Syensqo marks 10 years of championing sustainable sourcing for the beauty industry with the Sustainable Guar Initiative, empowering smallholder farmers and transforming the guar value chain in India
Syensqo proudly celebrates the 10th anniversary of its pioneering Sustainable Guar Initiative (SGI), a program designed to build a self-reliant, inclusive and sustainable guar supply chain in India while meeting the beauty industry’s growing demand for ethical products. Launched in 2015, this collaborative effort—run on the ground by the NGO TechnoServe and local guar processor Hindustan Gum & Chemicals (Hichem), in partnership with leading beauty brands such as Henkel and Procter & Gamble—has significantly improved guar farming in northwest Rajasthan’s Bikaner region, setting new benchmarks for sustainable agriculture and community development.
At the heart of the Sustainable Guar Initiative is the guar bean, a valuable source of naturally-derived polymers used in beauty products to deliver superior conditioning and thickening properties. This renewable resource powers our flagship brands, Naternal™ and Jaguar®, enabling beauty formulators to develop formulations that meet both performance and sustainable sourcing expectations.
Aligned with Syensqo’s mission to advance humanity, the Sustainable Guar Initiative exemplifies our company’s commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing. By empowering farmers and fostering autonomous agricultural communities, we're not only securing our supply chain, and that of our customers, but also meeting growing consumer demand for responsibly sourced products. We invite and encourage other companies to join this initiative, amplifying its positive impact.
The Sustainable Guar Initiative, which is supported by the Syensqo Fund, is unique in its comprehensive approach to ethical sourcing, focusing not only on improving agricultural practices, but also on building farmer capacity and establishing producer cooperatives. The program stands out due to its unique mission to create self-sustaining farming communities that can operate independently in the long term, and focuses on agronomic, economic, environmental and social impacts to address the challenges of responsible sourcing.
The social impact of the SGI on local communities has been transformative. We've seen remarkable progress in farmer empowerment, especially among women. The program has fostered confidence, entrepreneurship, and a sense of ownership among farmers. It's not just about improving yields; it's about building resilient, self-reliant communities. SGI’s focus on women farmers has fostered leadership opportunities, with many now taking on active roles in producer cooperatives and their communities.
Key achievements of the Sustainable Guar Initiative since its launch in 2015 include:
- Expansion to 62 villages, involving over 12,300 farmers
- Participation of over 3,300 women farmers
- An average 2.7x increase in guar yield in an environment of constantly changing climatic conditions
- Over 2x increase in farmers' income
Syensqo is a science company developing groundbreaking solutions that enhance the way we live, work, travel and play. Inspired by the scientific councils which Ernest Solvay initiated in 1911, we bring great minds together to push the limits of science and innovation for the benefit of our customers, with a diverse, global team of more than 13,000 associates in 30 countries.
Our solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices and healthcare applications. Our innovation power enables us to deliver on the ambition of a circular economy and explore breakthrough technologies that advance humanity.
Learn more at www.syensqo.com.
Sustainable Guar Initiative
The Syensqo Fund supports the Sustainable Guar Initiative to ensure better revenue for farmers and encourage more sustainable and resilient agricultural practices. To empower women farmers, the initiative also offers training and education programs, focusing on hygiene, health, nutrition and digital literacy.