The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Expert for setting up SEZs for farm commodities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 17, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Expert for setting up SEZs for farm commodities

Staff Reporter

Importance of maintaining quality stressed

EXCHANGE: K.S. Shashidhar, Director, IWST, having a word with P.G. Chengappa, Vice-Chancellor, UAS, Bangalore, at a workshop in Bangalore on Wednesday. S.D. Shikhamany, Director, IIHR, Bangalore, is seen. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: Experts, who addressed a two-day national workshop on spices and aromatic plants/crops, here on Wednesday stressed the importance of maintaining quality of the value added products of the crops to retain the pre-eminent position India was enjoying and excel in marketing and exports.

The workshop was organised by the University of Agricultural Sciences, the Department of Horticulture and the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Kozhikode. Director of Indian Institute of Horticultural Research S.D. Shikhamany inaugurated the workshop.

UAS Vice-Chancellor P.G. Chengappa said that there was no synergy among the organisations engaged in research, marketing, export, the traders and industry and the people such as growers of spices and aromatic crops, including the self-help groups.

Mr. Chengappa said that each organisation or group of people engaged in growing the crops and related activities were working independently, without knowing what the other group was doing. Most crops, he said, were economically viable. Any collaboration among them would help remove poverty of farmers with small holdings.

He said special economic zones should be set up for export-oriented agriculture commodities, including spices and aromatic crops.

He said that people in high places speak eloquently of the exports in the information technology sector, but do not take cognisance of the strides made by spices and aromatic exporters which had crossed Rs.1,000 crore.

Mr. Shikhamany said there was need for introducing organic farming to overcome the problem of pesticides residue affecting the quality.

K.S. Shashidhar, Director of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology, delivered the key-note address.

He said that India was home to spices such as cardamom, nutmug, cinnamon and aromatic crops for centuries and 110 out of 1,000 varieties of cardamom were grown in the country. He said that a periodic assessment of the requirement of the production of these crops and their stock would help farmers realise the danger of a glut.

Mr. Shashidhar said that 92 per cent of the turmeric was consumed by the domestic market while only eight per cent of the raw material or its value-added products such as curcumin were exported. It could go beyond the present 47 per cent. A pre-requisite was to improve harvesting technique, processing and storage.

V.C. Subbanna, Professor of Horticulture Division, UAS, explained the salient features of the workshop.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail