Spices as the way of sustainability

The Agro Climatic Zone where Grameen has been rigorously working to improve the livelihood of the community through the promotion of a few selected highly remunerative crops is known as the hub of spices- Black Pepper, Turmeric, Ginger and King Chili. Spice production is one of the emerging opportunities which have commercial value both in Indian as well as the export market. The project areas are mostly located in the foot hills of Assam-Meghalaya border. Currently Grameen Sahara has been working with nearly 7000 women farmers of Kamrup, Kamrup (M) and Goalpara districts of Assam and Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya and they are engaged in the production of spices- Black Pepper, Turmeric, Ginger and King Chili in 100 nos. of tribal villages. At the same time, we are also working on the value addition of the spices and for this a common service centre has been established primarily for the processing of raw Spices basically Turmeric and Black Pepper. An important milestone is the establishment of a producer owned entity named Pratishruti Pure Agro Private Ltd. for marketing of the produces as apart of forward linkage. The reviews and studies both inhouse and by third party has shown that the income enhancement has been up to 75,000 per annum over their baseline income. This is really significant. This project has successfully leverage support from Government agencies such as HRS, KVK, Department of Agriculture and Spices Board of India. The project also has been able to get awarded at the national level. This initiative of spices promotion has been primarily supported by IndiGo Reach and Ajim Premji Foundation.