Kerala's Spices Park to spruce up spice exports

PUTTADY (Commodity Online) : In a bid to boost spice exports from India, the Spices Board has established a dedicated Spices Park at Puttady in Idukki district in the state of Kerala.
A voluntary contribution made by the cardamom cultivators in Idukki district, the Cardamom development fund promoted by the Cardamom Development Trust has leased out the facility to the Spices Board for a period of 30 years.
The Rs. 27 crore park is spread across 12.5 acres and processes cardamom and pepper. There are also facilities to process Black Pepper, a go down for black pepper and a white pepper production unit.
Additionally there is a laboratory for checking physical parameters of commodities and an electronic auction system with 60 terminals (that can be extended to 100 terminals). 
The Spices Board has also initiated massive re-plantation and rejuvenation programme for the spices, under which funds to the tune of Rs. 40,000 per hectare for replanting and Rs. 15,000 per hectare for rejuvenation will be offered as assistance. To this end, Rs.57.84 crore is being spend in Idukki district alone by the central govt.
Replanting of 63,000 hectares of Black pepper in Idukki district is also being implemented for Rs 120 crore under National Horticulture Mission.

(Source: http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Keralas-Spices-Park-to-spruce-up-spice-exports-35850-3-1.html)