Mason training is provided at two different levels. The first level was for ‘basic training’ targeted at existing labourers on construction sites who wanted to gain a trade – advancing and specialising in masonry. The ACF course takes them through technical parameters and provides them with some practice, along with exposure visits to various sites in progress. Additionally, the company provides the tools, safety equipment and shows how to use them.

Enhancing agricultural livelihoods Working in rural areas, the Foundation has also tried to enhance agricultural livelihoods. As a result, ACF has worked with over 175,000 farmers to date. It also reaches out to 121,000 cotton farmers covering an area of 1.94 lakh hectare of land.

In a village in Gujarat, the team recognised that cotton farmers were struggling to earn a decent profit from their cotton produce. Farmers, due to lack of sound technical knowledge, were being fooled by input dealers and had turned their fields into dumping grounds for fertilisers and pesticides.

This not only affected their profits but also deteriorated soil health and overall land productivity. On the other hand, Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Switzerland was looking for implementers to transform the cotton farming sector in various locations. BCI brings together producers, ginners, mills, traders, manufacturers, retailers, brands and civil society organisations in a global community committed to developing Better Cotton as a sustainable mainstream commodity.

As an implementing partner, Ambuja Cements collaborated with IDH – A Sustainable Trade Initiative who was responsible for financial control and monitoring and BCI to ensure knowledge building, liaising and capacity building. The implementation model includes farm support, farm assessment and monitoring and evaluation.

While working in focus locations, the biggest challenge was to address the overuse of agrochemicals. It wasn’t easy to break the age-old practices in agriculture and therefore the best strategy was to encourage farmers to record and share their on-field learnings post adoption of improved practices. ACF registered three farmer producer companies (FPCs) and is in the process of registering more to build capacity and put the system in place.

Extension volunteers were hired and trained for three to four years on the BCI principles to play a crucial role in the extension structure of FPCs. With the success and scale of the initiative, ACF has been elected as a member of the Global Council of Better Cotton Initiative.