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It is our pleasure to announce the winners of this year\u2019s Bonsucro Inspire Awards! This year Bonsucro\u2019s Inspire Awards focused on how our nominees are helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n
This year, entries came from South America, North America,\u00a0Europe,\u00a0Asia, Africa and\u00a0Australia. The judges were impressed with the diversity of the projects and\u00a0commitment to sustainability and the scores were exceptionally close.<\/p>\n
The winners are:<\/p>\n
People: The Coalition for Sustainable Sugarcane<\/strong> \u2013 Grupo Azucarero Mexico, PepsiCo, <\/strong>Proforest, One Peterson, Bonsucro<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2018 \u2013 2019, Grupo Azucarero Mexico (GAM), with the support of PepsiCo, certified their Tala Mill and its mill-run plantations, under the Bonsucro Standard. Since then, this partnership has begun to actively engage Mexican smallholders in Tala Mill’s supply area in a piloting of the Bonsucro Smallholders Standard. The programme includes capacity building of Tala’s technical personnel and smallholder farmers and the dissemination of learnings with the wider sector.<\/p>\n The judges were excited by the level of engagement and partnerships with multiple organisations and these organisations\u2019 commitment to the SDGs. One judge described the project as a \u201cGreat example of stakeholder engagement and partnership for sustainable development.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Planet: The Live Soil programme by Pantaleon<\/strong><\/p>\n The Live Soil programme promotes sustainable agricultural practices in sugarcane by identifying, isolating, reproducing and applying native innocuous microorganisms, while implementing sound farming practices.<\/p>\n Pantaleon\u2019s initiative takes place in Guatemala (on 13 623 ha of land) and Nicaragua (on 1 063 ha of land). The project has led to a 40% reduction of disease damage with the use of positive microorganisms and without the use of fungicides. In addition, there has been a 60% reduction in the presence of soil pests, eliminating the use of insecticide. Another notable result is a 20% reduction in the use of conventional sources for nitrogen fixation due to the introduction of nitrogen fixing bacteria.<\/p>\n One judge commented that, \u201cAs soil degradation has become a global concern for farming communities, while impacting SDGs 6,12 and 15, the Pantaleon Live Soil project is an innovative and <\/em>holistic approach combining economics, research, measurement standard and assessment, communication and education to address the need and vulgarization of proper soil management by enhancing productivity and resiliency through improved soil health mechanism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Profit: The Meetha Sona <\/strong>Unnati project by DCM Shriram Ltd.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Meetha Sona Unnati project, by DCM Shriram Ltd. gives support to small scale growers by focusing on productivity improvements, conservation of water resources, and soil health enhancement. The programme was created to respond to the specific needs of DCM\u2019s farmers in the Districts of Hardoi and Lakhimpur in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n Meetha Sona Unnati has customised agronomy and water-management practices to suit local agro-climatic and socio-economic conditions of the project area. By using a cascade approach to training, Meetha Sona Unnati has created a team of extension workers and Lead Farmers who will continue to spread knowledge after the project ends. Currently, the project is working with 8,000 lead farmers and an extension team. Together, they have the capacity to reach 200,000 farmers. The project has purposefully ensured that scalability is possible due to simplicity of practices. Over five years, this initiative has led to an improvement in yield by 14 tonnes per hectare and 275.39 billion litres of water being saved.<\/p>\n One judge said, \u201cThis project was impressive for its scale and ambition. It<\/em> yields many lessons for working with smallholders and improving yields with a tailored approach.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The judges on the panel were:<\/p>\n