The Hindu : Business : ID cards for cardamom growers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
ePaper

Business

Business

ID cards for cardamom growers

Special Correspondent

For those registered with Spices Board

KOCHI: All cardamom growers registered with the Spices Board will be issued identity cards before December 31, Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, has said.

He was inaugurating the first e-auction of cardamom at Bodinayakanur, Tamil Nadu. The card will help the growers avail themselves of various schemes of the Government, he said.

The Minister announced that the present system of payment to farmers on the 21st day by the auction centres would be changed to 14 days. For this, an amendment to the auction rules would be brought about by the Spices Board.

There were about 40,000 cardamom growers in India, out of which only 27,000 growers were selling their produce by e-auction. In 2006-07, about 11,500 tonnes of cardamom was produced, out of which 67 per cent was sold through e-auction and 6 per cent exported.

E-auction

The Minister said more growers should participate in e-auction. Last year, price realisation for cardamom was Rs.312 per kg through e-auction.

The transparency in e-auction would further lead to increase in the cost of cardamom, which would protect the growers’ interests.

This would also help the trader and the auctioneer, he added.

The Minister said that a Warehouse Act was being enacted in Parliament, which would help the farmers store their produce.

He said the warehouse receipts could be used by the farmers to take bank loans.

“Accordingly, Spices Board is going to establish a warehousing facility for cleaning, grading and packaging cardamom at a cost of Rs.2 crore at Bodinayakanur.”

He said the Cardamom Re-plantation Programme, which would cost Rs.211 crore, would be implemented in 30,000 hectares in the country.

The programme would take nearly five to seven years to be completed and would be implemented by the Spices Board in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Commenting on the international price, he said of the 12,000 tonnes of small cardamom produced in the country, only 6 per cent was exported.

“Hence, our share in global market is very less compared to Guatemala. The only way to make our mark is by improving cardamom productivity,” he said.

The Minister said that the Spices Board was planning to establish a turmeric park in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Chilly park in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) and Mint Park in Uttar Pradesh. A move is also on to start e-auctioning of tea, chillies and tobacco.

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

Business