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Press Release

Shell Foundation and Industree Foundation partner to enhance incomes of smallholder women farmers through bamboo value chain

Gender Smallholder Farmers Southeast Asia India Post-Harvest Processing

Bengaluru, India – 19 March, 2026: Shell Foundation, a UK-registered charity, has partnered with Industree Foundation to enhance income resilience for smallholder women farmers by developing and validating a scalable bamboo value chain model in India.

Supported by a $4 million grant from Shell Foundation, the partnership will build and de-risk a structured, women-centric bamboo value chain designed to strengthen farm-gate incomes while contributing to climate adaptation and mitigation. The model is intended for replication through government and institutional adoption, enabling implementation at scale and aiming to impact up to 1 million smallholder women farmers by 2032.

Shell Foundation is funding the set-up of a high precision nursery to develop high-yield bamboo plants that are not invasive and suit the local climate. This nursery will provide top-quality bamboo saplings, which can be used to create plantations lasting up to 40 years. Women farmers will grow these bamboo varieties on unused land, following international sustainability standards like FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). This will give them a steady, climate-friendly source of income for the long term.

The project will also test solar-powered Pre-Processing Centres (PPCs), which will be run by women’s Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). These centres will help women process and collect bamboo closer to their farms, so they can sell it to commercial buyers in industries such as activated charcoal, pulp, and textiles. This means women farmers can earn more by selling processed bamboo to bigger markets.

The grant will de-risk early-stage technology and business model innovations, particularly the women-owned and operated PPC model. The proof-of-concept phase is designed to demonstrate a potential 40% income enhancement for participating women, generating the operational and financial evidence required to unlock public capital and scale the model nationally.

Jonathan Berman, CEO of the Shell Foundation, said:

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Shell Foundation supports solutions that improve livelihoods while reducing emissions. We are proud to partner with Industree Foundation to build and validate a climate-resilient value chain model that can strengthen women’s incomes at scale.

Neju George Abraham, CEO of Industree Foundation, stated:

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Industree creates economic opportunity and resilience for rural women by building enabling ecosystems for nature-based, collectively owned enterprises. This partnership allows us to demonstrate a structured bamboo value chain model that governments and institutions can adopt to deliver large-scale income enhancement.

About Shell Foundation

For 25 years, Shell Foundation an independent charity registered in England and Wales, has empowered underserved customers to raise their incomes while lowering emissions. The Foundation supports early-stage innovations; helps the best of them to reach millions of people; and de-risks capital to prove those models are commercial at scale. Across Asia and Africa, the Foundation enables resilient prosperity among three core groups of people: smallholder farmers, transporters, and micro-entrepreneurs.

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