Building Responsible Sourcing Is About Collaboration, Not Compliance: Litul Baruah

Sustainability is not just about policies — it’s about people, partnerships, and purpose, says Litul Baruah, Senior Programme Manager at Laudes, during IDH Sutra 2025 – The Sustainable Trade Summit, where he spoke about building a responsible sourcing ecosystem that benefits both businesses and farmers.

“Sustainable sourcing is the reason for the lack of teamwork and unclear responsibility across the value chain. In many cases, small farmers follow good, eco-friendly practices, but they fail to get recognition for their efforts,” he added. They are building a responsible sourcing framework that connects farmers, producer groups, suppliers, and companies on one platform.

He explained that the goal is to make sustainability something people actually practise every day — not just a word in reports. The idea is to start by bringing everyone together — farmers, local organisations, and businesses — to work as one team and create real impact on the ground.. “Collaboration is key,” he emphasised. “Policies work only when everyone in the chain understands their role and contributes to the shared vision.”

Baruah shared that his company is already running responsible sourcing programs by working with various divisions and suppliers. These programs focus on gathering ideas and lessons from real experiences. Then they create policy frameworks based on experiences and ensure everyone agrees on a common approach before implementation. Once the foundation is set, the company puts a clear action plan, one that balances business growth with caring for the environment and social priorities.

He also highlighted the importance of technology in making the supply chain efficient. To achieve this, the company has introduced satellite-based monitoring and digital farm data systems to keep track of farms.  Baruah said, “Technology helps us see exactly what’s happening at the farm level,”. “It creates visibility, builds trust, and ensures that every sustainability claim is backed by real evidence.”

According to him, such digital tools not only make operations more transparent but also empower farmers to qualify for certification programmes, become eligible for incentives, and gain better access to markets.

Baruah explained that his company has a long-term objective. They target 95% sustainable sourcing of all the major agricultural and raw materials by the year 2030. To make it happen, they are not just working towards gathering certificates and meeting paperwork goals, but also towards creating change in the lives of farmers and their communities. “Sustainability shouldn’t only change reports,” he said. “It should change realities on the ground.”

He gave the example of the Trustea certification program, which was started more than 10 years ago to make tea production more sustainable in India. Through this program, a large part of the Indian tea industry has been brought under a sustainability framework, the overall cost of compliance has become lower and made responsible practices more common and affordable. Small tea farmers have also benefited, he added; their productivity, safety and access to new markets have all improved.

Baruah said that responsible sourcing is an evolving journey, one that requires patience, collaboration, and innovation. “The goal,” he said, “is to create a supply chain where every link — from soil to shelf — contributes to sustainability. When farmers, businesses, and consumers grow responsibly together, the whole ecosystem thrives.”