Our income growth programmes support people growing palm, coconut, tea, cocoa and vanilla by providing access to training, information and financial support. This helps farmers diversify their incomes, access credit and become more productive. We’re particularly focused on including more women in these programmes.

For example, through agroforestry initiatives in Côte d’Ivoire, we’re helping cocoa farmers diversify their incomes by integrating various crops and tree species, improving soil health and creating new income streams. We also provide training on climate-smart agricultural practices, to support smallholders' financial resilience.

Ourregenerative agriculture programmes help smallholders working with dairy, vegetables, tea, coconut, black soy, cereals and spices conserve water, look after the soil and use fewer chemicals. This boosts yields and builds farmers’ resilience, while also replenishing the land.

Our Jasmine Rice project in Thailand is resulting in lower costs and higher yields for farmers, as they replace expensive chemical fertilisers with more sustainable alternatives which also improve soil quality. This supports increased incomes and the overall long-term resilience of the farms, protecting future livelihoods.

We’re helping the farmers who grow our products become certified and enjoy the benefits this brings. Schemes like RSPO, trustea, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade help farmers increase their incomes and support more sustainable farming practices. Certification also improves the traceability of our crops and helps us enhance our support and impact.

Certification schemes include programmes to help farmers improve their productivity and capabilities, fair pricing and incentives for sustainability, support for workers’ rights, and active community engagement.

We’re working across industry to understand how we can come together to overcome the barriers to increased farmer incomes. We’re involved in a variety of collaborations such as the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) Business Action Committee to share knowledge and best practice towards this objective.

Our Responsible Partner Policy includes a mandatoryrequirement for our suppliers to pay a living wage (PDF 4.45 MB) to their workers by 2030.

We’ve started closing the gap between pay and living wage with suppliers closest to our business. Nearly all factories that produce only for Unilever have a contractual requirement to pay a living wage and almost all labour agencies that provide workers for our factories now pay a living wage.

To move towards our longer-term ambition, we’re focusing on countries where the living wage gap is the biggest, where the social safety net for workers is weakest, and where we can make the most impact based on our presence and scale.

We’re asking key suppliers to sign ourLiving Wage Promise: committing to evaluating their wage gap and to taking steps towards paying a living wage. With support from the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), we’re providing training, tools and other resources to help suppliers understand what a living wage is, why it’s so important and how to get started.

For the widespread adoption of living wages, we need a true collective effort.

So we’re asking governments to review minimum wage policies to ensure they reflect living wages. We’re working with business peers and civil society to amplify the message that living wage is good for businesses, society and the overall economy. And we’re pushing investors to put living wage at the heart of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

• Together with other businesses, we asked theInternational Labour Organization to support our efforts by creating a global definition of living wage – a critical baseline for creating shared understanding and better practices.
• We’re working through coalitions like theUN Global CompactForward Faster,AimProgress andWorld Business Council for Sustainable Development to increase private sector action and address barriers companies face when bringing living wages into their operations.
• We’re coming together with like-minded businesses to push for more transparent living wage data. Along with 12 other companies, we supportWageIndicator Foundation, which has so far released free living wage estimates for 173 countries.

Our digital tools allow retailers to browse products, prices and promotions, place orders, and see which products are selling well. This creates a better experience for our customers and helps them increase their sales.

By the end of 2024, there were 2.58 million small stores using our digital platforms. We’re expanding these programmes in places like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, aiming to add another 600,000 stores by 2026.

Helping retailers access financial services and improve their financial skills helps them grow their business and increase profits. And this builds resilience – both for their businesses and ours.

We have a range of programmes around the world working to expand financial and digital literacy, cashless payments, and access to credit and working capital. Our ongoing work with impact measurement experts60 Decibels independently verifies the impact of our SME growth initiatives.

We’ve also joined forces with organisations like the Better Than Cash Alliance to expand financial access among underserved groups such as women and small businesses.

• Our Shakti programme supports around 200,000 women sales agents in remote, rural areas of Asia and Africa with access to finance and business training. This helps them sell more products – and in turn raise their living standards and help grow our business.
• Jaza Duka, a micro-credit initiative we started with Mastercard and Kenyan Central Bank, is helping 26,000 small Kenyan retail businesses, over half managed by women, to move online. This has increased sales by 20% compared to non-participating businesses.
• Kabisig eSummit teaches skills such as stock control, financial management, sales and customer service to 200,000 micro-entrepreneurs in the Philippines, mostly women, to help them better manage their businesses and improve their incomes.