'Small businesses are the hidden heroes of our food systems, managing at least half of our food economies and keeping food on our plates throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,' said Dr Agnes Kalibata
The United Nations announced names of three India-based enterprises among the winners of 바카라Best Small Businesses바카라 award in a prestigeous global competition worth USD 100,000. The enterprises are awarded for their contributions in developing inspiring, diverse and impactful solutions in the domain of improving access to healthy and sustainable food.
The 바카라Good Food for All바카라 competition that was held in conjunction with the UN Food Systems Summit, declared names of fifty small and medium-sized enterprises around the world as the 'Best Small Businesses'.
From India, the winners are Edible Routes Private Limited, Oorja Development Solutions India and Taru Naturals.
Selected from nearly 2,000 applications from 135 countries, the 50 winners showcase inspiring, diverse and impactful solutions in improving access to healthy, sustainable food. They will also share USD 100,000 in cash prizes, the UN said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Small businesses are the hidden heroes of our food systems, managing at least half of our food economies and keeping food on our plates throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,바카라 said Dr Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the 2021 Food Systems Summit.
바카라We must understand the challenges they face and work together to ensure they remain at the heart of efforts to improve the future of food.바카라
Edible Routes, founded by Kapil Mandawewala, provides consumers easy access to naturally and locally grown, fresh farm produce, according to the company바카라s profile. Its business model offers farm allotments to city dwellers, within an hour바카라s reach, with the capacity to cater to 220 families.
The enterprise said its educational courses and workshops 바카라teach people to grow their own food and become stewards of community supported agriculture.바카라
바카라With rapid urbanisation, our vision of optimally using urban spaces to produce fresh farm food has immense potential,바카라 it said.
Oorja is a farming-as-a-service (FaaS) company that operates at the 바카라intersection between sustainable agriculture and renewable energy.바카라
It finances, installs and maintains solar energy systems for agricultural use and sells affordable and reliable irrigation, milling and cooling services to farmers so they can transition from diesel to solar, the company바카라s profile on the UN Food Systems Summit community page said.
Founded and led by Amit Saraogi and Dr Clementine Chambon, Oorja has a team of 18 people in India and have so far implemented 24 solar projects reaching close to 2,000 beneficiaries and saving 30 tonnes of CO2.
TARU Naturals and Organics, founded by Ruchi Jain, is a grassroots movement of 10,000 tribal and small-scale farmers across India; a fair trade network connecting farmers to markets, with healthy, pure and organic produce.
The enterprise said it strives to 바카라build self-sufficiency across the value chain ecosystem for farm produce, intervening with climate resilient agriculture, clean post harvest technology, value added products and market linkages. We envision to safeguard sustainable rural livelihoods and double small-scale farmer incomes.바카라
The UN said each winner was selected for how their business contributes to healthier, more sustainable and equitable food for the communities they serve; the strength of their vision for the future; and how well they communicate the current and future impact of their business.
Half of the winners are youth and nearly half are women. Winners come from a total of 42 countries.
"These food entrepreneurs are quiet revolutionaries. They operate in the toughest markets, having a real impact on rural poverty and hunger,바카라 said Cherrie Atilano, Food Systems Champion and founder of Philippine agri-business AGREA.
바카라Despite this, they are too rarely given a voice on the international stage. With a conducive business environment, positive incentives and greater influence, they can deliver even more in the future.바카라
The UN said many enterprises are innovating and scaling solutions for nutrition and sustainability, from an Israeli company producing chickpea protein powder, to an Italian start-up replacing plastic packaging with edible, bio-based natural polymers and in Nigeria, an inclusive and efficient commodities market is facilitating trade across the region.
Other winners from South Asia include Bangladesh-based research and development project Amader Khamar and iPAGE, an agritech service aggregator specialising in deep learning, precision hardware and software technologies, and Artificial Intelligence.
Nepal-based tech company DV Excellus that has been developing and operating an agrifood tech digital platform named 바카라Kheti바카라.
Afghanistan-based Karwan saffron agricultural and livestock company; Sri Lanka-based North Lanka Family Foods that 바카라strives to connect the region바카라s small farmer communities to local and global markets producing well branded, innovative products adding value to agro-produce from this conflict effected region of Sri Lanka.바카라