The project, announced on July 24, aims to raise funds to further accelerate the adoption of resilient farming techniques across the region by empowering farmers through education and training.
Arkema is the leading manufacturer of Rilsan polyamide 11 and Oleris advanced oleochemicals, both fully derived from castor.
Arkema will serve as the anchor donor while Solidaridad will oversee training, monitoring, and project sourcing.
TT Foundation Advisors (TTFA), the philanthropy services advisory arm of Temasek Trust, will administer the fund to ensure transparency and impact. Temasek Trust is the philanthropic arm of Singapore-headquartered global investment company Temasek.
Arkema also has a member on the Steering Committee of the Fund and will be actively involved in designing field implementation, recruiting partners, in addition to raising funds.
CFEF is the successor to the Pragati programme, building on its successes to scale sustainable farming practices across India’s castor farming communities.
The Pragati programme started in 2016 in collaboration with Solidaridad to promote sustainable castor farming.
It focused on training farmers in sustainable agricultural practices across social, environmental, and economic dimensions.
“The results have been remarkable: up to 57% higher yields, 33% lower water consumption in the last year, and an average 30% increase in farmer income. Additionally, the carbon footprint of castor beans grown under these principles is 30% lower than conventional practices,” said Guido Donà, director of sustainability strategy, Arkema.
The project has trained around 10,000 farmers.
“[This] is a great achievement, but it’s still only 1% of the community. We realised that the learnings from Pragati must be scaled to reach all farmers,” Donà told AgTechNavigator.
“We’ve already seen it with Pragati. Farmers continue to apply the sustainable practices they’ve learned because they see the benefits — economically and environmentally. And this is just the beginning. As we move forward, we’ll continue to evolve the program and add new layers of support.”
Fostering long-term environmental stewardship
According to Arkema, the fund will support projects that improve livelihoods, encourage regenerative agriculture, and foster long-term environmental stewardship in castor-growing regions.
It is open to all stakeholders, customers, brands, and partners across the castor value chain.
“This is a call to action for all stakeholders in the castor value chain — customers, brands, suppliers, and anyone ready to make a meaningful impact. With their support, we will recruit trainers to work directly in the field and develop a digital app that allows farmers to learn sustainable practices and interact with remote trainers. This will help us scale exponentially,” said Donà.
The goal is to train 100,000 to 150,000 farmers by 2030.
“With the adoption of sustainability principles, small-scale farmers are able to improve income as well as soil health and biodiversity. With Arkema, this initiative will be scaled in castor-growing regions to build long-term resilience among the farming community,” said Shatadru Chattopadhyay, Managing Director, Solidaridad Asia.
The next six months are a “critical” period for the funding, said Donà.
It will focus on raising the initial funds, recruiting implementation partners, and developing the digital application that will support farmer training.
“By June 2026, when the next sowing season begins, we aim to have trained trainers in place and the digital platform ready. Our goal for the first year is to launch pilot projects and train a few thousand farmers — proving the concept, learning from the field, and preparing for full-scale implementation,” said Donà.
“Castor is a low-risk, drought-resistant crop grown on marginal lands in India, primarily in Gujarat and surrounding regions, where around 800,000 smallholder farmers cultivate it. As a responsible industry player, we owe a great deal to this community,” he added.
In addition to this fund and the Pragati project, Arkema also runs the Eranda scholarship program.
The program is for high school students in castor farming regions.
“Each year, students from four different schools attend sustainability awareness sessions, create artwork celebrating the role of castor, and enjoy a day of sports and fun. Winning students receive awards, and their schools receive donations in the name of Arkema’s selected customers. Nearly 5,000 students have participated so far,” said Donà.
