We at SNA are committed to being an innovation-focussed and responsible company where sustainability is lived consequently – every day anew and with complete consistency: because we bear responsibility today for the world in which we will live tomorrow. That is why we are committed to absolute fairness in all of our actions.
Saffron is highly valued as a spice and medicinal plant and accordingly is expensive. Nevertheless, many farmers are barely able to make a living from growing saffron. That's not true with us however: our saffron farmers earn a higher income, enjoy better working conditions and are able to cultivate their land in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.
Our saffron farmers are real partners for us and we have been working with them for years. That is why our minds are set on giving them the best possible living conditions and we regularly enquire about their individual needs.
We support them with a variety of measures that also benefit the local community and contribute to the social development of the regions where are saffron is cultivated. These include education and training programmes for the saffron farmers so that they can cultivate it in a more economical, ecological and socially responsible manner.
Sustainable saffron cultivation does away with the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. This not only protects the climate. The soil also becomes and remain more fertile as a result, the quality of the saffron increases and the farmers' yields are higher. As part of our SNA Green Saffron training programme, we support farmers in converting to sustainable cultivation. In the process, they acquire important knowledge and learn methods on subjects including soil fertility and climate protection, so that they deal with the environment and resources in a careful and responsible manner.
What is also important to us is that no harmful substances are used, which is achieved through the extensive use of ecological methods of pest control – to protect the insect diversity – as well as largely avoiding packaging plastics!
In the future, SNA plans to support research and innovation in the area of saffron. Basic research is important in order to guarantee greater plant safety, even better quality and more sustainable cultivation in the long term. Through our support and liaison with research institutes, we would also like to help ensure that saffron is increasingly used as a remedy for diseases. This also includes scientifically investigating the saffron genome, the various saffron species and their individual characteristics.