The Hindu Business Line : Spices Board to independently acquire land for park in Kerala

Kochi, May 29 Dissatisfied over the delay in acquiring land for the proposed Spices Park in Kerala, the Union Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has said the Spices Board will now independently acquire the land to set up the park in Idukki district.

Kerala has slipped way behind other States in setting up the spices park and there is no point in waiting for the State Government initiative, as around 15 months had elapsed in land acquisition process, he said speaking at a function organised by the Spices Board for giving away the Awards for Excellence in production and export of spices here on Thursday.

He said the Spices Board had already acquired 12.5 acres in Idukki district and the remaining land, totaling 100 acres will be acquired by September. Regarding the land already identified by the State Government in this regard, the Minister said that whenever the Government completes the land acquisition, it will be integrated with the Spices Board’s park.

The Minister pointed out that States such as Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Assam and Gujarat had already started construction of parks. He also appealed to the State Government to redouble their efforts to make the park operational.

Complimenting the Spices Board in crossing the $ 1-billion mark in export of spices, the Minister said the objective was to reach $10-billion mark by 2017. The average growth rate of spice products is 13 per cent in dollar terms in the last five years and this has to be increased to 20 per cent to reach the $10-billion mark in 10 years. Value-addition in spices will also go up to 75 per cent from 58 per cent in the next 10 year time, he added.

Spices Board is also focusing more on non-traditional spices and certified organic spices as there is a huge market globally.

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Spices Board to independently acquire land for park in Kerala