New Delhi: In a significant step towards transforming key agricultural commodity sectors in India, Solidaridad Network Asia Limited — a global pioneer in creating sustainable supply chains — and WWF-India have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote regenerative cotton farming and responsible palm oil production and consumption. This collaboration aims to catalyse climate resilience, drive sustainable sourcing, and enhance transparency across two of India’s most impactful commodity landscapes.
Cotton, known for its resource-intensive cultivation, and palm oil, historically linked to global deforestation, both present critical challenges and opportunities in the sustainability landscape. With the shared objective of advancing regenerative agriculture and enhancing sustainability across these sectors, the partnership aims to foster deeper collaboration focused on promoting responsible supply chains, market transformation, sustainable trade, green finance, and enabling policy frameworks.
The partnership will focus on accelerating the adoption of the regenerative agriculture practices building awareness among value chain actors and support broader efforts to drive systemic change in cotton and palm oil landscapes through pilot projects, joint research, and inclusive certification standards.
“For decades, we’ve asked our farmers to feed the nation, often at the cost of their own land and water. This partnership is about reversing that equation,” said Dr Shatadru Chattopadhayay, Managing Director of Solidaridad Asia “We are building a future where agriculture doesn’t just sustain, it actively heals our planet and secures the prosperity of our farmers. In partnership with WWF-India, we are moving beyond sustainability as a goal and establishing regeneration as the new, non-negotiable standard for Indian agriculture”, he further adds.
Key areas of collaboration include promoting regenerative agriculture models for key commodities such as cotton and palm oil. The partnership will work towards creating demand for sustainable sourcing through market transformation, supply chain engagement, and active collaboration with businesses, industry stakeholders, policymakers, financial institutions, and consumers.
The joint effort aims to advocate for traceability, fair pricing, smallholder inclusion, and climate-aligned market systems. As part of this collaboration, both organisations will undertake joint studies and on-ground pilot initiatives to demonstrate scalable models of sustainable production and sourcing.
Dr Sejal Worah, Programme Director, WWF-India said “Our partnership with Solidaridad will strengthen national efforts to embed regenerative practices in cotton and catalyse a sustainability transition in India’s palm oil sector—benefiting people, nature, and the climate. By ensuring broad-based, cross-sectoral and inclusive stakeholder engagement, this collaboration aims to work towards building resilient, transparent, and responsible supply chains grounded in climate-smart approach and smallholder inclusion.”
Together, the partners aim to align India’s agricultural future with global climate goals, foster responsible consumption, and enhance the well-being of small-scale farmers across the supply chain. This collaboration marks a significant step forward in driving systemic change and building resilient, transparent, and equitable agricultural markets in India.
Please contact for further queries:
Komal Chaudhary
kchaudhary@wwfindia.net
Kritika Banerjee
kritika.banerjee@solidaridadnetwork.org
About Solidaridad Network Asia Limited
Solidaridad Asia provides scalable and economically effective sustainability solutions in agriculture and industrial supply chains in collaboration with governments, businesses and the community. We are driving sustainability from niche to norm in Asian markets to support people, planet and profits. We are part of the Solidaridad Network, an international civil society organization with a strong 55-year track record of supporting farming communities to become more resilient. Solidaridad Asia operates both in production and market sectors in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, across commodities like tea, soy, palm oil, leather & textiles, dairy, sugar, cotton, castor, rubber, medicinal plants, and fruits and vegetables.
For more details, please visit our website and social media pages:
https://www.solidaridadnetwork.org/region/asia/
