PAINTING THE ORCHARDS RED

Coca-Cola India's Project Unnati is rejuvenating the agriculture ecosystem with its focus on efficient farming practices like ultra-high density plantation, drip irrigation, etc. This has helped apple farmers in Uttarakhand significantly raise their productivity

- Naina Gautam

Back in 2011, when Coca Cola India Private Limited (CCIPL) launched Project Unnati—as part of its environmental, social and governance commitments —to support the agricultural ecosystem in the country, food security did not seem as big a concern as it does now. However, things changed in the wake of rising global economic, geopolitical and environmental concerns. Resource optimisation became the key word as stakeholders started paying attention to farm productivity, food wastage, weak supply chain, lack of resources, etc.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, more than 40% of the food loss in developing countries occurs at the post-harvest and processing levels. CCIPL is working with farmers in India to address the issue of low farm productivity, poor technology adoption and fruit wastage by harnessing higher productivity potential, both at the farm as well as the processing level, says Rajesh Ayapilla, director, corporate social responsibility and sustainability for India and the southwest Asia region for CCIPL. Project Unnati’s focus on ultra-high density plantation and drip irrigation has led to substantial increase in quality, productivity and profitability per unit of land. So far, CCIPL has worked on varieties of orange, apple, grapes, litchi, mango and sugarcane in various states under the project.

In 2018, CCIPL launched Project Unnati Apple in Uttarakhand to promote production of apples. It partnered with Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies Private Limited (IDHT) as its implementation partner for the project.