Arkema and its partners have published year eight impacts for the Pragati project, the world’s first sustainable castor bean program. Over 8,000 farmers are now certified by the implementation program and individual farmer yield has increased substantially. Over 9,000 hectares of generally semi-arid land are now repeatedly farmed according to the SuCCESS sustainability code. 

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

• More than 10,000 farmers trained – with 8,000 farmers audited, and certified
• About 100,000 tons of certified castor seed have been cumulatively cultivated since the beginning of the project
• Year eight yield by certified farmers is 57% higher than the yield published by the local government for this region
• Over 9,000 hectares are now being regularly farmed in accordance with the SuCCESS sustainable castor code – more than 36,000 hectares cumulatively; Pragati farmers are increasing their land dedicated to castor farming as it is seen as a profitable crop
• As compared to local averages, water consumption has been lowered by approx. 33% in the demo plots where accurate measurement and controls are in place
• Approximately 8,200 safety kits and 5,500 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 6,000+ project farmers, 2,300+ non-project farmers, workers, and their families, of which almost 50% were women
• This year, more than 428 capacity-building training sessions were held with farmers
• Over 700 lead farmers have been identified and trained to guide certified farmer groups

The Pragati program, now in its third phase (2023–2026), puts a greater focus on supporting and increasing female participation in castor farming. This year, more than 1,100 women from 17 project villages have registered under the program. All of them have also enrolled in the digital and financial literacy module of the program, leading to improvements in their active roles in financial and household decision-making.

The project was driven by a baseline survey in 2016 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 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, and enabling better health and safety practices and respecting human rights. 

Learn more about Arkema at www.arkema.com.