In early 2003, Earthoil set out to establish an organic mint project in India on the basis of the growing demand for certified organic mint oils. To meet our immediate needs, we worked alongside our Indian agent to find a mint oil operation which was already practising organic farming methods - but was not yet certified organic. Within a couple of months, Earthoil found a suitable existing operation which, much to our luck, could be certified organic immediately!
This operation is in Utter Pradesh - a popular mint production area – where a group of small-scale rural growers share two common distillation units. Here the oil of 42 small-scale local farmers (some with blocks as small as 2 hectares) is produced. Combined, the farmers have a total area of almost 185 hectares. Most of the 42 growers are related so it has developed very much into a large family co-op where the mint production directly supports around 220 people.
This year, Earthoil extended this project by certifying another small-scale growers group some 50 kilometres away from our first co-op. They too have two communal distillation units which they share amongst them. This co-op comprises 48 growers - bringing the total number of growers in the entire extended mint project to 90, and people supported from the entire project to around 450.
Both groups produce their mint crops without the use of chemicals and have been using the same production methods for the last twenty years. Plant nutrition comes from a regime of mulching spent leaf matter after distillation - coupled with animal waste and the planting of a legume crop in the off season. In the wet season, the farmers also receive beneficial alluvial flooding, which deposits silt to their fields. Economics and remoteness of their land made the farmers develop clever organic production methods. Artificial fertilisers are too expensive - with the prohibitive distances required to freight fertiliser to their farms.
Earthoil Plantations commissioned the certification of these lands - educating the farmers on the criteria required for certification. Earthoil lined up SKAL (a Swedish certifier) to handle the farm certification each year. This involves random samples taken from the soil, leaf and oil to test for traces of chemicals. These tests are performed by an independent laboratory in the Netherlands - two such tests performed since the land has been certified – have both delivered a clear result. These tests are a requirement of the USDA (NOP) certification which this mint project has also been awarded.
The total mint production is broken down (roughly) into the following mint varieties:
70% Mentha piperita (peppermint)
20% Mentha arvensis (corn mint)
10% Mentha spicata (spearmint)
Last year, Earthoil purchased about 65% of the initial co- op's total production - with the balance being sold as conventional to existing Indian traders. Our goal this year is to purchase close to 100% of the farmers production. In total the farmers will produce around 24mt of certified organic mint oil per annum - depending on the length of the season.
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