UP startup dedicates two new peanut butter flavours to honour ex-US President Jimmy Carter

The company’s co-founder Aman Kumar said the decision is to honour Carter for his “commitment to agriculture”. It also acknowledges Carter’s life-long commitment to agriculture and sustainable development, Kumar added.

Carter, also revered as the “champion of peanut farming”, breathed his last at his residence in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday.

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“As a tribute to the former president of the United States of America, considered a champion of peanut farming and rural development, we will be dedicating our upcoming range of coffee-flavoured peanut butter and barbeque-flavoured peanut butter in his honour,” Kumar said.

Two new peanut butter flavours -coffee and barbeque -will be added to the company’s existing dark chocolate, jaggery and unsweetened flavour offerings.

Peanut farming in Unnao

Around 10,000 farmers grow peanuts in 14-15 villages in Unnao district. Out of these, 2,000 farmers use organic techniques.

Kumar said the idea for the startup was inspired by the struggle of peanut farmers in Unnao district. Due to dependence on intermediaries and lack of market access, farmers struggle to realise better prices for their produce, he told PTI.

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“Nutty Village works with around 50 farmers and purchases groundnuts from 5-6 farmers for its peanut butter. It is working with the women self-help groups to do both the primary and secondary processing to make peanut butter, creating livelihood opportunities as well at the grassroots level,” said Kumar, who holds a Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

“We first met Aman when he wanted to discuss how we could all work together for better profits. He brought us seeds and we worked on figuring out the best farming methods,” said Manish Singh, a 36-year-old farmer.

The startup offers them three times the market price, the co-founder claimed. Chandkali, a 60-year-old member of a self-help group, told PTI that she earns “good money” from her employment in the secondary processing of peanuts.