Paani Foundation, founded by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao in 2016, works across rural Maharashtra on community-led drought mitigation and improving farmer livelihoods at scale. Our core belief is that "Every person can transform their destiny themselves, with the right tools, knowledge and ecosystem."

From 2016-2019, we worked with over 6,700 villages with a combined population of 8.5 million, and enabled the creation of 550 billion litres of water storage capacity across Maharashtra. Since 2022, we have worked with over 3 lakh farmers to improve rural livelihoods at scale, with a result of 100%+ improvement in net profits per acre in just 1 year.

Appeal

Paani Foundation seeks to enable farmers across all 350+ talukas of Maharashtra to reduce input costs, improve productivity, and farm more profitably via collectivisation in agriculture and implementation of scientific practices. This method has proven to transform not just individual livelihoods but entire rural communities.

This project, under the initiative of the Satyamev Jayate Farmer Cup, will build farmer groups pan-Maharashtra through training, knowledge sharing, cultivating local leadership, technology and use of effective partnerships. A third-party impact assessment study by KPMG of this initiative, showed that farmers achieved a 163% rise in net profits per acre, a 98% reduction in chemical pesticide use and a 70%-90% in per-acre yields.

Funds raised through TMM will support Paani Foundation's key activities, such as:

1. Residential Training: A three-day immersive program where women learn sustainable farming techniques, through interactive games and videos.
2. Digital Farming School: A free of cost knowledge platform that connects women farmers directly to leading agricultural scientists and experts.
3. Field Schools: Hands-on demonstrations and peer learning in villages, ensuring practical adoption of techniques.
4. Farmer Cup App: A voice-led app created for knowledge transfer, expert support, and monitoring progress, and being every farmer’s friend.