Potato farmers: PepsiCo organises 'road show' in Kasur

In order to promote sustainable farming practices (SFP) in Punjab, PepsiCo is aiming to expand SFP across 7 million acres of land, which will encourage responsible agricultural practices, improve crop yields and livelihoods of growers.

In this connection, the company organized "Sustainable Farming Programme Road Show" for its potato farmers located in district Kasur. The programme is a part of PepsiCo's "Next Generation Agriculture" strategy, which aims to drive progress in making agriculture more resilient, intelligent and inclusive. The company launched this programme in 2016 mainly with the potato farmers.

It engages growers with farms of all sizes and types around the world in order to encourage continual improvement in sustainable farming practices, ensuring respect for workers' human rights, enhancing growers' capabilities, addressing health and safety protocols. The company works with farmers to provide education in the field of agronomy, fertilizers, irrigation, plant protection techniques and new technologies, supporting them to adapt best practice to fit the crop and local circumstances.

In Kasur, the SFP Road Show showcased global best practices in sustainable farming, so that the potato growers could adopt these practices and techniques at the farm level in order to become more sustainable. The event consisted of video screenings imparting knowledge about the company's commitment to sustainability, as well as demonstrations of high efficiency irrigation systems (HEIS), including drip and sprinkler systems, and their benefits for both crop-yields as well as for the environment. The demonstrations enabled growers to see how sustainable practices improved both quantity as well as quality of potato crop yields.

The event was attended by 40 growers, which also talked about the importance clean water, sanitation and hygiene. It showed demonstration on waste management techniques and stressed upon better living conditions for farm workers through better pay and housing accommodation.

"Engagement with farmers is the driving force behind our sustainable agriculture programme. The purpose of opening this demonstration farm to other local farmers is to enable peer-to peer learning and promote the wider adoption of sustainable farming practices," Zahid Saleem, Head of PepsiCo Agriculture Supply Chain, said while talking to Business Recorder here on Wednesday.

In Pakistan, the company is growing potato on 20,000 acres of land and out of it 25 percent is based in Kasur. Around 200 growers are in contract with the company to implement sustainable farming practices.

"They are using 100 percent locally produced six different varieties. In Punjab, the company has installed weather stations in all three regions to alert the farmers about weather condition and guide them about different steps towards getting a good yield," Saleem said.

He claimed that they were paying US $40 million directly or indirectly to the potato growers.

"Drip irrigation system had installed over 20,000 acres of land during the last three years. It has helped save half of the water, which is not needed by potato crop. At present 10 percent of the potato received by the company is grown with the exact amount of water it needed and this number is increased year on year basis," he added.