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HomePosts Tagged "BASF SE"
Agribusiness, Company News, India, Oilseeds

The partners now commit to a third phase for the world’s first sustainable castor program.

BASF, Arkema, Jayant Agro-Organics and implementation partner Solidaridad launched the project in May 2016. For year seven the members officially updated the impacts of the program so far:

More than 7,000 farmers have been trained, audited, and certified.

Over 74,500 tons of certified castor seed have been cultivated.

Year 7 yield is 36 per cent higher than the yield published by the local government for this region.

Over 7,000 hectares are now being regularly farmed in accordance with the success sustainable castor code (see www.castorsuccess.org) – more than 27,000 hectares cumulatively; Pragati farmers are increasing their land dedicated to castor farming as it is seen as a profitable crop.

The partners have committed to Phase 3 of Pragati, comprising of three years, from 2023-2026. The next phase of the project will see continued attention being paid to sustainable farming with a special focus on greater female participation and improved water management techniques in the farming communities.

The project was driven by a baseline survey of more than 1,000 castor farmers in Gujarat, India, where most of the world’s castor supply originates. The original baseline study highlighted the fact that farmers see castor as a highly remunerative and profitable crop – easy to grow, and easy to sell.

The practices followed in the Pragati project have resulted in a lower water consumption compared to conventional practices. The data measured in the demo plots for these practices showed about 21 per cent less consumption of water.

Over 7,000 safety kits and crop protection product boxes have been distributed free of charge.

More than 100 medical camps organized in all project villages this year successfully conducted health monitoring of 8,500+ farmers, workers, and their family members, of which 65 per cent were farmers enrolled in the Pragati program.

Farmers from more than 100 villages in North Gujarat now participate in the program.

This year, more than 380 capacity-building training sessions were held with farmers.

Over 475 lead farmers have been identified and trained to guide certified farmer groups.

The goal of the project has been to enable sustainable castor crop production by:

Using good agricultural practices to increase yield and farmer income

Efficiently using water resources and maintaining soil fertility

Driving adoption of good waste management practices

Enabling better health and safety practices and respecting human rights

The partners now commit to a third

Agrotech, Company News, Packaging & Labelling, Supply Chain

Circular packaging featuring overall environmental benefits with StePac’s Xtend® and Xgo™

Germany based BASF SE and StePac Ltd. Based in Israel have joined forces to create the next generation of sustainable packaging specifically for the fresh produce sector. Supplying StePac with its Ultramid® CcycledTM, a chemically recycled polyamide 6, BASF will provide its partner greater flexibility to advance contact-sensitive packaging formats to a higher sustainable standard within the circular economy.

StePac, specialized in developing advanced functional packaging solutions, is pioneering the use of chemically recycled plastics for the packaging of fresh perishables. The company was recently REDcert2 certified to incorporate chemically recycled polyamide 6 into its flexible, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) products. Their two brands XgoTM and Xtend® are based on MAP technology with built-in humidity control which effectively slows respiration inside the packaging, delays the ageing processes, inhibits microbial decay, and preserves the quality and nutritional value of the produce during prolonged storage and long-haul shipments. Ultramid Ccycled will make up 30% of the packaging material, with options for integration at a higher percentage.

“This alliance will help strike a balance between creating plastic packaging that is as eco-friendly as possible to keep fresh produce longer through more prudent use of lean plastic films,” said Gary Ward, Business Development Manager of StePac.

With ChemCyclingTM, BASF has been breaking new ground in the recycling of plastic waste. Chemical recycling primarily involves plastic waste that would have been used for energy recovery or landfilled. It complements mechanical recycling, accelerating a circular economy by yielding food-grade recycled plastic. Dr Dominik Winter, Vice President of BASF’s European polyamides business said, “This helps to replace fossil raw materials and is an important step towards circularity. As chemically recycled plastics have the same quality and safety as virgin material, the scope of plastics that can be recycled for fresh produce packaging is widened.”

Circular packaging featuring overall environmental benefits with

Agrotech, India, Oilseeds, Sustainability

Over 6,000 hectares are now being regularly farmed in accordance with the SuCCESS sustainable castor code

BASF and its partners have published the latest results from the Pragati project for sustainable castor beans. Pragati, the world’s first sustainable castor program was founded in May 2016 by Arkema, BASF SE, Jayant Agro-Organics along with implementation partner Solidaridad.

