AAK sustainability report 2018

39 Smallholder engagement in soy As part of our responsible sourcing approach AAK Kamani, our joint venture in India, has committed to actively include smallholders into our supply chains. This is one of the cornerstones of our Policy for Responsible Sourcing of Vegetable Oils. At the end of 2018, AAK Kamani signed a Memo- randum of Understanding (MoU) in the SMART project in Maharashtra, India. This stands for State of Mahar- ashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation and is a productive partnership for Climate Resilient Agriculture headed by the World Bank and the Government of Maharashtra. The key objectives of the project are: Supporting value addition in the post-harvest segment of agricultural value chains; Developing a mechanism for productive alliances involving various stakeholders in agricultural supply chains; Improving the current policy and regulatory frame- work in the agribusiness sector; Developing marketing and credit linkages with community-based organizations (CBOs) like farmer producer companies, cluster-level federations and farmer groups; Improving the efficiency in agricultural supply chains through private sector partnerships that can be scaled up through project interventions. AAK Kamani’s role in the project is to engage in the community-based purchasing of soy as well as groundnut through the SMART model. This creates a more direct supply chain, increases traceability and ensures improved control over quality and food safety requirements. On the other hand, the system empowers smallholder farmers to directly engage with buyers and to become part of contract farming agreements. The system also strengthens the local infrastructure that enables long-term capacity building for smallholders. AAK Kamani has started the partnership with the Government of Maharashtra and the farmer producer companies in 2018 in order to increase the engagement during the planting season starting in April/May 2019. We are looking forward to deepening this partnership and seeing the results during the harvesting season in November 2019. 39