Coca Cola’s CSR initiative is enabling reverse migration in Uttarakhand and is looking at increasing livelihood opportunities for over 500,000 farmers by 2025 with its Fruit Circular Economy initiative.
Coca Cola launched the ‘Apple Unnati’ project in the state, with Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies Pvt Ltd as its implementation partner, in the year 2018.
Also Read: CSR: JSPL Foundations Serves Devotees in Rath Yatra Festival at Puri
Coca Cola’s Fruit Circular Economy initiative in India aims to aid the Indian agro-ecosystem and Unnati is the flagship project under the initiative. Through its Unnati projects, which covers 5 fruits – Mango, Apple, Orange, Grapes and Litchi and priority commodities like sugarcane, Coca Cola is aiming at a productivity increase of up to 5X for farmers.
“The country’s average apple productivity is nearly half of the global average. Uttarakhand, despite its favourable climate and vast available land for greenfield apple cultivation, has a productivity of 3-4 tonnes per hectare per annum, which is half the nation’s average productivity,” said Dr Aditya Panda, Senior Manager- CSR and Sustainability, Coca Cola INSWA.
Also Read: What is the transformational journey of Alkem Laboratories? – India CSR
That’s where Unnati Apple comes in, with a larger objective of making India self-sufficient in apple production, make modern technology available to farmers at a lower cost, and help hill farmers settle in their native villages, he added. (Financial Express)
