Akshayakalpa Organic inks pact with BII, Samunnati to provide finance to smallholder dairy farmers

Organic dairy enterprise Akshayakalpa Organic on Thursday said it has signed an agreement with the UK's development finance institution British International Investment (BII), and Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services for financing up to 1,500 smallholder dairy farmers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

The partnership will see BII extend guarantees for new and existing Akshayakalpa Organic smallholder farmers, who are outside of the formal lending ecosystem, to enable them to access formal financing in order to scale up their organic dairy business, according to a joint statement.

This commitment is made through BII's 200 million euros Climate Innovation Facility, announced by the UK government at the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 in Glasgow (COP26), to provide finance for the most pioneering climate solutions in developing countries.

Through Akshayakalpa Organic's engagement, farmers are supported to transition to organic and sustainable and regenerative farming practices to diversify their income streams, which increases milk production per cow by 2.3 times and enhance crop productivity per acre while obtaining organic certification.

''Promoting inclusion and sustainable practices are key pillars of BII's strategy in India. As the UK's DFI, BII is well-placed to provide guarantees through this partnership to improve access to finance for smallholder farmers which will help to sustainably increase their productivity and improve their livelihoods, while helping to mitigate climate impact of the dairy industry in India,'' BII Managing Director and Head of Asia Srini Nagarajan said.

Akshayakalpa Organic CEO and co-founder Shashi Kumar said, ''This association will help us accelerate our plans of providing consumers with the finest organic dairy products while promoting ethical and sustainable farming practices across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. We are excited about the possibilities that this collaboration opens up for the future of agriculture in India.''

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