitable.” Supreme’s IFC-supported work has so far seen over BANGLADESH | With Hybrid Seeds, Business Blossoms for Women Smallholders in Bangladesh 11 BAN GLAD ESH Train ing and Tech Help Khul na’s Wom en Farm ers Thrive in Bang lades h Pushpita Roy, left, consults her mPower-provided smartphone for information sought by a fellow woman smallholder in southern Bangladesh’s Khulna district. Along the marshy coast of southern Bangladesh, yearly monsoons and increasingly unpredictable weather make life challenging for local farmers. But remaining resilient in an uncertain world occasionally requires just a few taps on a smartphone for smallholder Pushpita Roy. Equipped with a proprietary phone app, internet connection, and training by mPower Social Enterprises Ltd – a program supported by IFC’s Pilot Program on Climate Resilience and initiatives to empower Women in Agribusiness Value Chains –– she seeks advice from agronomists and accesses highly localized weather reports that are tailored for farmers. 12 It isn’t usually like this. Women like Pushpita face Chowdhury added that mPower’s phone app, one of the world’s widest digital gender gaps, with known as the Farmer Query System, has just 58 percent of Bangladeshi women owning meanwhile aided over 60,000 farmers – including mobile phones – 33 percent lower than ownership 8,000 women – in the coastal regions of rates for men. Just 13 percent of Bangladeshi Bangladesh. women are estimated to have mobile internet access. “As a farmer, the lack of growing advice and timely weather Low connectivity rates add to the significant social and legal hurdles women farmers already information was impacting my family experience, including male-dominated farming income,” said Pushpita. “I started using networks and discriminatory norms that make the Farmer Query System to solve accessing credit especially hard for women. my problems with cultivation when Pushpita challenges these barriers with her there was premature reddening of training and tools, and today serves as a trusted the leaves, and I no longer have that information ICT resource in her village, located problem. So now I help my peers with in the southern province of Khulna. Deemed an the Farmer Query System because Infomediary by mPower, she serves as a first point of contact for farmers – especially peer women it works.” smallholders. This entails providing weather advisories that supplement generic Government forecasts, as well as instructions for growing PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS climate-resilient produce including T. Aman and Boro rice, eggplant, chili, mung beans, and mPower Social Enterprises Limited is a social watermelon. enterprise in Bangladesh. Empowering women farmers remains more Project Donor: Climate Investment Funds important than ever amid the COVID-19 crisis, which has exacerbated the challenges women farmers face in accessing key agricultural trainings, securing markets for their goods, and ensuring food security for themselves and their families. “Our unique model of infomediaries as community champions has empowered women smallholders,” said Mridul Chowdhury, Founder and CEO of mPower. “They manage weather risks on farms and build up resilience through techniques they did not know before.” BANGLADESH | Training and Tech Help Khulna’s Women Farmers Thrive in Bangladesh 13 NEPA L How a Solar- Powered Water Pump Is Changing Lives in Makwanpur, Nepal Smallholder Rupy Praja and her four children pose outside their home in Nepal’s Makwanpur region. Setting out from her hillside village, Rupy Praja used to walk two hours every day to access the water she and her family needed for irrigation, drinking and cooking. Rupy’s village, Raksirang, in the remote Makwanpur district of central Nepal, lacked a regular source of water and electricity. The region’s increasingly turbulent weather cycle hardly helped, with extended droughts giving way to sudden, landslide-triggering rains. 14 This environment is particularly challenging for intensely spicy chili that is popular in regional women, who often single-handedly manage their cooking – using drip irrigation and greenhouses. families and farms while men travel to nearby SUN has nurtured the venture, expanding its IFC- cities or abroad to seek out jobs. Rupy’s life began supported work in Makwanpur to include training to get easier when Saral Urja Nepal (SUN), an in greenhouse use and the opening of seedling energy services startup, installed a solar-powered production centers for women farmers. water pump in the center of her village, allowing families to install water taps in their homes for “Many rural communities in Nepal are being doubly hit domestic and agricultural use. Sponsored by IFC’s by low economic opportunities and sharp fluctuations Pilot Program on Climate Resilience and initiatives in weather,” said Aashish Chalise, CEO of SUN. to support Women in Agribusiness Value Chains, “These impacts disproportionately fall on women and the project was funded by Business Oxygen, an IFC children. The use of solar energy, community water client and Nepal’s first private-equity fund. Gender- reservoirs, and smart water management systems are Smart Solutions and the SUN 5P project have helping communities mitigate variations in local helped provide solar powered pumps to distribute water availability.” water for drinking and irrigation purposes to107 homes across seven villages, producing approximately 150,000 liters of water a day. PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS Access to water has meant new opportunities Saral Urja Nepal (SUN) is an energy services and reduced the burden of work – especially for company focused on using