INDIA – Samunnati Agro Solutions, one of the largest agri-enterprises in India, has partnered with GLOBALG.A.P, a German organization that sets international standards for agricultural products to work on creating standards for crucial Indian crops like grains, pulses, and oilseeds.

Many of the largest companies engaged in international trade of agricultural products frequently use the GLOBALG.A.P. standards as benchmarks for permitting international trade in agricultural commodities.

By joining the GLOBALG.A.P network as an associate community member, Samunnati is keen to support the development of standards for major staples such as cereals, pulses, and oilseeds, which are cultivated on large scale by hundreds of millions of farmers and are locally relevant.

These crops are strategically significant to India in the context of its AtmaNirbhar & Make in India ambitions to ensure food and nutritional security and further enhance its growing stature in the international agro commodity trade as a dependable producer of safe and high-quality food adhering to international standards.

“We see this as an important step in the right direction to promote sustainable farming practices focusing on major crops that are valuable to the nation. 

“By leveraging mutual synergies, Samunnati and GLOBALG.A.P. are keen to ensure adequate production of safe, nutritious, and good quality food both for the domestic consumers and export markets,” said Anil Kumar S G, Founder & CEO, Samunnati.

He noted that by adopting GLOBALG.A.P. protocols, India’s homegrown food can comply with global standards and will be able to access newer global markets.

According to the CEO, these protocols also help in enhancing productivity and improved resource use efficiency contributing towards sustainability.

“Here, FPOs can certainly play a big role in encouraging their member farmers to adopt the standards, which will help the farmer collectives explore remunerative markets including exports, through which value realization for the farmers is enhanced. Samunnati will explore all these opportunities keeping the smallholder farmers at the center,” he said.

Kumar further added that Samunnati firmly believes that it is a shared responsibility of every entity in the agri-food value chain to ensure food that reaches the consumers is safe, of good quality, and produced sustainably.

“This requires concerted efforts and investments by various ecosystem stakeholders and partnerships particularly, for capacity building, technology transfer, and educating farmers on the need and benefits of adopting good agricultural practices (GAP) and Samunnati welcomes like-minded entities for collaboration for the ultimate benefit of the smallholder farmers,” he said.

Headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Samunnati has a presence in more than 100 agri value chains spread over 22 States in India and has powered over U.S$1.8 Bn of gross transaction value in its journey so far.

The company currently has access to over 4600 farmer collectives with a member base of over 8 million farmers and envisions impacting 1 in every 4 farming households through its network by 2027.

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