The PepsiCo Foundation has announced a partnership with the global poverty-fighting organisation Care with an $18.2 million grant to tackle gender inequality in the agriculture sector.
The grant will provide 5 million female farmers and their families around the world with education, resources, and economic support to help them increase their crop yields, incomes and access to nutrition locally.
The partnership is part of a broader effort by PepsiCo to support a more sustainable food system by empowering women in its own agricultural supply chain.
PepsiCo and Care are also launching a global campaign called "Closing the Crop Gap" to give women a platform to tell their own stories about the challenges they face in agriculture.
Women In Agriculture
“As a business rooted in agriculture, PepsiCo recognises the power of agriculture to lift people out of poverty and feed families," said Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO and The PepsiCo Foundation Chairman.
“She Feeds the World will help millions of small-hold women farmers get the resources and training they need to increase their crop yields, access markets and gain more reliable sources of income.”
According to PepsiCo and Care, women account for nearly half of all agricultural labor in developing countries and work as much as 13 hours more per week than men, often without training, proper tools, like seeds and fertilisers, and rights to their land.
Research shows that if female farmers had the same access to resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30%, potentially reducing the number of hungry people in the world by up to 150 million.
To meet the nutrition needs of a growing global population, CARE has launched She Feeds the World, the largest food and nutrition security program in its 70-year history, benefitting 50 million female farmers and their families in the developing world.
"Grounded in 70 years of experience developing impactful and proven models, Care's She Feeds the World is a bold approach that aims to scale what works," said Michelle Nunn, Care's President, and CEO.
"We know that we cannot do this work without engaging forward-thinking private sector partners, like The PepsiCo Foundation, to catalyse systemic and lasting change."
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
