Tanager is committed helping smallholder farmers in Andhra Pradesh access organized buyers through Collective Marketing. With grant funding support from the Walmart Foundation, Tanager is helping farmers streamline the selling of their produce to reduce reliance on private lenders.
On October 14th, between 8 and 9:30 am EST, Tanager, Mars Wrigley, and Symrise will present an interactive virtual Side Event during the 2020 Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium (hosted by the World Food Prize) focused on how to effectively and humbly manage projects with multi-stakeholder partnerships, using the award-winning Shubh Mint project as a case study.
In the latest round of Walmart Foundation grants, international nonprofit organization Tanager will receive more than $2.6 million to extend its successful Farmer Market Readiness Program and help farmers in Andhra Pradesh further expand their knowledge, resources and reach.
Tanager is committed to helping smallholder farmers access a nutritious and diverse diet. To that end, in India, Tanager is working with Self-Help Groups as part of the Shubh Mint project to encourage households to adopt the use of kitchen gardens to improve household nutrition, including advice on starting and managing their gardens and providing on-going support as the gardens are developed.. Currently, there are around 700 smallholder farmers who have raised kitchen gardens, growing 5 types of seasonal vegetables with the support of Tanager’s extension teams and Self-Help Group supervisors.
Covid-19 has significantly impacted the livelihoods of many smallholder farming communities in India. Disruptions in supply chains including logistics and transportation, limited access to agricultural inputs, and the inability to sell produce are been the biggest challenges that farmers face. Tanager, drawing upon its decades of experience in agricultural value chains is working on adapting strategies to support the small and marginal farmers across all its projects in India.
Deepening their work in the peanut and cashew value chains, Tanager and HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation (Helvetas) today announced the launch of a seven-month research project to study aflatoxin prevalence in the peanut and cashew value chains in northern Mozambique.
In India, Tanager partners with smallholder farmers, government entities, corporations, and foundations to help increase farmer income through robust training on Good Agricultural Practices, support for gender equality, strengthening of Farmer Producer Organizations, and streamlined access to markets. COVID-19 and the restrictions put in place by the government have brought new challenges to implementing this work. However, Tanager’s close connection to the communities where we work is helping us make progress on commitments without risking the safety of farmers or staff.
Lajjawati is a smallholder farmer from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, India who has overcome enormous personal and professional adversity on her journey to prosperity. When Lajjawati’s husband was killed in an accident, she was left caring for her small family farm – and her eight children – alone. Her economic situation was made worse by the pervasive problem of gender inequality in India.
In India, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Groups (FPGs) are important mechanisms for smallholder farmers to organize their efforts, receive valuable training, connect to buyers of their produce, reduce the influence of pernicious middlemen, and increase income. Tanager’s expertise in the support and growth of FPOs has helped tens of thousands of farmers improve their social and economic outcomes. However, as valuable as engagement with FPOs is for smallholder farmers, many of these organizations still face a persistent problem of gender-inequality – especially at the leadership level.
Rathalavath Vijalaxmi is a smallholder farmer from Dachakpally village in Telangana, India. She farms three acres of land along with her husband and three sons. As a young farmer cultivating vegetables like tomatoes, okra, beans, ridge gourds, and chili, Rathalavath often struggles to earn enough from selling her crops to make ends meet for her family. Prior to becoming involved in the Siddipet Horticulture Project, her farm produced an average yield of five to six metric tons.
