FROM UNNATI TO SEEDS
The roots of the SEEDS programme lie in the Meetha Sona Unnati project (2016-2023). Under the Meetha Sona project, Solidaridad partnered with Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia, The Coca-Cola Foundation, the International Finance Corporation and DCM Shriram Ltd. (a leading Indian business conglomerate in the sugar supply chain). The project operated in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Its goal was to support sugarcane farmers in adopting better agronomic practices and improving yields. Farmers were also helped to use water more efficiently through drip irrigation, trash mulching and the introduction of new cane varieties. In addition to an average yield improvement of 20-25% among early adopters in the field, the project avoided 108 billion litres of water use.
The programme has helped strengthen safe working conditions for thousands of migrant sugarcane workers, while equipping farmers with regenerative practices that protect soil health and secure their livelihoods for the future.
Saloni Goel, Senior Director, Sustainability & Value Creation, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia
The SEEDS programme builds upon the Meetha Sona project by adopting a comprehensive approach, balancing environmental stewardship with ethical labour practices to create a thriving sugarcane industry that aligns with modern sustainability standards. (For more on the evolution of the programme see: Seeds of Change: Sustainable and ethical engagement in decent sugarcane). Current partners in the SEEDS programme include Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Baramati Agro Limited. The programme covers the mills from which The Coca-Cola Company sources sugar in Maharashtra.
THE SEEDS IMPACT, SO FAR
In Maharashtra, India, sugarcane is hand-cut by migrant workers. They travel long distances away from their homes to earn money, to support their families. They often work in groups of 10-14 people. The risks at work are significant: lack of safety gear (such as gloves), first-aid kits and lack of access to shade and rest areas and safe drinking water. In India’s tough climatic conditions, these are critical gaps.
The SEEDS programme is helping address these deficiencies for the sugarcane workers in the three partner mills’ sugarcane sourcing areas (known as command areas). Over a period of two years, the programme has equipped migrant workers with a better understanding of and access to personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. The key feature of the SEEDS model is designing interventions ‘with’ farmers and workers, rather than ‘for’ them. It has also implemented actions such as the installation of reverse osmosis water plants in the mill command areas, provision of shade and rest areas, and bathing and changing facilities for women. These actions have helped address specific problems highlighted by the workers during regular conversations with them.
As a result, the workers and their families now have access to clean drinking water, shade and rest areas on the farm, and separate bathing and changing facilities for women. For the children of migrant workers, access to schooling prevents academic disruption as a result of seasonal migration.
Earlier, we used to drink water from the well. With SEEDS [programme], we get clean water to drink, hand gloves, goggles and gumboots for our safety at work. Now, we don’t fall ill often.
Kailash Mohod, a cane cutter from Akola, who travels every season to work in the sugarcane fields of Kannad, in Maharashtra.
Each mill has its own Decent Work Champions, who act as liaisons between the mill management and the workers, relaying concerns to the management and raising awareness of occupational health and safety and workers’ rights.
IMPROVING FARMING PRACTICES WITH REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
In the last two seasons, the SEEDS programme has directly trained more than 4,000 farmers in regenerative agricultural practices. These include ratoon management (the practice of harvesting multiple crops from a single sugarcane planting by encouraging regrowth from the existing root system), intercropping, mulching, soil testing and reduced use of chemical inputs. Demonstration plots were set up in all three mill sourcing locations to showcase the benefits of regenerative agriculture to farmers.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
“Respect for human rights is central to how Coca-Cola does business globally, guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights which place the dignity and well-being of people across the agricultural value chain at its core,” says Saloni Goel, Senior Director, Sustainability & Value Creation, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia. “In Maharashtra, this commitment takes shape through SEEDS, our partnership with Solidaridad, where we are working directly with farming and migrant worker communities to help ensure that progress on sustainability is felt in the fields and in people’s daily lives.”
The focus is now on systems that can maintain these gains. SEEDS will continue to build its model of decent work and on-farm sustainability towards the goal of responsible and profitable production for both farmers and sugarcane workers.
SEEDS challenges the traditional understanding of a corporate-CSO partnership. It goes beyond the usual definition of sustainability to bring decent work at the front and centre of the programme design. Solidaridad believes in the market as a lever to push for systemic change, and SEEDS is a step in that direction.
Shatadru Chattopadhyay, Managing Director, Solidaridad Asia.