India is an agriculture-based country, with agriculture being the primary source of income for more than half of the people. This opens up a lot of opportunities for the country’s food processing industry to expand and thrive.
India’s food processing industry is a new one that has grown in significance in recent years. The availability of raw resources, changing lifestyles, and proper fiscal policies have all contributed significantly to the industry’s growth. The sector benefits the economy by minimising agricultural waste, increasing the country’s GDP from agricultural output, and employing a huge number of people with few skills. Furthermore, food-processing industries contribute to social and community development through numerous Corportae-Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. Let us have a look at five of them.
Britannia
Britannia Industries is by far the Great Indian Middle Class’ favourite food company. The company’s motto is “Eat healthy, think better.” It carries out this credo through its CSR programmes, with a particular emphasis on nutrition and healthcare.
CSR makes a difference in the community by addressing undernutrition and malnutrition through a variety of interventions. Nutritional research and development is an important part of Britannia’s corporate social responsibility. In fiscal year 2019-20, the firm spent Rs. 28.43 crores on CSR projects. COVID alleviation was the primary focus of the company’s CSR in the previous fiscal year.
The majority of Britannia CSR initiatives are dedicated to combating hunger and undernutrition. The dietary regimen includes vitamin and micronutrient-fortified biscuits. The Britannia Nutrition Foundation is in charge of the majority of the activities. Britannia Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has been around for almost a decade. It was founded with the intention of ensuring every child’s right to nutrition and growth. BNF runs long-term, reproducible programmes in several states. Community development is seen as a priority since BNF bears responsibility for the feeding and vitality of the entire community in which it operates.
Britannia’s CSR initiatives in healthcare include reputable facilities that hold cutting-edge technology and offer free or low-cost treatment and medical care.
Nestle says;
Nestlé India Limited, a prominent nutrition, health, and wellness corporation, has been present in India for almost a century. Since its beginning, the firm has modelled responsible behaviour by assuring the well-being and upliftment of the communities in which it operates. The corporation thinks that it is its obligation to provide improved livelihood options for the people that surround its activities.
Nestle concentrates its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities on areas where it can add the most value. These are some examples:
—Nutrition: For a substantial portion of its people, India carries a twin burden of malnutrition. Nestle’s CSR programmes aim to raise nutrition knowledge in communities, with a particular emphasis on schoolchildren.
–Water and sanitation: India is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Many Indians do not have access to safe drinking water. Nestle India’s CSR programmes seek to assist farmers with water-saving measures, promote awareness about water conservation, and give access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
–Rural Development: Nestle CSR has opted to focus on rural growth in order to promote the long-term development of farmers, allowing them to flourish with the firm.
Nestle is fully committed to the mission of ‘improving quality of life and contributing to a healthier future.’ This credo guides the company’s operations, and it is sensitive to the needs of the communities in which it operates. It seeks not only to be sustainable within the community, but also to make a good effect and add the most value to society.
Nestle India concentrates its societal efforts on three key goals: enabling healthier and happier lives for individuals and families, assisting in the development of thriving and resilient communities, and stewarding the planet’s natural resources for future generations, with a special focus on water.
Nestle has joined with MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child as part of its Nestle Healthy Kids Program to realise their common objective of building healthier communities. Adolescents, pregnant women, breastfeeding moms, and married couples are among the four categories targeted by the programme. It aims to create a conducive environment for women by raising knowledge of institutional births, post-natal hospital visits, and family planning. Because malnutrition has such a long-term impact on a person’s life, the initiative takes into account and implements ways to reduce this impact and promote the individual’s holistic development.
Nestle launched a water stewardship CSR initiative with AgSri at the Kabini River Basin in Karnataka to develop sustainable agricultural practises for rice and sugarcane. As agriculture is the largest user of water from the catchment, engaging farmers in ecologically sustainable practises like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and the Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) are helping to reduce agricultural water withdrawals and improve agricultural productivity. These treatments increase output and income by using fewer seeds, less water, and fewer fertilizers, as well as reducing labour and costs.
Nestle created Project Vriddhi as part of its CSR activities to help promote a healthy society and improve the lives of individuals in marginalised areas. Project Vriddhi is a three-year village adoption project launched in 2019 in conjunction with the SM Sehgal Foundation. The initiative aims to improve the livelihoods of 1,500 people in Rohira village in Haryana’s Nuh district.
Nestle’s CSR programmes, which are based on strong principles of openness, honesty, integrity, and justice, are helping to establish a more equal and just society in the country.
Mondelez India Pvt. Ltd.
Mondelez India manufactures and bakes some of India’s most popular snack brands, including Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Bournvita, and Oreo. It has not shied away from its obligation to the population as it works its way into their hearts.
