Ashland plans to increase the number of farms participating in its sustainable guar scheme in India to 5,000 from 250 following a successful pilot.
In partnership with the SM Sehgal Foundation, Ashland last year initiated a STEM programme applying scientific solutions for sustainable farming to increase the volume of guar harvested annually while respecting the sourcing relationships and local cultures of small village farmers in the Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan.
The relationships are critical to Ashland, which uses guar to formulate specialty ingredients such as styleze es-dura ingredient for personal care.
The pilot programme included 250 farms from ten villages. Using modern technologies, farmers were taught sustainable agronomic practices and water conservation.
“The programme’s successful results include helping farmers lower their production cost while increasing their crop yield by approximately 30%,” a spokeswoman said.
“In addition, the programme has helped increase farmers’ income, thus expanding the local economy in the small villages,” she added.
Based on the success of the pilot, Ashland is moving forward with plans to increase the number of farms to 5,000 by 2025.
In addition to aiding the farmers with guar production, Ashland’s Responsible Solvers mindset led the team to also provide training and other technical guidance for mustard and wheat crops during the guar off-season.
This training also improved the yield of these crops, making a holistic impact on the farmers’ annual income.
“Driven by our desire for profitable, sustainable growth and global megatrends in the resilient markets that we have selected, Ashland is increasing the speed of our innovations, while proactively and consciously focusing on their holistic impact for customers, the environment and the welfare of society,” said chief executive Guillermo Novo.
“More than a year ago, Ashland integrated ESG into our strategic operating plans, and globally, we are continuing to take an earnest and heartfelt approach towards profitable innovation, sustainability and positive impacts for the local communities in which we operate,” he added.
