S M Sehgal Foundation wins FICCI Agriculture Award 2021

S M Sehgal Foundation received the FICCI Sustainable Agriculture Award 2021 (second place) in the category Climate Resilient Agriculture Development in an event held at FICCI House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi today. Ms Anjali Godyal, chief development officer and Ms Pooja O. Murada, principal lead, Outreach for Development, Sehgal Foundation, received the award. FICCI Sustainable Agriculture Awards were coupled with a special session with Government held at FICCI House on November 18, following a two-day virtual Agri Summit: Envisioning Smart & Sustainable Agriculture. YES Bank was the knowledge partner in this initiative. A major component of the Summit was the felicitation of Excellence Awards to the agribusinesses/organizations who have done significant level of on-ground interventions in sustainable agriculture development. The Agriculture Development program at S M Sehgal Foundation promotes sustainable livelihoods by building the capacities of farmers, including women producers, on improved agricultural practices and new technologies that increase crop yields, conserve water, and improve soil fertility. The team works with smallholder farmers in rain-fed and irrigated areas to facilitate adoption of improved and advanced agricultural practices that include soil health management, crop production management, input-use efficiency, small farm mechanization, water-efficient irrigation techniques, horticultural development, livestock management, and the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture.
The Agriculture Development team undertakes a two-pronged approach for building resilience in agriculture and creating mechanisms to cope with or adapt to the effect of climate change in agriculture. The team works with farmers to promote water use efficiency in agriculture, soil health and nutrient management, renewable energy, appropriate farm machinery, protected cultivation, and salt tolerant varieties of cereal and vegetable crops. Key interventions facilitated by Sehgal Foundation that build climate resilience are soil health, Promoting salinity-tolerant crops, water-saving agricultural techniques, promotion of renewable energy and greenhouse for crops.
Active in 11 states across India, the agricultural interventions have immense scope for scalability and many farmers have adopted and sustained the practices beyond the project period completion. Farmer capacity building and trainings have created a demand for information about better agronomic practices to make agriculture rewarding and has put farmers at ease to use the technologies. Technological interventions have been readily adopted by farmers in project areas and linkages with various institutions helps sustain the information flow for farmers to adopt new technological interventions from time to time.
About Us:
Sehgal Foundation was established in 1999 as a public charitable trust to strengthen community-led development initiatives to achieve positive social, economic, and environmental change across rural India.
Sehgal Foundation has five main program areas: Water Management, Agriculture Development, Local Participation and Sustainability, Transform Lives one school at a time, and Outreach for Development. These programs are supported by a skilled research team that engage in participatory research, impact assessment, and interactive dialogues to determine informed actions to achieve sustainable results. The Foundation has entered its third decade in rural India with presence in over 1,348 villages across 46 districts in 11 states of India (as od September 2021) and the work continues to grow. Sehgal Foundation’s partners, in the corporate, government, academic, social sectors, and on the ground in rural communities, are key to the success of its rural development initiatives and consistent growth.

Source –
communications@smsfoundation.org