  • After six years, the program has had an impressive impact to:
  • Over 6,200 farmers have been trained, audited, and certified.
  • Over 50,000 tons of certified castor seed have been cultivated.
  • Year 6 yield is 22 per cent higher than the yield published by the local government for this region.

Over 6,000 hectares are now being regularly farmed in accordance with the SuCCESS sustainable castor code – more than 19,000 hectares cumulatively; Pragati farmers are increasing their land dedicated to castor farming as it is seen as a profitable crop.

Approx. 6,300 safety kits and crop protection product boxes have been distributed free of charge.

Water consumption has been lowered by approximately 30 percent in the demo plots where accurate measurement and control is in place. Farmers from more than 80 villages in North Gujarat now participate in the program. In 2021, more than 260 individual training sessions were held with farmers.

After the successful implementation in the previous years, the Pragati members are further committed to the world’s first sustainable castor program.

The SuCCESS code mandates regular medical monitoring for all workers. Heavy emphasis is also put on improved personal safety and chemical hygiene. In addition, the farmers are encouraged to use renewable energy, where possible.

The farmer safety kits are provided by BASF. They include disposable respirators, safety glasses and gloves, as well as easy-to-understand, picture-based instructions that show where, when and how to use each personal protection item, along with instructions on how to handle chemicals safely.

Additionally, the SuCCESS code encourages all certified farmers to ensure that their school-age children are actively enrolled in school.

The project starting point

The project was driven by a baseline survey of more than 1,000 castor farmers in Gujarat, India, where the majority of the world’s castor supply originates. The original baseline study highlighted the fact that farmers see castor as a highly remunerative and profitable crop, that is easy to grow and easy to sell.

The goal of the project has been to enable sustainable castor crop production by:

  • Using good agricultural practices to increase yield and farmer income
  • Efficiently using water resources and maintaining soil fertility
  • Driving adoption of good waste management practices
  • Enabling better health and safety practices and respecting human rights

Over 6,000 hectares are now being regularly

Agrotech, Sustainability

Over 5,800 farmers have been trained, audited, and certified under the Pragati programme

The founding members of the Pragati project for sustainable castor crop – Arkema, BASF SE, Jayant Agro-Organics along with implementation partner Solidaridad –finalised and published the final audited and certified results of the fifth year of their programme.

In December 2021, the members updated the impacts of the programme so far:

  • Over 5,800 farmers have been trained, audited, and certified in total – an increase of 27 per cent in programme year five compared to the year before
  • 36,000 tonne of certified castor seed has been cultivated – an increase of 50 per cent in programme year five compared to the previous year
  • Yield has improved over 35 per cent versus comparable yield published by local government in the region for 2020-2021
  • Over 13,300 hectares are now being farmed following the SuCCESS sustainable castor code 
  • Approx. 6,300 safety kits and crop protection product boxes have been distributed free of charge
  • Water consumption has been lowered by approx. 35 per cent in the demo plots where accurate measurement and control is in place
  • Farmers from more than 69 villages in North Gujarat now participate in the programme

‘With our joint efforts in this programme, we support the sustainable production of castor beans to establish sustainable supply chains that amongst others increase the yields and income of the farmers,’ said Karin Wagner, responsible for castor oil and derivatives procurement at BASF.

The farmer safety kits are provided by BASF. They include disposable respirators, safety glasses and gloves, as well as easy-to-understand, picture-based instructions that show where, when and how to use each personal protection item, along with instructions on how to handle chemicals safely.

The Pragati project was launched in May 2016 driven by a baseline survey of more than 1,000 castor farmers in Gujarat, India, where the majority of the world’s castor supply originates. 

The goal of the project is to enable sustainable castor crop production by:

  • Using good agricultural practices to increase yield and farmer income
  • Efficiently using water resources and maintaining soil fertility
  • Driving adoption of good waste management practices
  • Enabling better health and safety practices and respecting human rights

Over 5,800 farmers have been trained, audited,