Solvay and L’Oréal have teamed up in a scalable three-year project to teach and promote sustainable agricultural practices among 1,500 guar bean farmers across ten villages in India’s desert region of Bikaner, Rajasthan state.

India is the world’s top guar producer with about 80 percent of total production. Guar seeds are processed to obtain guar gum. Demand for this ingredient is on the rise in a range of industries, in particular food and cosmetics.

Through the “Sustainable Guar Initiative,Solvay - a world leader in guar derivatives - aims to empower countless farmers with the tools and knowledge to cultivate the crop through good agricultural practices [1], resulting in more continuous, high-yield production.

Solvay Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium © Jean-Michel - Solvay photolibrary

Solvay’s initiative and partnership with L’Oréal, acting as a founding member, brings many benefits – for farmer communities, their environment as well as for demanding industrial applications. The project will help farmers improve the use of water and preserve the soil, it will raise their income and support local communities,” said Emmanuel Butstraen, President of Solvay Novecare and sponsor of the “Sustainable Guar Initiative”. “Our approach will also reinforce the availability of bio-based guar for industries and allow them to promote their ambitious sustainability goals.