The Hindu : Business : Need to concentrate on spices, cashew export markets highlighted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 28, 2005

Business

Business

Need to concentrate on spices, cashew export markets highlighted

Staff Reporter

Vietnam making considerable progress in this direction

KOCHI: More attention should be given to find export markets for spices, as many countries that were previously lagging behind us have improved their status in recent times, said L. Krishnaswamy, former chairman and managing director of North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC).

He was speaking after the inauguration of the seminar on Spices and Cashew, held on the fourth day of the ongoing Second Swadeshi Mela at Ernakulathappan grounds.

He said Vietnam used to be far behind India in cashew export, but it had now set a target of overtaking India by 2010{gt} Vietnam was making considerable progress in this direction, he said.

Mr. Krishnaswamy said the import of pepper from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia was affecting the price of spices in the domestic market.

Therefore, collective efforts were now required to prepare India for competition in the international spice market, he said.

Mr. Krishnaswamy said that after the inaugural session, P.T. John, joint director, Spices Board, made a presentation on production and post-harvest processing of major spices in Kerala.

He dealt in detail various methods that could be employed in small-scale farming of spices like cardamom.

Joji Mathew, field officer, Spices Board, made a presentation on opportunities for value-addition in spices.

In the last presentation of the session, A. Augustine, professor, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, talked about value-addition in cashew through by-product utilisation. Dr. Augustine also explained about the low-cost technology that the KAU had developed to convert cashew to value-added products such as wine, liquor, vinegar, soft drink and candy out of cashew.

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