LAHORE: Engro Fertilizers Limited, Engro Foundation and the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Aid and Trade (DFAT) have successfully trained more than 4,000 smallholders so far, including 600 women, on the use of quality certified seed.
Additionally, the project has developed approximately 290 enterprising small farmers, 124 among whom are women, to produce their own quality farm-saved seed for further exchange, distribution and selling among the fellow farmers in nearby villages.
Co-funded by Engro Fertilizers Limited and DFAT, the Partnerships and Value Expansion in Seeds Value Chain (PAVE) project aims to build capacities of smallholders to become high-skilled seed multipliers and become part of the seed supply chain, as well as using the certified seed in their regular cropping to earn higher incomes.
For this successful project, Engro Fertilizers Limited and Engro Foundation have also received an international award at the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan.
Sharing his thoughts on this achievement, Engro Fertilizers CEO Nadir Salar Qureshi said, “At Engro Fertilizers, our goal is to promote food security in Pakistan by empowering smallholder farmers to implement sound agricultural practices and to equip them to overcome barriers of entry in the marketplace. PAVE is a much-needed initiative in this direction.”
He added, “AREA 2019 recognizes some of the most impressive business practices in the region, and we are humbled to be named alongside some very laudable sustainability initiatives.”
PAVE successfully completed its first year of operations in March 2019 and is running under the leadership of Engro Fertilizers’ Crop Sciences Division in partnership with Engro Foundation and Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), Canada – an implementing partner in the project.
Regarded as the top corporate social responsibility (CSR) awards in Asia, AREA is organized annually by Enterprise Asia, a leading non-governmental organization for responsible entrepreneurship in Asia. AREA aims to recognize and honour Asian businesses and leaders for championing sustainable and socially responsible business practices.
