Castor Farmer Education Fund (CFEF) | Arkema | Arkema High Performance Polymers

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.

CFEF’s mission

The fund will support projects that improve livelihoods, encourage regenerative agriculture, and foster long-term environmental stewardship in castor-growing regions.

Train 100,000–150,000 farmers by 2030.
Expand on the success of the Pragati Program, which has already significantly improved yields, reduced water use, and increased farmer incomes by 30%+.

Why it matters

Castor is a low-risk, drought-resistant crop grown on marginal lands, with no competition with food crops and no link to deforestation.
Yet only ~1% of farmers currently benefit from structured sustainability training, such as SuCCESS Sustainable Castor Farming Code.
Increasing demand for ethical sourcing, measurable impact, and traceability

Become a contributor

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 expanding the training program to improve productivity.

Join us as a donor and help scale this transformation. Your 3-year commitment will:

Fund farmer training, digital tools, and third-party certification.
Support a transparent, independently governed fund administered by Temasek Trust Foundation Advisors (TTFA).
Be guided by a Steering Committee including Arkema, Solidaridad, and other sustainability experts.

Who We Are

The Fund will leverage 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.

Arkema’s engagement

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 farmers. 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.