Arkema is proud to announce the creation of the Castor Farmer Education Fund (CFEF), a collaborative initiative designed to support castor farming communities in India. The CFEF aims to raise funds to further accelerate the adoption of innovative and resilient farming techniques across the region by empowering farmers through education and training, generating lasting environmental and social impact.
The fund will support projects that improve livelihoods, encourage regenerative agriculture, and foster long-term environmental stewardship in castor-growing regions. Open to all stakeholders, customers, brands, and partners across the castor value chain, the fund offers a unique opportunity to take meaningful, collective action. Together, contributors will help scale up farmer education programs, with the ambition of training 100,000 to 150,000 farmers by 2030.
This fund represents a strong commitment to the people and communities who play a key role in the castor value chain. While it aligns with Arkema’s CSR roadmap, it also reflects the spirit of our global sponsorship strategy, which promotes inclusion, diversity, and education. This initiative will significantly strengthen the sustainability performance of the entire castor oil industry”.
The Fund will leverage on the expertise of strong and reliable partners, leaders in the region
Arkema will serve as an anchor donor and intends to remain actively involved throughout the initiative. A dedicated Steering Committee will guide the fund’s strategic direction and partner TTFA and Solidaridad in selecting and executing impactful projects.
TT Foundation Advisors (TTFA) will administrate the fund to ensure transparency and impact, as well as provide advisory services, donor stewardship and management of the fund. TTFA is the philanthropy advisory arm of Temasek Trust, the philanthropic branch of Singapore-headquartered global investment company Temasek. It provides specialized advisory and management services to philanthropic foundations, family offices, business corporations, philanthropists, and charities.
Solidaridad will be the initial grantee and will oversee training, monitoring, and project sourcing to ensure consistent and high-quality implementation. Solidaridad is an international civil society organization with a strong 55-year track record of supporting farming communities to become more resilient and is a long-standing partner of Arkema in building a more sustainable castor value chain.
“With the adoption of sustainability principles, small-scale farmers are able to improve income as well as soil health and biodiversity. With Arkema, this initiative can be scaled in castor-growing regions to build long-term resilience among the farming community,” said Shatadru Chattopadhyay, Managing Director, Solidaridad Asia.
"The Castor Farmer Education Fund reflects a shared commitment to empower farming communities and strengthen sustainable agricultural practices. TT Foundation Advisors is honoured to partner with Arkema and Solidaridad to provide a trusted, transparent platform that enables all stakeholders to collaborate and achieve better outcomes for the castor value chain," said Dickson Lim, Head, TT Foundation Advisors.
Arkema’s long-standing presence in the region
Arkema has been a committed supporter of local farming communities through initiatives such as the Pragati Program which trained over 10,000 farmers since 2016 and demonstrated 57% higher yields and 33% lower water consumption among participating farmers1. As a founding member of the Sustainable Castor Association, Arkema also helped develop the SuCCESS Sustainable Castor Farming Code, a benchmark for responsible castor cultivation. Castor is a crop with a favorable sustainability profile: it does not compete with food crops, does not contribute to deforestation, and carries a low risk of unfair labor practices.
Castor is the renewable feedstock used in the production of Rilsan® PA11 and Oleris® advanced Oleochemicals.
1: The value refers to the Year 8 impacts from the Pragati results published on 4 February, 2025