Solar 4 Resilience (S4R) is a project started by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the state of Odisha in India, and the private company Science for Society (S4S) Technologies. S4R aims to scale the use of solar-based technologies to build resilience and livelihoods of women and smallholder farmers. The project focuses on vegetables, millet, fish, seafood, and other commodities. S4R builds on a model developed by S4S Technologies, in which women receive low-interest loans from local banks to purchase innovative solar dryers which process perishable food that is usually thrown away. The empowered women become micro-entrepreneurs and get access to markets for processed food and training in finance and quality assurance.
Lack of energy access prevents smallholder farmers preserve and process food post harvest, losing up to 40 percent of the produce at farm level. Gender inequality, lack of land ownership, and job instability keep women and their families in poverty. While technology solutions exist locally, the ecosystem is fragmented without sufficient incentives to create sustainable markets.
To respond to the challenge of lack of energy, Solar 4 Resilience (S4R) gives vulnerable women micro-entrepreneurs access to low-interest loans enabling them to purchase patented solar-drying technology that dries perishable food that would otherwise be thrown away. The technology and business model were developed by the private company Science 4 Society (S4S) Technologies.
S4R aims to scale the use of solar-based technologies for building resilience and livelihoods of smallholder women farmers in India through training the women in finance, quality assurance and facilitating access to markets for processed food.
In 2023, more than 44 tons of raw vegetables have been processed by the units and US$1,495 in income has been generated in less than three months of processing, benefiting 36 female micro-entrepreneurs and another 300 community members indirectly.
After launching a partnership with the government of Odisha, the S4R initiative selected, identified and trained 36 women in Odisha to become entrepreneurs and operate solar-powered equipment to produce food ingredients.
In collaboration with the national government and private sector companies, the project envisions bringing solar-based technologies for building Resilience and Livelihoods in other geographies in the world. Please reach out to us.
