Farmers under the Nedspice Farmers Partnership Program (NFPP) harvested a record amount of cumin in crop season 20/21. The unprecedented volume of high-quality IPM cumin harvest follows from years of investments in R&D, data analysis, implementation of Good Agricultural Practices and other components of NFPP.
Nedspice Farmers Partnership Programme (NFPP) is Nedspice sustainable sourcing program. Through NFPP we train farmers on good agricultural practices, implement new technologies and give on-farm support whenever required. By doing so we help to develop sustainable and profitable farms that produce high-quality and safe spices.
In crop season 2013/2014 Nedspice initiated NFPP for cumin cultivation. The program started off with 44 farmers, divided over 4 villages in Rajasthan, India. In 2020-21, NFPP for cumin has grown into 1200 participating farmers in 64 different villages, who collectively produced 6000 MT of sustainable cumin.
Various factors enabled NFPP’s growth and this year’s record harvest. Through the NFPP app, important cultivation data is collected and stored centrally which allows for targeted field visits and timely application of inputs. Years of experience and continuous R&D have contributed to a very strong Package of Practice – our guideline for farmers on cultivation practices. In 2019 we started with NFPP Call Centre, a hotline that provides farmers with quick answers to any technical questions they may have on crop input, weather forecasts, water management or even locust swarm threats. The NFPP Call Centre infrastructure has proven to be very helpful during the Covid pandemic, which made travelling to farms difficult from time to time. Moreover, Nedspice was provided with special permission to help farmers during the pandemic, which helped to mitigate the negative effects of the lockdown.
Deputy General Manager of NFPP Cumin Ganapathy K.D. describes the season like no other: “I feel like the work we have put in NFPP over the years is really paying off, we have hit the holy grail of good quality yield, high volumes and happy farmers.”
The cumin sowing for next season finished in November of this year. We look forward to break new records together with our farmers again next year.
