Spices Board plans export unit at Thodupuzha

KOCHI: In what could be a boost for the spicegrowing farmers, the Spices Board is planning to set up an export unit in a 100acre land at Thodupuzha, which would help the farmers sell their products directly. With major spiceconsuming countries like the US and Europe demanding more quality compliance from the producing countries, the Spices Parks coming up at various parts of the country will aim to ensure that only quality products are being exported.

The current export from India is 48 percent of the world trade and it is bound to increase with the completion of work on the other six Spices Parks.

Spices Board chairman V J Kurian said a proposal had been submitted to the State Government seeking land at Thodupuzha for the unit and a positive response is expected soon.

If value addition is given for the products, the farmers can get a reasonable price for their products by selling it directly to the exporters. The Spices Park helps the farmers to clean, grade and pack their products before exporting and sell it directly avoiding middlemen in the trade.

The second Park, which is coming up at Puttady in Idukki, will be dedicated to the nation by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma on Sunday.

The Park at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh has been completed and those at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu, Guna in Madhya Pradesh, Mehsana in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Kota in Rajasthan will be completed this year. Kurian said the basic objective was to provide common infrastructure facilities for both post harvest and processing operations of spices and also to provide rural employment.

He said the Park in Idukki had processing plants for cardamom and pepper with cleaning, grading and sorting based on size, colour and packing. In addition to this, there are four godowns with a total area 2,750 square metre for storing raw materials and finished good.

The Board has set up a fullfledged eauction centre with a higher end server and 60 client terminals. The Union Bank of India has already set up a branch which will help farmers store their products till a reasonable price is received for their products.

(Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/kochi/spices-board-plans-export-unit-at-thodupuzha/247036.html)