The PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of one of the world's leading food and beverage companies, today announced a partnership with the global poverty-fighting organization CARE with an $18.2 million grant to tackle gender inequality in the agriculture sector.
The grant will provide 5 million female farmers and their families around the world with education, resources and economic support to help them increase their crop yields, incomes, and access to nutrition locally. This partnership is part of a broader effort by PepsiCo to support a more sustainable food system by empowering women in its own agricultural supply chain, including through its Sustainable Farming Program currently active in 38 countries, and by investing in multisector agricultural programs that have the potential to achieve systems change at scale.
Women account for nearly half of all agricultural labor in developing countries and work as much as 13 hours more per week than men, often without training, proper tools, like seeds and fertilizers, and rights to their land. Research shows that if female farmers had the same access to resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30 percent, potentially reducing the number of hungry people in the world by up to 150 million.
For more information, visit Pepsico.com or watch this video on YouTube.
