Sustainable Spices Production, India
India is the world’s largest spice producer as well as largest consumer and exporter. The production of different spices has been growing rapidly over the last few years and in 2020-21 stood at 10.7 million tonnes growing at an 8% CAGR since 2014-15 with millions of smallholder farmers and labours involved in cultivation and post-harvest activities.
Sustainable Spices Initiative:
With most of its spice farmers practising as independent smallholders, it has been difficult to promote sustainable practices within the sector, particularly as spices are often a "hidden" ingredient ending up in other food products. Established in 2010, IDH's Sustainable Spices Initiative has introduced more sustainable agricultural practices in India, like intercropping and agroforestry to promote soil health and biodoversity. Working with 24,000 small-holder farms and training 20,000 farmers in ‘Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for spices, they have helped to improve the crop yield of chilli, turmeric, cumin, black pepper and coriander in the key spice producing region of Andhra Pradesh as well as improving supply-chain transparency and product quality.
Developing Sustainable Spices value chains in South India:
Among different regions, southern India is the major contributor accounting for nearly 60% of the spices produced in the country. In terms of production volumes and commercial value chilli, black pepper, turmeric and ginger are the key spices produced in the southern region of India that are both of commercial and export importance. In early 2020, IDH began to convene local multi-stakeholder partnerships in the Spices production regions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for coordinated action – drawing up a shared vision for system change, change in business practices and field level impact through the economic (Production), environmental (Protection), social (Inclusion) model. In this region, these multi-stakeholder partnerships will address low farm incomes, resilience to climate shocks, resource management of soil and water, and impact on biodiversity and forests – building market demand and access as the catalyst for change. For the smallholders here, spices contribute to major portion of the farming income and any impact on production due to climate change or restricted market access can lead to severe economic consequences
The Giri Pragati initiative in Paderu Jurisdriction, Alluri Sitharamaraju district of Andhra Pradesh is being managed by IDH and supported by P4G, a global platform that aims to accelerate innovative partnerships. The government of Andhra Pradesh through its not-for-profit entity RySS is another strategic partner in this initiative.
India is the world’s largest spice producer as well as largest consumer and exporter. The production of different spices has been growing rapidly over the last few years and in 2020-21 stood at 10.7 million tonnes growing at an 8% CAGR since 2014-15 with millions of smallholder farmers and labours involved in cultivation and post-harvest activities.
Sustainable Spices Initiative:
With most of its spice farmers practising as independent smallholders, it has been difficult to promote sustainable practices within the sector, particularly as spices are often a "hidden" ingredient ending up in other food products. Established in 2010, IDH's Sustainable Spices Initiative has introduced more sustainable agricultural practices in India, like intercropping and agroforestry to promote soil health and biodoversity. Working with 24,000 small-holder farms and training 20,000 farmers in ‘Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for spices, they have helped to improve the crop yield of chilli, turmeric, cumin, black pepper and coriander in the key spice producing region of Andhra Pradesh as well as improving supply-chain transparency and product quality.
Developing Sustainable Spices value chains in South India:
Among different regions, southern India is the major contributor accounting for nearly 60% of the spices produced in the country. In terms of production volumes and commercial value chilli, black pepper, turmeric and ginger are the key spices produced in the southern region of India that are both of commercial and export importance. In early 2020, IDH began to convene local multi-stakeholder partnerships in the Spices production regions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for coordinated action – drawing up a shared vision for system change, change in business practices and field level impact through the economic (Production), environmental (Protection), social (Inclusion) model. In this region, these multi-stakeholder partnerships will address low farm incomes, resilience to climate shocks, resource management of soil and water, and impact on biodiversity and forests – building market demand and access as the catalyst for change. For the smallholders here, spices contribute to major portion of the farming income and any impact on production due to climate change or restricted market access can lead to severe economic consequences
The Giri Pragati initiative in Paderu Jurisdriction, Alluri Sitharamaraju district of Andhra Pradesh is being managed by IDH and supported by P4G, a global platform that aims to accelerate innovative partnerships. The government of Andhra Pradesh through its not-for-profit entity RySS is another strategic partner in this initiative.