Sustainable Guar Farming in India

Sustainable Guar Farming in India Partnership with P&G Beauty in the Sustainable Guar Initiative will accelerate sustainable guar growth, empower more women farmers, and further improve livelihoods of small-scale guar bean farmers in India Solvay, a leading global supplier of naturally derived polymers for beauty care formulations, announced it has joined the Sustainable Guar Initiative (SGI), an industry-leading program launched by P&G Beauty in 2015. Rajasthan, India—the Bikaner desert region. The region is one of the country's largest guar (natural gum plant) producers and supplies guar to Solvay as a natural and renewable source for Jaguar® used in hair and body care formulations. Solvay CEO Ilham Kadri said, "I am delighted to welcome P&G Beauty to the Sustainable Guar Initiative. Through this wonderful partnership, we will be able to significantly increase our impact, and I am especially proud that together we will expand our efforts to empower farmers, particularly women farmers. These farmers create a win for customers and consumers." With the partnership of P&G Beauty, one of the market leaders in the beauty category, the SGI program will nearly double its reach in the region. The efforts to equip guar farmers, particularly women farmers, with tools and knowledge on good agricultural practices[1] that drive continuous improvement on key outcomes such as higher yielding production and crop productivity, improved financial stability, and better living and working conditions will expand significantly. With P&G Beauty's partnership, the program will add 5,250 new farmers, bringing the SGI program's total reach to just over 11,000 farmers. This involves doubling the program's scope and scale with women—by training, supporting and empowering an additional 1,800 women as farmers, entrepreneurs, workers and farm household members. Additionally, P&G Beauty will enable the SGI program to double the number of women trained on the adoption of home hygiene practices (approximately 900 in total). The program will also provide women and their families with the opportunity to improve food security, dietary diversity at home and livelihoods through food garden construction training. The P&G Beauty project will also include construction of a new johad (a community-owned local pond) designed to improve rainwater harvesting and filtration for domestic use, animal hydration, and establishment of a community plantation unit. P&G Beauty CEO Alex Keith said, "We are proud to join forces with Solvay to significantly expand the positive impact of the Sustainable Guar Initiative and accelerate the growth of this important program" and added, "Working collaboratively with Solvay and TechnoServe India ensures our continued commitment to Responsible Beauty and being a positive force for beauty in the world. We hope this program will inspire others to invest in sustainable guar growth, the empowerment of women farmers, and improving the lives and livelihoods of farming communities in India." [caption id="attachment_137580" align="aligncenter"] Solvay's guar-based polymer ingredients for beauty care formulations are part of a sustainable value chain and are derived primarily from rain-fed crops grown in Rajasthan, India, which accounts for approximately 80 percent of the world's total guar production.[/caption] TechnoServe India Country Director Punit Gupta explained, "As a founding member of the Sustainable Guar Initiative, our aim is to design, demonstrate and improve scalable actions for inclusive, sustainable growth of India's guar production system. As we progress toward becoming a sustainable guar buyer and funder, we are pleased to welcome P&G Beauty in this important effort. The partnership with P&G Beauty, one of the market leaders in the beauty category, is a significant step in supporting TechnoServe's work to promote sustainable livelihoods among small-scale guar bean farmers in India."

Sustainable Guar Initiative

The SGI program was launched by Solvay in 2015 and provides guar farmers with the tools and knowledge needed to grow their crops. The program includes training on climate-smart agricultural practices to improve and stabilize guar yields and increase soil fertility. It also aims to increase the climate preparedness and resilience of the Bikaner region. From 2015 to the end of 2020, the initiative led to a 125 percent increase in guar yields and a 143 percent increase in income for guar farmers. Solvay, together with two partners TechnoServe and BanQu, is further enhancing social impact by leveraging blockchain and building a digital platform that tracks all transactions from farm to shampoo. To date, this platform has been available for 2,000 farmers to record their guar volume transactions and associated payments. With P&G Beauty's partnership, the program doubles its impact and scale, ensuring that children in the region do not miss school, communities have access to clean and safe drinking water, women and families are trained in best practices for health and hygiene, practices are established to monitor plantation survival, and a local Farmers Producer Organization is established to ensure economic stability for farmers and their families, and more. More information about Solvay's Sustainable Guar Initiative program is available on the company website. Solvay's guar-based Jaguar® polymers provide hair and body care formulators with comprehensive care, softening, gelling, water retention and other texture properties aligned with market expectations and trends. Jaguar® is a registered trademark of Solvay. [1] Development and implementation of Good Agricultural Practices in accordance with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Source