Social Impact of Sustainable Guar Sourcing

The Sustainable Guar Initiative has a strong gender focus with 27% female beneficiaries, and the program is continuously working towards increasing this number. Over the past 9 years, the program has continuously worked to bring women farmers to the forefront by increasing their participation and decision-making through capacity building in Climate Smart Agriculture and Good Agricultural Practices. Given that guar cultivation in the Bikaner district is not labor- or resource-intensive, women in the household have always played a vital role by undertaking different agricultural practices. Prior to SGI intervention, it was found that women did not participate in decisions regarding the cultivation or sale of guar. To improve women’s status in the household, the program has been building the capacity of women farmers alongside their male counterparts. Further, the program has been ensuring an increased representation of women at every level of the FPC, including the board of directors. Alongside this, SGI focuses on providing training to female beneficiaries to improve family nutrition, menstrual health management, and kitchen gardens.

Over the years, the program has found other avenues to further support female beneficiaries by conducting menstrual health & management workshops for adolescent girls in the program villages, bridging the digital and financial divide among male and female members of the household by capacitating female beneficiaries. Such initiatives have allowed the program’s deep and continuous engagement with the female beneficiaries across the years and have been monumental in instilling trust and confidence among them, apart from visible changes in their nutritional and hygiene status. The program aspires to continue supporting the female beneficiaries by extending its support to 1000 more beneficiaries to further bridge the gender divide among guar farming households in the Bikaner district and increase the agency of female farmers in the region.

Sustainable Guar Initiative uniquely address the issue of child labour through its intervention called the “Children Missing School”. It was designed keeping in mind the farmer’s tendency to move to their field along with children during the cultivation period which resulted in children missing school. Prior to SGI’s intervention, there were some incidents of farmers relocating to their farms along with their children periodically which led to children missing school during the cultivation period. To ensure continuous education for children in guar farming households, the SGI team actively engages with participating farmers to raise awareness about the importance of continuous school education through constant monitoring by our field staff, household counselling, and street plays before the guar cultivation season. However, if the team learns about a child missing school, we work closely with the parents to ensure their attendance at school.

Since guar cultivation is relatively less labour and resource-intensive, there is no prevalence of hired child labour in guar farming in the SGI project villages. Moreover, guar cultivation in SGI farmer’s farms is neither highly mechanized nor uses hazardous agrochemicals. Therefore, this further prevents children from any risks and hazards.

The intervention is in line with the International Labour Organisation guidelines, as participation in some agricultural activities is not always child labour. Age-appropriate tasks that are of low risk and do not interfere with a child’s schooling and leisure time can be a normal part of growing up in a rural environment. Especially in the context of family farming, some participation of children in non-hazardous activities can be positive as it contributes to the intergenerational transfer of technical and social skills and children’s food security. (Source).