Launch of National Sustainable Spice Programme in Andhra Pradesh

06 Nov, 2019

The National Sustainable Spice Programme (NSSP) was launched in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh on 6th November 2019 with a vision of ensuring that at least 25% of the spices grown in India would be cultivated in a sustainable manner by 2025. The NSSP initiative is being jointly supported by the Spice Board of India, World Spice Organization, GIZ and the IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative. The prime objective of this initiative is to focus on sustainability, biodiversity and food safety in major spice regions of India. In the inaugural address, Mr Chiranjiv Chaudhary, IFS, Commissioner of Horticulture, Andhra Pradesh, offered the department’s support to ensure the initiative’s success. Mr D Sathiyan, IFS, Secretory Spice Board, Government of India, in the Key Note address, emphasised the need for sustainable and biodiversity-friendly production of spices for the domestic as well as export market. The coordinator of the initiative, Mr Philip Kuruvila, introduced NSSP and presented its functions.

The global ‘Private Business Action for Biodiversity’ project, implemented by GIZ, presented the key areas of interventions on mainstreaming biodiversity within the spice sector and the potential to work further in supporting and strengthening NSSP with different capacity development programmes. The other organisations providing their views and support to NSSP were the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), ITC and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) as well as producers, spice companies and agricultural institutes. More than 100 representatives from various organisations participated in the launch and agreed to support the initiative. This multi-stakeholder partnership will help in mobilising expertise, knowledge and financial resources together to achieve the goals of NSSP.