Hot Spot Guide: Sustainability challenges of spices and herbs along the value chain

The Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung is funding the Centre for Sustainable Management (ZNU) at Witten/Herdecke University for a study on key sustainability hot spots for selected spices and herbs. Ecological hot spots are mainly the use of pesticides and fertilisers, while the social challenges are mainly occupational safety and health and living wages. Of the economic issues, product safety and quality as well as legal compliance are particularly relevant. In order to operationalise the essential topics for companies, practical checklists were developed.

Hot Spot Guide to Spices to provide orientation

The question of the sustainability of our food is becoming increasingly important in societal debate. This is supported, among other things, by the United Nations' Agenda 2030 with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the German Sustainability Strategy. The Due Diligence Act also brings sustainability along the value chains more into focus. However, spices and herbs are often still "under the radar" in the current discussion. There is also a lack of scientific data on what the key sustainability issues are for the individual spices.

The aim of the Hot Spot Guide to Spices is to provide scientifically sound insight into and an overview of the main sustainability challenges for spices and herbs. In the future, it is intended to serve as a neutral and resilient point of reference for employees of companies in the spice sector, trade, politics, media and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as providing a reliable framework for the wider interested public.

Chilli, paprika, pepper, onion and parsley: defining sustainability challenges

The results of the study are the key social, ecological and economic sustainability challenges of chilli, pepper, pepper, onion and parsley. "The study results show that the most significant sustainability challenges are similar for all spices and herbs studied," says Dr Ulrike Eberle, project leader and head of research at ZNU and author of the study. "Both pesticides and fertilisers as well as occupational safety and health and living wages are the most important challenges for internal and external stakeholders."

However, it can be seen that the value chain varies greatly depending on the product, the country of production and the target market. For example, all spices and herbs are produced on both smallholder and larger-scale farms. However, the sustainability challenges differ depending on the size of the farm. For example, in smaller family farms the work is done with the participation of the whole family, whereas in larger farms many seasonal workers are used. For this reason, child labour, for example, is a particular problem on smaller family farms, while respect for the rights of migrant and seasonal workers is especially important on larger farms.

Especially for spices from the global south, the supply chains are very complex and can be broken down into many value-added steps. "It is important for companies to know the supply chain and their suppliers - only then do they have the opportunity to limit existing sustainability risks," says Dr Ulrike Eberle. "This also contributes to human rights due diligence through more transparency along the supply chain - a requirement that is more important than ever today against the background of the Due Diligence Act."

Checklists to support players in the spice industry

In order to break down the challenges of the spice sector, checklists were developed to support actors in identifying sustainability hot spots in other spices or foods. The checklists contain central questions on all major social, ecological and economic sustainability challenges, which can also be evaluated according to relevance.

The study is based on research in German and English-language literature. This is supplemented and expanded by guideline-based interviews with stakeholders in the spice sector and an online survey conducted in June 2018. The 19 interview partners come from both German and international organisations. Representatives from companies in the spice sector (agricultural production, trade and processing) and external stakeholders (media, labelling organisations, initiatives, trade associations & consumer organisations) were involved. 71 people took part in the online survey. Not all participants answered all questions, also due to the specific questions on individual spices. The Hot-Spot Guide Spices research project and the associated study were funded by Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung .

The detailed Hot Spot Guide is available for download here.

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