solar power to women farmers. “Having a water tap in increase access to electricity in Nepal. IFC my house has allowed me to grow invested in SUN through Business Oxygen (BO2), a part of the IFC’s Global SME Ventures vegetables, which has supplemented initiative with investments from IFC and our income as well as our family’s food Climate Investment Funds’ Pilot Program needs,” said Rupy. “Now we do not have for Climate Resilience. BO2 is Nepal’s first to walk long distances to fetch water.” private-equity fund that has a climate focus and is managed by Nepal-based WLC The value of IFC’s continued support for women Ventures Pvt. Ltd. has been heightened by the COVID-19 crisis, which has exacerbated the challenges women farmers Project Donors: Climate Investment Funds face in accessing key agricultural trainings, and the Government of Canada securing markets for their goods, and ensuring food security for themselves and their families. Following SUN’s access to water initiative, more than 50 local women in Rupy’s town recently came together to grow ghost peppers – an NEPAL | How a Solar-Powered Water Pump Is Changing Lives in Makwanpur, Nepal 15 NEPA L How Climate- Smar t Training Aids Women Smallholders in Southeastern Nepal Smallholder farmer Shanta Karki surveys her family-owned rice field in the Morang district of Nepal. In rural Nepal, property ownership is often a gateway to stability and self-sustenance. But for Shanta Karki, whose small family farm in Nepal’s southeast faced unpredictable weather patterns and prolonged labor shortages, owning land did not provide many rewards. Growing rice entailed grueling manual labor. Most often, she rented her land to tenant farmers at a heavily discounted rate. 16 Today, however, Shanta Karki is growing rice hectare. By introducing simple and affordable on her land again, providing her family with farm mechanization technologies, including additional income. mechanical weeders, equipment that pairs seeds with fertilizer, and direct planting rather than The change came after Shanta attended trainings transplanting rice seedlings, labor requirements held by Sharda Group, a company that runs large- have meanwhile fallen by up to 50 percent. scale rice milling operations. In 2015, IFC partnered with the Sharda Group to support rice farmers in The value of IFC’s continued support for women the Sunsari and Morang districts as part of IFC’s has been heightened by the COVID-19 crisis, which Pilot Program on Climate Resilience and initiatives has exacerbated the challenges women farmers to support Women in Agribusiness Value Chains. face in accessing key agricultural trainings, The capacity building program has focused on securing markets for their goods, and ensuring climate-smart agriculture practices (CSA), which food security for themselves and their families. include techniques for improving crop resilience to climate impacts, lessons in farm management, For Sharda Group, the extra productivity is a and affordable mechanization strategies that can boon for business. “Through the introduction of CSA boost yields and reduce labor. practices and technologies, rice yields on farms for men and women smallholders increased,” said Pradeep “I have learned CSA practices that help Sharda, Managing Director of Nutri Foods, a Sharda Group subsidiary. “This increase in rice increase earnings from my farm,” said production has created new opportunities for the rice Shanta. “I no longer lease out my land. milling industry to source from within Nepal.” Instead, I take on additional land to lease for my own farming.” PROJECT PARTNERS AND DONORS Although women usually perform the most arduous and time-consuming tasks in rice Sharda Group is a Nepali business focused on cultivation in Nepal, they are often barred from large-scale rice milling operations. attending trainings due to obligatory household chores and family decision-making that favors Project Donors: Climate Investment Funds education for men over women. Seeking to redress and the Government of Canada that imbalance, with support from IFC, the Sharda Group CSA trainings have so far reached over 5,500 rice farmers – 3,000 of whom are women smallholders. Training is conducted by a field team that includes 10 women instructors. Sharda Group estimates that its trainings have helped boost seasonal rice yields on the plots of attendees from an average of 3.66 metric tons per hectare to an average of 4.19 metric tons per BANGLADESH | How Climate-Smart Training Aids Women Smallholders in Southeastern Nepal 17 WOMEN IN AGRIBUSINESS VALUE CHAINS AMID COVID-19 The importance of improving women farmers’ livelihoods has been reaffirmed by the COVID-19 pandemic and response. Difficulties in accessing training and markets, and overall limitations to mobility are key reasons for the gaps already faced by women producers, This project is part and have in many cases been exacerbated by of IFC’s continued COVID-19. Supply chain disruptions imperil the investment in livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially those dependent on perishable crops, and empowering women threaten the disproportionate number farmers, who play a of women farmers vulnerable to food vital role in smallholder insecurity. IFC continues to support women farmers in its agribusiness agriculture, yet remain programs even during the COVID-19 a major source of crisis, by developing alternative untapped human sources of income, financing and risk management. potential in developing economies. CONTACT INFORMATION International Finance Corporation 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA tlozansky@ifc.org Srjoshi@ifc.org www.IFC.org/womensemployment @WBG_Gender 18