India

Helvetas has no office of its own in India. Here we are collaborating with Partners in Prosperity. In our joint projects we support people who are not benefiting from the country’s rapid development. Points of main effort here include measures to adapt to climate change and to promote organic agriculture.

Capital

New Delhi
Area

3,287,263 km²
Poverty rate*

21% of the population live under the poverty line of $1.90 per day
UN DEVELOPMENT INDEX*

Rank: 132 out of 193
Population

1,326,802,000
Thematic focus

Climate & Disaster Resilience
Voice, Inclusion & Cohesion
Private Sector Development
WASH & Water Governance

* Source: UN Data

India is a nation of stark contrasts: on the one hand, it is an economic heavyweight; on the other, it is still the country with the largest number of poor people in the world. Rural communities in particular, which make up two-thirds of the overall population, are severely disadvantaged. They have benefited little from India’s economic growth in recent years. Most farming families in India have too little land, which, moreover, is often depleted through overuse.

Promoting fair trade of basmati rice

To help Indian farming families increase their independence and income, we have teamed up with Coop, the Swiss wholesale and retail chain, and Reismühle Nutrex, a division of Coop that imports and processes organic rice from all over the world, to back the transition to organic farming and fair trade of basmati rice, which is supplied to Switzerland.

Better irrigation systems

Besides the problem of increasingly acute soil depletion, farmers also face the multiple challenges related to climate change. Droughts and floods have increased in frequency and severity, and with them conflicts over the scarce resources of water and soil. With Helvetas' support, farmers have improved irrigation systems and methods and use land and water more productively.

New biogas systems

In addition, Partners in Prosperity and Helvetas in association with Coop, WWF and myClimate are supporting farming households in building biogas systems. Biogas is an inexpensive source of energy and eases the pressure on surrounding forests by reducing firewood consumption. In order to increase the outreach of our activities, these measures need to be applied on a wider scale, so Partners in Prosperity and Helvetas are enabling local and provincial administrations to develop and implement strategies to adapt to climate change.

The country programme in India is co-funded by the SDC programme contribution.