The Sustainable Spices Initiative (SSI) is founded in 2012 by the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) with the aim to transform the mainstream spice industry into a more sustainable market.
Poor agricultural practices, lack of adequate processing facilities and growers switching to high-value crops or jobs, have caused an increase in the number of concerns around spice production especially in terms of future supply, food safety and traceability. Additionally, the sector also deals with sustainability issues such as uncontrolled pesticide use, poor wastewater management and deplorable labour conditions. Only in a pre-competitive environment we can create much needed change.
Together with NGO’s and companies active within the spice and herbs sector we have made the commitment to:
1. Strive for a fully sustainable spice production and trade in the sector.
2. Reach or exceed 25% sustainable sourcing in at least top 3 products categories by 2025.
3. Achieve or exceed 10%-point growth for top 3 product categories by 2021.
Through this collective commitment we hope to secure future sourcing and boost economic growth in producing countries. Nedspice’s CEO, Alfons van Gulick, is chairman of the SSI, which underlines our dedication to achieve the SSI targets.
We invite all spice-producing and spice trading companies to join the SSI community and underwrite the same targets. Because only together we can drive change.