Charles hosts meet on report on rural livelihoods in India

Britain's Prince Charles has hosted a high-level meeting to discuss the outcomes of a new report commissioned by the British Asian Trust charity which will put farmers at the forefront of improving India's rural livelihoods and guarantee its future food security.
The British Asian Trust led by founder and president Charles launched its new Rural Livelihoods Fund to address the issues faced by smallholder farmers in India, following the findings of its recent study.
Nearly 200 million people in rural India live in poverty and most of them are smallholder farmers.
In fact, India has 25 per cent of the world's small farms - 118 million in all - and more than 50 per cent of Indians rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

A majority of Indian smallholders' farmers are trapped in poverty, earning less than USD 1.25 per day, with a significant proportion of them being women.
The trust's initiative will put farmers at the forefront of improving rural livelihoods in India.

Each farmer supported by the trust will be a powerful and valuable partner in the efforts to guarantee India's future food security and reduce poverty across the country.
Through a combination of funding, expertise, partnerships and thought leadership from the private and not-for-profit sectors, the fund aims to, improve farmer incomes by enabling better access and links to market, train farmers and agriculture workers in processing and packaging skills, to boost product value looking at innovative solutions to scale up rural livelihoods across India.

The roundtable discussion at Clarence House brought together government, private sector, NGOs, agricultural thought-leaders as well as representatives from the Anthony Pratt Foundation, which has supported the launch of the fund with a USD 1 million donation.
Richard Hawkes, CEO, British Asian Trust said, "In a country rich with creative and dynamic solutions to its own challenges, we have the opportunity to support locally led solutions to drive the most meaningful change for India's smallholder farmers.
"By scaling proven solutions, testing innovative approaches and creating powerful partnerships, we are well poised to reduce poverty and make a truly transformative difference to the challenges facing India's smallholder farmers," he said.

The event also highlighted the 'Loop' initiative which was launched in 2015 by the trust's partner Digital Green.
The initiative was launched in Bihar and aims to directly raise farmers' incomes by enabling better links to markets. 'Loop' uses innovative technology to help farmers aggregate their produce to reduce costs and realise higher prices.
The Loop project works to create greater market access and improve transaction efficiency for farmers at a few targeted, key points in the value chain in order to create higher net earnings for their households.