What We Do
Most of our team members come from farming families, so we know what it's like to struggle as a smallholder farmer. The cycle of poverty and unresourcefulness is repeated from generation to generation and is the most pressing issue for marginalized smallholder farmer families. At the age of 10–12 years, children from these families are involved in all sorts of labor including farm labor, and their parents are not aware of the value of education.
Our progress would lead to the literacy of these children. Literacy can act as a powerful catalyst to break the cycle of poverty and survival that has been passed down from generations.
Our Roadmap
There are numerous farmer issues and we are addressing a few at a time through tangible and intangible ways. Our social return on investment (SROI) INR 1.3
In the initial phase in 2019 of the farmer onboarding project, we were successful in partnering with 1500 farmers. They were offered premium-quality seeds, agricultural inputs, and soil nutrients on credit.
We successfully raised farmer incomes by 22% (2022) and we are on track to grow farmer income by 2 additional percentage points. Our farmer count is increasing at a rapid rate of 100% month over month as we leverage our existing farmer network.
Over the years, our smallholder farmer network has grown by 3900 in 2020, 8400 in 2021, and 12000 in 2022 in India and 200 farmers in Uganda.
Thus, from 2019 to 2022, we have been able to grow our farmer network by 8 times. In the next 5 years, we aim to expand our farmer network to 100,000 and reach other regions in India and Uganda.
Our Footprints
12000, Farmers Are Currently Impacted
Our social return on investment currently stands at INR 1.30, which means that for each rupee lent to farmers, the net return for the farmer is INR 1.30.
We have developed 2,000-acre smallholder farmer lands organically, as a result of which we have successfully sequestered 0.25–0.3 metric tons of carbon per acre per year.
We have successfully reduced agriculture input costs by 15 percent.
We have successfully reduced post-harvest losses by 16 percent.
Through horticulture training and improved agricultural inputs, 1457 farmers out of 12000 were able to increase their income by 300%.
In 2019, we operated in a single district and established a good partnership network with farmers across the Sehore and Hoshangabad districts in Madhya Pradesh, India. Our network has increased tenfold, from 1200 to 12000 smallholder farmers. Our field officers and management covered over 60,000 kilometers of distance over the years, their unwavering efforts enabled a Social ROI of INR 1.30.
We have also started working with smallholder farmers in Uganda in partnership with other social enterprises.
Farmer Income
For smallholder farmers, every bit of extra income helps them build towards a better, and more resilient, future for their families and their communities.
Farmers who work with Ek sankalp consistently grow larger harvests with sustainable farming methods , on the same plot of land compared to their peers, and earn more profit from their farms.
Smallholder farmers depend on the food they grow to feed their families and sell for income. On average, the farmers we directly serve increase their farm income by 22 %+ per year - from the same plot of land—and produce a surplus for the first time.
That’s the difference between farmers struggling to make ends meet and having money to pay for medical expenses, school for their children, and improvements to their farm and home.
How do we measure our impact on income growth?
To assess profit, we measure the value of a harvest each year (the price of crops sold at market), and the value of assets built over time (such as trees).
Families often invest their extra income in paying school fees for their children. We estimate that the extra income generated in 2021 funded the equivalent of over 2000 students attending secondary school for a year.
With more income, farmers can accumulate assets that raise their living standards. Assets include investments in their farm, like livestock, and in their home, like solar lights. In 2021, farmers we served directly increased their assets by 20 percent on average.
Climate Resilient
Farmers are on the frontlines of climate change. They must adapt to the changing weather now, and keep their land sustainable for generations to come.
Smallholder farmers contribute little to climate change but are some of the worst impacted. Large harvests rely on healthy soils. But soil health in India and Uganda is declining overall, making farms more vulnerable to the effects of drought and flooding - which are becoming more pronounced due to climate change.
Beyond soil health improvements, Ek sankalp training and products generate statistically significant increases in the adoption of climate-smart farming practices - including optimal seed choices, insurance products, and crop and asset diversity.
How do we measure our impact on climate resilience?
Ek sankalp runs multi-year studies of soil fertility, measuring soil organic matter, nutrients, and acidity levels (which allow plants to soak up nutrients). In 2021, Ek sankalp equipped 600 farmers to apply agricultural lime, a 1500 INR annual investment per acre that improves the long-term pH balance of acidic soils and can increase crop yields by up to 20-30%. And farmers using our direct services consistently increased carbon in their soil by adding manure and compost. Healthier soils could store up to 20% of current global carbon emissions.
