5,000 farming households in Davangere to benefit from Cargill’s agriculture development and diversification intervention program



New Delhi, 10 August 2016:  More than 2,000 farming households in 23 villages across Davangere now have greater opportunities for income generation thanks to Cargill’s agriculture development and diversification intervention program. The program, started in the year 2015 trains’ farmers on agronomics, business efficiency in farming, crop diversification and methods to improve productivity. It aims to train over 5000 farming households over next three years.

5,000 farming households in Davangere to benefit from Cargill’s agriculture development and diversification intervention program


 The program is implemented by Cargill’s NGO partner, Technoserve aims at providing capacity building support to farmers.

In addition to the training program, 41 demo fields, set up for agriculture production and crop diversification, have been made available to the farmers. The plan is to set up over 100 such demo fields by 2017. Based on the overall assessment of the demo fields, crop models suitable for the region will be identified and further promoted through the program.

“The program has been very well received by the farmers and the encouraging enrolment numbers in phase 1 clearly show the farmers’ interest in learning agronomics and advance farming practices,” shared Shivtej Sandhu, Senior Manager, Technical Operations, TechnoServe India. “The trainings primarily cover guidance on crop care activities like training on fodder management for cattle and dairy farming, crop rotation, cover crops, soil enrichment, pest management and such.”

According to Jan Bosman, Managing Director, Starches and Sweeteners business, Cargill India, “ With the demand for food growing due to the rise in population and spending power of the consumers, there is a need to upskill the farmer and introduce him to newer farming practices and technology so that he can get better crop yield per acerage. Through Cargill’s agriculture development and diversification intervention program in Davangere, we plan to train over 5000 farming households on best practices in farming and crop diversification  over next 3 years.”


About Cargill India

In India, Cargill’s operations started in 1987. It has businesses in refined oils, food ingredients, grain and oilseeds, sugar, cotton, animal feed and trade structured finance. Cargill Foods India, markets leading consumer brands of edible oils such as Nature Fresh, Gemini, Sweekar, Leonardo Olive Oil, Rath and Sunflower brand of hydrogenated fats. It also markets wheat flour under the Nature Fresh brand name. The Animal Nutrition business of Cargill provides animal feed and premix and nutrition for aqua, dairy and poultry. It markets animal feed and premix under the brands such as Provimi, Purina, Citura and Cargill. The Grains and Oilseed crush business originates grains & oilseeds at 240 storage locations.  It employs more than 2,500 employees working across offices and plants and a network of warehouses and depots.


About Cargill

Cargill provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people thrive by applying our insights and 150 years of experience. We have 149,000 employees in 70 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work.