The Sami-Sabinsa Group, experts in science-backed nutraceutical and cosmeceutical ingredients, was honoured last week by two separate awards from two respected industry organisations for the company’s cultivation programmes.
On 16 July the Sami-Sabinsa Group’s ambitious ten year reforestation programme of Pterocarpus marsupium trees in India was recognised as the NutraIngredients-USA Editors Award for Industry Initiative of the Year. This reforestation programme is the first of its kind in the herbal industry: proactively addressing future supply shortfall of a medicinal tree.
Anticipating future demand as research confirms traditional Ayurvedic use for diabetes, Sami- Sabinsa learned that the Indian Kino tree population is threatened. In response, the company developed and funded a collaborative programme to plant 166,600 trees on 250 forest acres over ten years, the first conservation programme for this high value threatened tree species in India.
Sami-Sabinsa conceived and funded the initiative, with cultivation managed by the reforestation organisation Madhya Pradesh Rajya Van Vikas Nigam Limited on land provided by the forest department of the State of Madhya Pradesh. Sabinsa’s proprietary ingredient extracts obtained from Pterocarpus marsupium, and based upon licensed patents, are sold under the brand names, Silbinol and pTeroSol.
Shortly afterwards, on 18 July, Nutrition Business Journal honoured Sabinsa with the Supply Chain Transparency / Sustainability award for the company’s extensive cultivation programme. What began as a way to ensure enough raw material for certain products evolved into a company mission of Indian traditional herb stewardship and support of small farming communities.
Through the years they have fine-tuned the programme, providing seed to the farmers, training them to grow herbs sustainably and cleanly, and guaranteeing a minimum purchase price to the farmers in times of bad harvest. When herb prices go up, Sabinsa pays more for the harvest than the contracted amount.
Farmers are taught techniques to naturally repel pests and are given irrigation support in times of insufficient rainfall. The company can trace lots of ingredients to specific farms.
They have also hosted many clients and industry trade media representatives on visits to their factories and farms in India, demonstrating transparency in their supply chain.
