Cargill uses World Water Week to extend community support to ensure vital supplies
pic: Cargill
The Cargill Group has confirmed an extension of a joint initiative with the Global Water Challenge (GWC), investing over $5m into plans to assist communities to maintain vital water supplies in key international communities in its supply chains, writes Neill Barston.
As Confectionery Production has previously reported, the regional African countries including Ivory Coast and Ghana forming two thirds of the cocoa industry have continued to face major tests including attempting to recover from losses during the Covid-19 pandemic, battling key increases in vital crop fertilisers, and diseases reducing many harvests.
Notably, this in combination with the long-term issue of insufficient access to basic requirements of clean water sources, has placed a renewed strain on agricultural communities, adding to the costs of living crisis over the past few years.
As part of its latest initiative which marked World Water Week last week, Cargill, which will be returning to the World Confectionery Conference on 12 September in Brussels as a keynote speaker (registration remains open), the company will be extending out projects on an international basis in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.
According to the company, in its second phase the partnership platform will build upon these achievements and continue to focus on prioritising solutions that deliver multiple benefits, including increasing access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), building climate change resilience, improving farmer livelihoods and empowering women, while also supporting watershed health and sustainable agriculture initiatives in water-stressed regions.
Cargill Currents uses a context-based approach designed to address the specific water needs of each region, including water access, availability and quality issues within priority communities or basins.
This work supports Cargill’s ambition of enabling a water-positive impact across its operations, supply chains, and communities by 2030, with an emphasis on improving access to safe drinking water in priority communities around the world.
Since Cargill Currents launched in 2021, the partnership platform has positively impacted more than 135,000 people with improved WASH access across 68 communities in Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Cargill Currents has built a solid foundation and is on track to benefit over 150,000 people by the end of 2024, significantly contributing to Cargill’s goal of facilitating access to safe drinking water and sanitation for 500,000 people by 2030.
“As water challenges around the world increase, we are making a positive impact through our catalytic partnership with Cargill. Addressing the complex nature of varying water issues in different regions requires specifically tailored and localized responses,” said Monica Ellis, Global Water Challenge CEO. “This World Water Week and beyond, we celebrate Cargill Currents and its continued commitment to providing sustainable solutions that contribute to the safety and resilience of water scarce communities.”
Diverse schemes
Among its schemes under ‘Cargill Currents’ , an estimated 25,000 people are expected to benefit from improved water access and climate change resilience in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
In West Africa cocoa-growing regions, with local teams from CARE, Habitat for Humanity, She’s Stem Foundation, World Vision and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor, activities have focused on the construction of water supply systems and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, as well as training in financial literacy and entrepreneurship, particularly for female farmers.
To date, over 95,000 people have been positively impacted through WASH and other activities, and more than 33,000 women have been empowered through time savings, skills building and income generation activities. New Cargill Currents activities currently underway in West Africa will benefit approximately 30,000 people and up to 12,000 women by 2025.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the company has been supported by local partners ChildFund, IPESA, Parceiros Voluntários and World Vision, the Cargill Currents partnership in Brazil is constructing water supply systems and sanitation facilities, significantly improving drinking water access for Brazilian communities across eight municipalities and watersheds. By the end of 2024, more than 50,000 people will be positively impacted through Cargill Currents in Brazil.
The company is also working in Bulgaria, supported by the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation (BBF), the partnership platform is focused on climate change resiliency and addressing water scarcity challenges in the rural areas of Sofia and Varna, on micro wetlands,
Furthermore, it also has schemes operating in India, with the Anarde Foundation, where it is increasing groundwater and surface water storage capacity with the help of recharge shafts, recharge trenches and desilting of existing water bodies, improving water security across three water-scarce villages.
Within its home nation of the US, Cargill has partnered with community-based non-profit organisations across California, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, North Dakota and Texas. The partnerships in these states focus on restoration and conservation, including providing guidance on best practices in water stewardship, improving watershed health and mitigating water systems pollution.
