Article information and share options
What can a social enterprise that helps India’s smallholder dairy farmers earn more and lower their carbon emissions learn from a team of Swiss Re volunteers?
India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk. Of its 70 million dairy farmers, 70% are women. While milk is by far the biggest source of protein consumed by volume in India, it has a carbon footprint of 2-2.5 kilos of CO2 per kilo , and the average small-dairy farmer spends nearly 4.5 hours a day finding, cutting and transporting a dwindling supply of fodder.
Offered by the Swiss Re Foundation in association with BOOKBRIDGE , the Shine Program helps social start-ups turn their solutions into scalable business models by offering access to Swiss Re experts and a grant to implement their business plan.
In 2021-2022, Shine India participants worked with Hydrogreens Agri Solutions to further develop its business model of growing carbon-negative fodder in low-cost, micro-climate-controlled grow houses.
A win-win for farmers and for nature
Hydrogreens founder Vasanth Madhav Kamath and Shine participant Abhas Bhushan of Swiss Re Global Business Services India lay out the environmental and economic challenges faced by Indian dairy farmers and how this collaboration helped Hydrogreens strengthen the case for its climate-friendly fodder cultivation.
Also featured: Aakriti Srivastava, founder of the dairy farmers’ collective Bahula Naturals Pvt Ltd (link to market for farmers supported by Urmul Seemant Samiti and Desert Rerource Centre) and dairy farmer Chota, who rely on Hydrogreens fodder stations to feed their herds in Rajasthan.