Mondelez India has announced a donation to Hasiru Dala, an NGO that will recycle Multi-Layered Plastic (MLP) trash to generate sustainable furniture boards for use in the creation of tables, benches, and other products. The pilot initiative will turn 600 tonnes of MLP trash every year into ‘WoW Boards’ using technology obtained from start-up TrashCon. Ubuntoo, a worldwide environmental solutions firm, facilitated the initiative.
Given infrastructural limits, one of the major issues in India is recycling multi-layered plastics. While we continue to collaborate with the government to promote collection, segregation, and recycling, we believe it is vital to experiment with and encourage innovative technologies and efforts that can recycle multi-layered plastics at scale in order to address waste management concerns. This one-of-a-kind pilot project recycles multi-layered plastics to produce WoW Boards, which are exceptionally durable and a sustainable plywood alternative for building, construction, furniture, and other applications. We have granted a donation to Hasiru Dala in order to turn trash to wealth, create jobs, and develop a successful business model while tackling the concerns of MLP in a long-term way. The success of this initiative and the lessons learned will generate a blueprint for enterprises in India to emulate for large-scale MLP recycling. “We are really delighted to launch this project,” stated Deepak Iyer, President – India, Mondelez International.
As part of this effort, Hasiru Dala’s extensive network of garbage collecting units will collect MLP debris, which will then be processed and turned at a special factory in Bangalore into recycled ‘WoW Boards,’ a very durable and efficient alternative to plywood. TrashCon, a start-up trash recycling equipment manufacturer, will deliver the technical solution, which will result in very durable WoW Boards that can be utilised for a range of purposes – both industrial and consumer.
During the first wave of COVID-19, the firm gave approximately 140 tonnes of chocolates, cookies, and drinks to the India FoodBanking Network (IFBN) in 20 cities to help relief workers and migrants. In addition, the business provided dry ration packages to around 8600 households in areas near its production locations in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Mondelez India workers also contributed 110,000 meals to the destitute and needy via the Akshaya Patra Foundation through employee donating.
McCain Foods
McCain Foods is a global leader in the frozen food sector and one of the world’s major producers of potato specialty products. The organisation focuses primarily on sustainability and community development in India, contributing to the country’s socioeconomic growth.
McCain Foods’ Project Shakti has organised socially or economically vulnerable women into Self Help Groups, or Mahila Vikas Mandals, which have regular conversations on matters relating to the socio-economic development of group members and the community in general. Project Shakti has supported 45 of these women’s self-help groups, serving about 600 women. It enables members of these Self-Help Groups to engage in a variety of income-generating activities, sell their products, and achieve Sustainable Livelihoods. The profit is divided among the members, and a portion of it is re-invested as capital to boost output. Aside from profit, which varies, the members get consistent labour earnings from these activities and commit to saving a specific amount of money each month, which is then used to provide credit among group members.
The company’s Project Utthan focuses on enhancing small farmers’ livelihoods and improving their general quality of life through appropriate interventions. More than 90% of rural populations in northern Gujarat rely heavily on agriculture and animal husbandry for a living, with over 70% of them being small and marginal farmers. Recognizing the important role McCain India can play in the development of the region, particularly in the alleviation of rural poverty, the company explored a partnership with BAIF Development Research Foundation to jointly initiate agriculture-based livelihood projects in four villages in the Vijaynagar block of Gujarat’s District Sabarkantha, namely Khedasan, Ladivada, Joravarnagar, and Bhankhra.
In India, the business has created a “Smart Farming Program”, which covers Gujarat through Lahaul-Spiti, Punjab, and Rajasthan, and involves over 1000 farmers. Currently, the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) plan is used to cultivate more than a third of the company’s contractual potato production. McCain Foods’ farmers cultivate these crops using drip and sprinkler irrigation, with the goal of producing and delivering higher-quality potatoes to customers while preserving the region’s biodiversity.
During the epidemic, it also expedited digital agricultural management, which allowed it to secure supply continuity and revenue for its farmers from afar.
Parle Products
Parle Products is the country’s major biscuit and confectionery company. It makes the Parle G cookie, which is an all-time favourite chai snack. Not just because of its goods, but also because of its CSR activities, the corporation has a significant presence in people’s hearts.
The corporation gave 3 crore boxes of Parle G biscuits through government organisations in its fight against COVID-19.
Through Olympics Gold Quest, Parle goods assist Indian athletes who have the potential to win gold in the Olympics.
MTV, in collaboration with Parle, started the “Junkyard Project” in 2016, with the goal of addressing the problem of littering, which is rampant in India. The ‘dumping ground’ was employed in the project to convey the anti-littering message. Dump trucks were stationed around Mumbai and Delhi, emblazoned with the words Dunk That Junk. The project gained a lot of support from celebrities and users on social media. The programme was recognised with a Gold medal at the Appies Asia Conference as one of the most effective CSR initiatives in Asia.