Walmart Foundation expands support for innovative technological solutions to enable livelihoods for over 300,000 farmers

Grants totaling US$2.78 million given to the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), Cornell University, and Precision Development (PxD)

BENTONVILLE, Ark., and DELHI, India, Sept. 10, 2024 — The Walmart Foundation today announced three new grants totaling $2.78 million to advance technological innovation in India’s agriculture sector. With the Walmart Foundation funding, the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), Cornell University in support of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) and Precision Development (PxD) collectively aim to reach over 300,000 farmers in India.

Together, NEN and PxD will support farming communities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

Through tech-powered interventions, these grants aim to enhance farmer livelihoods, increase market access and promote sustainable agricultural practices, thereby contributing to the Walmart and Walmart Foundation goal of reaching 1 million smallholder farmers by 2028, with at least 50% women, across India's agriculture sector.

“Smallholder farmers are a crucial link to advancing India’s agriculture ecosystem. Our grantees are investing in FPOs to promote sustainable agricultural practices, enable more opportunities for smallholder farmers and enhance access to tech-driven solutions- all of which help farming communities that lack financial resources add to their incomes in a scalable way,” said Julie Gehrki, Vice President for the Walmart Foundation. “We are excited about the tech-based solutions that Cornell University, NEN and PxD will bring to build a more inclusive value chain that bolsters a resilient ecosystem and empowers farmers.”

NEN: Advancing Agri-Tech with AI Solutions in Grain Assessment 

This grant of more than $1,500,000 to National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) aims to develop innovative AI-based solutions for grain assessment. NEN will accelerate the usage of its AI-driven app, to address food security, as well as help farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra assess the quality of soybean grains to gain better market access. In addition, NEN's project will aim to integrate the AI model into other agri-tech platforms, serving as a Digital Public Good (DPG) for agriculture, which is proposed to enable future training and quality assessment for grain varieties.

Shekar Sivasubramian, CEO – Wadhwani AI (a program of the AI unit of NEN), says, “With support from the Walmart Foundation, we are focused on empowering smallholder farmers with enhanced knowledge and awareness of grain analysis and quality pricing. Through the new grant, we will provide customized advisory support to 200,000 farmers through 330+ FPOs in the two states, enabling real-time quality assessment before their products reach markets.”

Cornell University: Enhancing FPO Visibility through 'My FPO Connect' Database

The Walmart Foundation has awarded a grant of $990,000 to Cornell University in support of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). This grant to Cornell University aims to further develop its FPO platform, which was launched as a hub at its Center of Excellence (CoE) in Delhi in August 2021. New projects include accelerating the web-based 'My FPO Connect' platform, a single-point source for data on over 33,000 FPOs. The platform supports Producer Organizations by building their online presence and making them easily discoverable for relevant stakeholders. It allows FPOs, researchers, and stakeholders to access comprehensive information through an interactive dashboard, offering insights on crops produced, sponsoring agencies and financial data, among others. The database will also be available in regional languages to increase access and understanding of FPO success models. 

Prabhu Pingali, TCI Director, said “Accelerating the growth of FPO models is vital to enable India’s smallholder farmers to leverage opportunities, increase market access, and improve farmers’ incomes. The new funding made possible by the Walmart Foundation will further support the understanding, development and promotion of effective farm-aggregation models. It will also help in preparing comprehensive databases, such as ‘My FPO Connect’, which will serve as an invaluable resource for all stakeholders interested in supporting FPOs.”

PxD: Harnessing Technology to Boost Customized Digital Advisory 

Precision Development (PxD) will continue working with smallholder coffee farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to offer customized advisories. This $260,000 grant is the second PxD has received from the Walmart Foundation. The new grant will institutionalize PxD's digital advisory service, Coffee Krishi Taranga (CKT), with the Coffee Board of India to provide farmers with ongoing access to cultivation information, price updates and coffee industry developments. It will also support the integration of a voice-based, provider-agnostic weather forecast service into CKT, and develop videos on key agricultural practices for the Coffee Board.

PxD's digital agricultural services have previously led to consistent engagements, with regular polling results indicating considerable knowledge adoption. With 90,000 farmers onboard, CKT continues to adapt its offering to meet farmers’ evolving needs. The new grant further aims to reach over 130,000 smallholder farmers.

"We appreciate the continued support from the Walmart Foundation. This grant will be instrumental in empowering farmers, 50% of whom will be women, by providing them with the tools and resources needed to adopt sustainable practices, strengthen coffee-producing communities across Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and have the effect of building their incomes.” said Gagandeep Kaur, Head of Programs, PxD.

“CKT has reached over 125,000 farmers across the South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. The regular broadcasting of information on priority practices has been highly beneficial. Additionally, the option to record questions and receive expert answers, along with access to daily price information, has been a hit among the farmers!” said, Shri B.Shivakumaraswamy, Deputy Director (Extension), Planning & Coordination Cell, Head Office, Bengaluru, Coffee Board of India.

About Philanthropy at Walmart

Walmart.org represents the philanthropic efforts of Walmart and the Walmart Foundation. By focusing where the business has unique strengths, Walmart.org works to tackle key social and environmental issues and collaborate with others to spark long-lasting systemic change. Walmart has stores in 19 countries, employs more than 2 million associates and does business with thousands of suppliers who, in turn, employ millions of people. Walmart.org is helping people live better by supporting programs to accelerate upward job mobility for frontline workers, advance equity, address hunger, build inclusive economic opportunity for people in supply chains, protect and restore nature, reduce waste and emissions and build strong communities where Walmart operates. To learn more, visit walmart.org.

About Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition is a long-term research initiative that develops and assesses innovative, food systems-based approaches to reducing poverty and improving nutrition and livelihoods in the developing world, with a specific focus on India. TCI’s main office is located on Cornell University’s campus in Ithaca, New York, where it is part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is hosted by the Department of Global Development. TCI also has satellite offices in Mumbai and New Delhi, India, where the Institute’s Center of Excellence is based. To learn more, visit tci.cornell.edu.

About Prevision Development

Precision Development (PxD) is a global non-profit organization that harnesses technology, data science, and behavioral economics to build digital services that empower people to change their own lives. We build low-cost information systems at scale to share knowledge with the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged people. Our pioneering model of digital development is implemented in collaboration with

About NEN 

National Entrepreneur Network aka Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Wadhwani AI) is an applied AI non-profit organization based in India. We build AI solutions for underserved communities and have over thirty projects across domains such as healthcare, agriculture, and education.

Working closely with the government and civil society organizations, we aim to augment large-scale public programs bringing artificial intelligence to communities that can benefit from it the most. Our key partnerships include the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoAFW), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Education (MoE), and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTy) amongst others. Since our inception in 2018, we’ve reached nearly 10 million people and are working in over 15 States and Union Territories.