The Walmart Foundation and ASI Launch the Sunhara Prayas Project for Smallholder Farmers

Development Program Will Build on the Success of Sunhara Walmart

Building on the success of the Sunhara Walmart project in Uttar Pradesh in India, the Walmart Foundation and Agribusiness Systems International (ASI) announce the launch of the Sunhara Prayas project in five districts of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The project aims to help over 6,000 smallholder farmers—80 percent of them women—develop better production and marketing systems.

The Walmart Foundation has supported the project with $1 million and partnered with ASI for project implementation. Bharti Walmart, the joint venture between Bharti group companies and Walmart group companies for wholesale cash and carry operations in India, will monitor and review the project on behalf of the Walmart Foundation.

The two-year initiative will focus on empowering women farmers and farm workers in the two states by addressing social and market barriers that constrain their economic opportunities. The project will work with women primarily in vegetable markets, and with men in citrus and mango markets. In working with men and women, the project will comprise two separate, but linked, streams of activities to maximize impact with each gender that is appropriate to the culture of rural northern India.

Specifically, Sunhara Prayas will help form producer groups for crop aggregation, access to finance and market positioning; conduct agricultural extension and technical assistance to improve production and competitiveness; and implement women’s empowerment activities to address gender inequities and barriers and create market linkages between buyers, suppliers and supporting service providers.

Sunhara Prayas builds on the success of Sunhara Walmart. The two-year, $350,000 Sunhara Walmart project, which ended in February 2013, used market-based approaches to strengthen the role of women farmers in horticulture and handicraft value chains in Uttar Pradesh. Women in the project increased their incomes by more than 30 percent and increased access to credit by more than 60 percent. More than half of the over 2,000 women beneficiaries reported increased awareness of their rights and opportunities, and increased influence and decision-making power within the household.

About Philanthropy at Walmart

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are committed to helping people live better through philanthropic efforts. By operating globally and giving back locally, Walmart is uniquely positioned to address the needs of the communities it serves and make a significant social impact within its core areas of giving: hunger relief and nutrition, sustainability, career opportunity and women’s economic empowerment. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are leading the fight against hunger in the United States with a $2 billion commitment through 2015. Walmart has donated more than 1 billion million meals to those in need across the country. To learn more about Walmart’s giving, visit .

About Bharti Walmart

Bharti group companies and Walmart group companies have set up a joint venture company, Bharti Walmart Pvt Ltd. that has established wholesale cash-and-carry stores and back-end supply chain management operations in India. Bharti is one of India's leading business groups and Walmart is the world’s leading retailer. Currently, Bharti Walmart operates 20 "Best Price Modern Wholesale" stores in eight states across India. The first wholesale cash-and-carry store “Best Price Modern Wholesale�? was opened in Amritsar in May 2009. A typical "Best Price Modern Wholesale" store stands around 50,000 square feet and sells a wide range of fresh, frozen and chilled foods, fruits and vegetables, dry groceries, personal and home care, hotel and restaurant supplies, clothing, office supplies and other general merchandise items. "Best Price" stores are located in Amritsar, Zirakpur (Near Chandigarh), Jalandhar, Kota, Bhopal (two stores), Ludhiana, Raipur, Indore, Vijayawada, Meerut, Agra, Lucknow, Jammu, Guntur, Aurangabad, Bhatinda, Amravati, Hyderabad and Rajahmundry.

About ASI

Public-private community partnerships have been a hallmark of ASI’s work, and our engagement with the Walmart Foundation began in 2011. Founded in 1991 as an affiliate of , ASI is a nonprofit consulting organization that provides technical services in support of private sector development. ASI uses a market-driven, systems approach to identify constraints and opportunities in the economic environment. We then research, design and implement interventions that empower market actors to invest in value chains to sustainably improve productivity and profitability. ASI and ACDI/VOCA have been operating in India since 2004 and, together, have projects in approximately 40 countries.

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