Agro Tech being a responsible corporate citizen recognizes its role in making a meaningful contribution to the society and recognizes no better way than making an impact through Foods- A part of Agro Tech's core business.
ATFL has the noble vision of helping address child malnutrition that is widely prevalent in India. The first initiative the company took in this direction was 'Feeding Children Better Programme'(FCB). Under this programme, ATFL provided one nourishing meal a day to underprivileged children in carefully selected schools across the country. The FCB programme was well received and met with significant acclaim. Proper nutrition being the major contributor for academic performance, we have seen the children enrolled in the FCB programme performing well in their academics besides significant improvement in attendance. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Mumbai, recognized this program as one of the best CSR activities and recognized ATFL with a Certificate of Merit under the 'Best Corporate Social Responsibility Practice, 2010' award category.
Post ATFL's introduction of Peanut Butter Category in its Foods Portfolio, ATFL recognized an opportunity to reach out to more children and address their nutritional needs. This saw the extension of the FCB programme into 'Poshan Programme'.
This programme is aimed at addressing malnourishment by providing one nourishing meal a day, made using Peanut Butter, such that every child gets at least 30 grams of Peanut Butter in the diet daily. This quantity of Peanut Butter provides 44.9% RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) of protein for children between 1-3 years and 37.3% RDA for children between 4 - 6 years of age.
This program is made available to underprivileged children at carefully selected Schools and Anganwadis across the country. We ensure the meal is compatible with local food habits and provide sufficient nutrition per meal for every child.
We have successfully conducted Phase 1 of this program in a few Anganwadis spread across the country and have touched about 5000 children through it. The programme has seen some encouraging results (as below) across Anganwadis:
- There has been a tangible decline in number of severely malnourished children
- Further, a consistent improvement in the height and weight of the children has been observed
Looking at the success, the program has been extended to other parts of the Country where our manufacturing/offices are located. Kashipur in Uttarakhand, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi are some of the locations this program is currently underway. By March 2018, there are 10,000 children under coverage. In 2019, there are 33,500 children under coverage.
This program is highly acclaimed and bagged several awards, notable being the SABRE South Asia awards, 2014 where it bagged 4 coveted awards:
- GOLD Award in CSR in Food and Beverage
- GOLD Award in Public Affairs/Government Relations
- GOLD Award in CSR
- PLATINUM, South Asia