Farmers in Madhyapradesh,
Minimum tillage and soil management that control erosion and capture carbon dioxide
We measure our success by our ability to make farmers more prosperous.
Guided by our mission, we use the discipline of a business to deliver cost-effective services to Thousands of people.
We rigorously measure three core metrics:
Scale: We aim to scale because each farmer matters. Each year, we ensure more and more families access life-improving farm services.
Impact: We deliver impact as our bottom line. Farmers invest their hard-earned money with us. We multiply it into more crops in their fields and income in their pockets.
Efficiency (Social Return on Investment): We spend resources efficiently, putting every dollar towards what’s best for farmers. We always ask ourselves: How can we use our resources to do the most good for farmers?
As a mission-driven organization, we do not make a profit. Instead, we invest all revenue back into the communities we serve.
By 2027, we aim to serve 1 lakh farmers. In 2021-22, we served 12000 farmers, both directly with a bundle of farm services and indirectly by improving access to farm services in entire regions, typically through partner organizations. Collectively, Ek sankalp farmers create hundreds of thousands of INR (Rupee) in new farm profits each year.
Scale and Impact
Total number of unique farmers served
8400 in 2021
Total new profits for farmers
INR 34 Million
In 2021-22, we served 12000 farmers directly with a full bundle of services. These farmers get quality seed and farm supplies on credit, and hands-on training throughout the year. These farmers earn 22 percent more profit from supported farming activities, on average—a life-improving difference in income. And their families become more food secure and climate resilient.
We improve farm services in an entire region or country, often working with governments, ,NGO farmer-producing organizations, cooperatives,copraties and private sector partners. This provides a more modest income boost for each farmer but can reach large numbers of farmers very efficiently.
Finally, we pride ourselves on reaching the most vulnerable populations.
Additionally, 50-60% of registered farmers (and 60-70% of training attendees) across our operating locations are women at least 2x the rate of average large-scale agriculture programs in India. We achieve these rates by designing our programs with women’s typical educational levels and time availability in mind, and by achieving a balanced workforce by gender.
Efficiency: Social Return on Investment
We finance our operations with a mix of farmer purchases and donor INR . Farmer purchases cover most of our daily field operations, and donor funds help us grow and innovate. This revenue mix keeps us accountable to farmers and financially stable.
For every rupee we spend, we aim to put more income in farmers’ pockets. We call this our "social return on investment” or SROI. Put simply, SROI measures the new farmer profit created for every dollar of donor funding invested. The more efficient we become, the more impact we create with each donor rupee.
In 2021-22, the farmers that Ek Sankalp served directly produced an SROI of 1.3, representing impact efficiency for the poverty levels of the farm families we reach
Social Return on Investment (SROI)
For every INR 1 of donor investment in 2021, the farmer produced INR 1.3 in new farm profit
As we grow, we aim to fund more and more of our operations through farmer purchases, and make each donor rupee go further.
How we define and measure impact on farmers’ productivity and incomes.
Go to:
Impact is our North Star. In everything that we do, we seek to generate positive impact in the lives of farmers. Therefore it's critically important that we measure the impact we have on farmers’ productivity and incomes. This allows us to prioritize the highest impact products, phase out low-impact offerings, and constantly improve the impact of the products and services we offer. Below is a detailed look at our approach to measuring our impact.
Defining Impact
For every programming area (each Location, each unique program), we attempt to measure the following:
Total Impact = (Number of farmers) x (Impact per farmer)
For every single program, we seek to understand how much total impact we generate for farmers. This enables us to allocate resources to programs with the highest impact, and to define how to improve that impact going forward.
For most of our programs, we define impact as the INR (rupees) of new profit generated for farmers, as this is a highly comparable metric and is centrally important to farmers, who take out credit to pay for our services. However, we are increasingly looking at quality-of-life metrics such as hunger and school attainment.
The Four Reasons We Measure
We measure impact for four reasons:
- Prove: We have an obligation to farmers and to our donors to prove our impact. We also use impact data to make resource allocation decisions.
- Learn: We’re constantly learning and evaluating so we can improve each individual programming unit.
- Improve: Impact data helps us develop new life-improving products.
- Maintain: We use our impact data to maintain operational consistency across all geographies.
For Detail Report Write: [email protected]