SSI-I trains 20,000 farmers in India to produce 30,000 MT of sustainable spices in 2017-18

Expanding its engagement at the field level, Sustainable Spices Initiative – India (SSI-I) reached 20,000 spice farmers across India to train them on sustainable agricultural practices in 2017-18, producing 30,000 MT of sustainable spices from the key spice growing regions in the country.

With this, the program completed another successful year and is moving forward towards its mission of bringing sustainable spices to scale by engaging farmers and capturing a 25% share of Indian spices production by 2025.

Further, development of package of practice (PoP) for four spice crops – Cumin, Chili, Coriander and Turmeric, jointly with Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), was also one of the key achievements for the program in the year.

SSI-I held its executive board meeting on March 23, 2018 at Cochin in Kerala, India.

Some of the major highlights of the meeting included:

  • forming a voluntary technical committee to work on standardizing the training material for the field facilitators.
  • Alternate models for farmer engagement
  • Agreement on membership contribution for 2018-19
The members expressed their keen interest in engaging their business acquaintances, clients, and suppliers with interest in sustainable spices, and informing them about the initiative.