Taking learnings from the Sustainable Spice Initiative – India (SSI-I) program, IDH has now joined forces with partners that are working towards a similar goal, to set up the National Sustainable Spice Program (NSSP) in the country.
The program will promote ‘Food Safety and Sustainability’ by bringing together key players in the sector with a commitment to sustainable spice production.
IDH has partnered with World Spice Organization, Spices Board of India and GIZ to establish NSSP as a sector-wide platform that brings together stakeholders from public and private sectors, as well as smallholder farmer groups on one platform, to address social, economic and environmental issues in the spices industry in India.
India is the world’s largest producer, consumer, and exporter of spices. However, between the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals and the impact of climate change, the spice industry in India is in a critical state – soil health is deteriorating, water resources are depleting, and crops are increasingly more contaminated.
The SSI-I program in India ran from 2016 to 2019, focusing on promoting sustainable agricultural practices in the sector and convening market players to support procurement of sustainable spices. Key learnings from the program have been captured in the Program Assessment Report prepared by an external consultant – Ecociate.
NSSP will use some of these learnings to focus on ‘Food Safety and Sustainability’ in the major spice growing regions in the country, by providing a platform to the spice industry stakeholders to make a commitment on sourcing sustainable products and to make a positive impact on their value chains.
NSSP is launched through events in five locations key to spices sector in India – Guntur, Andhra Pradesh; Hyderabad, Telangana; Unja, Gujarat; Madikeri, Karnataka, and in the North-East region through a webinar.
The events were attended by representatives from the public sector, private sector and other spices industry stakeholders. Most participants appreciated the initiative taken by the partners to work together towards a common goal to promote sustainability in the spices sector. Interactive sessions between the sector stakeholders and farmer and farmer groups were also conducted to facilitate discussions on farming practices and market linkages.
NSSP will work towards developing partnerships and collaborations with industry stakeholders to create value chain linkages, promote sustainable agricultural practices and establish service delivery models for sustainable transformation of the spice industry in India. To know more, visit – www.nssp-india.org.