Organic Castor Oil | Gujarat, India
We are proud to be using the world’s first certified organic and Fair for life castor oil. Our castor oil comes exclusively from Mr. Nanalal Satra and his family-run company from the Kutch region in Gujarat, India.
The Kutch region in Gujarat is also described as the "wild west" of India. Conditions in this region are very dry, the desert landscape stretches over more than 40,000 square km and is almost treeless, rainfall is limited and unreliable and irrigation options are limited. So feeding on this soil is a challenge.
The castor bean plant is exceptionally tough, resilient, and one of the few agricultural crops that can be grown here at all. Their holy bean! Therefore, this plant is of great importance as a source of income for smallholder families in Gujarat.
Mr. Satra’s company supports and advises local farmers in the transition of castor cultivation, first to an organic certified, and later to a Fair for Life certified farming method. They also organise the farming plans, train farmers in organic farming techniques and keep the network of smallholders alive.
Through gentle hydraulic pressings, they press the castor seeds from organic, smallholder agriculture gently into the highest quality cold-pressed castor oil. This preserves the seeds’ natural ingredients, resulting in high quality pure oil.
We pay €0,30/kg castor oil Fair for Life surcharge plus €0,20/kg castor oil voluntary Fair for Life surcharge and €0,11/kg surcharge FFL certification costs. The fund is used to implement projects in the farmers' villages. For example, the money was used to build another classroom for secondary education in the school in the village of Makhel. This also gives girls the chance of a secondary education.
Other projects supported include a drinking water tank and a computer for a small village school, as well as the improvement of the water supply in the low-rainfall region through the construction of ponds. In a current project, 10 women have received a sewing machine. They have been trained in sewing. The goal is to have them process fabrics made from organic cotton grown in the region. This project allows the women to earn their own income and, thus, gain financial independence.
We trust we have found a partner who is sincerely concerned about improving the living conditions of the rural population in Gujarat, and happy that we can contribute to a fair and good loan to the network of smallholders.
