Pepsi collaborates with farmers for water conservation

PepsiCo India, the country’s leading food & beverage company, has announced the successful completion of its community water initiatives in Panipat, Haryana. The project has two legs—water recharge structures aimed at improving the water availability for the neighbouring community and direct seeding of paddy that helps reduce water consumption by one-third in paddy cultivation.

According to company officials, the projects will benefit nearly 200 families in and around Panipat and save 220 million litres of water in 2010.

Sanjeev Chadha, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo India, said they had been working closely with the people of Panipat under the Waste to Wealth program started in 2007. The programme was benefiting 100,000 people.

PepsiCo India started out in Panipat by assessing the farmers’ needs and designing a water project accordingly. As a part of the venture, PepsiCo has constructed four ponds with induced recharging system that would enhance ground water recharge in three villages — Babarpur, Gudha and Ganjbar.

With PepsiCo’s pioneering initiative of the Direct Seeding Methodology (DSM), a total of 4.7 billion liters of water was saved in 2009 alone. DSM helps save as much as 30 per cent water in paddy cultivation and also helps reduce cost for the farmers by up toRs 1500 an acre.

This initiative has been introduced over 75 acres in Panipat in 2010 and will help save 45 million liters of water. With concerted efforts, PepsiCo aims to cover 200 acres in Panipat, thus saving close to 180 million liters of water in the next two years.

Haryana Agriculture University (Hissar) and other institutions are also participating in agricultural extension initiatives in these villages. PepsiCo teams will continue working in Panipat, forming women’s self help groups and other initiatives to ensure that the community was mobilized and the improved water availability had the maximum impact.