The Hindu Business Line : Adding spice to the domestic market

The Minister of State for Commerce, JAIRAM RAMESH, says it is important to consider spice exports not only from the point of view of dollar earnings but in terms of their contribution to livelihood security and regional prosperity. Here are some excerpts from a speech he gave at the Ninth World Spice Congress in Goa on January 28.

File picture of the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, visiting a Spices Board turmeric farm at Paroli village in Karbi Anglong district of Assam. — Ritu Raj Konwar

Two of the most romantic chapters in world history in which India figures prominently are the Silk Route and the Spice Route. The Silk Route was land-based, while the Spice Route was sea-based. Buddhism and Islam dominated the Silk Route while the spread of Christianity was inextricably woven into the Spice Route, particularly in the medieval era. Both these Routes left enduring social, cultural and economic impacts.

When we speak of spices, immediately we think of exports. But, in reality, barring pepper, exports are a very small proportion of production. Slightly over half of our pepper output is exported but look at the export shares in other spices; cardamom 6.5 per cent, chillies 16 per cent, ginger 1 per cent, turmeric 5 per cent, coriander 1 per cent, cumin 13 per cent, fennel 7 per cent and fenugreek 10 per cent.

What I am saying is obvious — India is the largest market for Indian spices and with an Australia being added every year to our population, the domestic market will continue to play a pivotal role.

Second, in 2007-08, exports of spices from India are estimated at $875 million. Viewed in the totality of India’s merchandise exports, spice exports constitute less than 1 per cent. But let us not look at exports only from the point of view of dollar earnings. I would prefer to look at exports from the point of view of their contribution to livelihood security and regional prosperity. On both counts, spices exports have special significance.

The big three

Exports of mint and mint products account for around 27 per cent of our spices exports. And 80 per cent of the mint in India is cultivated in one of our most impoverished States — Uttar Pradesh. Chillies account for another 19 per cent of spices exports. Andhra Pradesh accounts for around 60 per cent of the production of chillies in the country and Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are other important chilli producing states but there are other poorer states like Rajasthan and Orissa that have also emerged as chilli producers. Pepper accounts for 13 per cent of spices exports and, of course, here Kerala predominates.

These three spices — mint, chillies and pepper — account for almost 60 per cent of our spices exports. Add to this another 15 per cent contribution from oleoresins and spice oils and the share of mint, chillies and pepper goes up to almost 75 per cent. But there are other spices in the export basket as well. Cumin accounts for around 7 per cent of spice exports and is cultivated mostly in the arid tracts of Gujarat (75 per cent) and Rajasthan (25 per cent). Saffron is not a major item in our export basket but its cultivation is critical to the economy of Jammu and Kashmir.

Clearly, spices are more than pepper and cardamom, and spice production is beyond Kerala — the two images that dominate discussion on spices most of the time. There has to be an aggressive thrust on these spices — mint or pudhina, chillies, cumin or jeera, coriander or dhania, fennel or saunf, fenugreek or methi and saffron.

Here, we need new varieties through research; we need improved extension services to farmers; we need value addition since no more than 15-20 per cent of exports, like, for instance in the case of mint, are in processed, value-added form; and we need greater sensitivity to global environmental and food standards.

SpiceS Board Initiatives

The Spices Board is launching two new initiatives in mint in Uttar Pradesh and saffron in Jammu and Kashmir. It is also taking the lead in establishing spice parks in different States — Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh — to begin with. These parks can emerge as reprocessing hubs as well for which the Spices Board is preparing ambitious plans. We want to reach a $10 billion export turnover in ten years. This is eminently feasible.

The new company promoted by the Spices Board called Flavourit Spices Trading Limited is also a step in the direction of promoting professional marketing and value-addition. Substantial investments will be made to develop and promote this brand both in domestic and international markets.

Third, there is need for a special focus on India’s North-East, a group of eight States that constitute a natural zone for organic spices — but it has to be of certified organic produce, certified to international specifications, like what we have accomplished in the case of Darjeeling Tea. There are wonderful opportunities here. Turmeric in Nagaland and Meghalaya has very high curcumin content, in excess of 7 per cent, double that in turmeric grown elsewhere in the country.

Sikkim is India’s largest producer of large cardamom and the oleoresin in ginger grown here is between 6-8 per cent, while the capsaicin content in chillis is over 1 per cent which is double that found in chillies grown elsewhere. Assam is one of the important states for ginger and black pepper. Each of the eight States can develop niche areas in organic spices.

We need public-private partnerships for this to happen. Recently, one such partnership involving ITC, the Spices Board and the Nagaland government has taken shape and similar partnerships are on the anvil in Sikkim and Meghalaya as well. Earlier, the Spices Board has started projects with local tribal communities in Karbi Anglong district of Assam for organic ginger, turmeric and chillies. Some private companies are part of these projects.

Medicinal value

Fourth, spices are looked at mostly as culinary delights and essentials. In history, they have been invested with magical properties — recall that the Messiah himself was embalmed with spices. Many believed that spices were potent aphrodisiacs.

Let us leave fable behind — in the next few years, spices will have increasing nutraceutical and pharmaceutical value as well. The medicinal values of many herbal spices are well known — curcumin in turmeric or vitamin C in green chillies, for instance. Menthol derived from mint is a common remedy.

But it is the conversion of what is in the domain of traditional knowledge to commercial products like anti-oxidants and anti-microbials will pose the challenge. Myth and “grandmother’s belief” has to be replaced by science here. We are taking the help of the Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research Institute, Defence Food Research Institute, National Institute of Nutrition and other private research institutions for developing new products and new uses of spices including pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and products of ‘wellness industry’.

In this connection, we are planning to establish an Indian Institute of Spice Technology to spearhead research in the above areas and to coordinate with other institutions in the field. I invite international participation as well in this important initiative.

Replanting programmes

Fifth, I spoke earlier of India losing ground even though it still has a 44 per cent share by quantity and 36 per cent share by value of international trade in spices. This has happened in pepper and cardamom especially because we are lagging in productivity. That is why I have been stressing on the need to launch replantation and rejuvenation programmes. We have to replant some 100,000 hectares of pepper and another 30,000 hectares of cardamom over the next five to seven years.

We have world-class research institutions to ensure this research moves speedily from lab to land.

I should here also acknowledge the contributions of informal, grass-roots innovators who have made outstanding contributions — the example of Sebastian Joseph, a small farmer in Kerala and his imprint on the Njallani cardamom variety comes readily to my mind. In this connection I should mention that that we now have domestic GIs (geographical indications) granted for Malabar pepper and Tellicherry pepper.

Applications for Alleppey and Coorg Green Cardamom, Sannam chillies and Alleppey Turmeric are in the final stages of GI Registration. Of course, this is only the first step for the Spices Board which will have now have to get market advantage for farmers from these GIs and also register for GIs in Europe as well. There are quite a few other candidates for GIs, such as the Bhut Jolokia chilli cultivated in the Nagaland, the hottest chilli in the world.

Key achievements

Before closing I want to highlight a couple of other key initiatives. Electronic-auction for cardamom has been introduced in two major auction centres, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Kerala. This was started in August 2007.

Since the introduction of e-auction, farmers have realised significantly higher values of 40-50 per cent, although it is difficult to disentangle the precise impact of e-auction and the tight demand-supply position.

We are also involved in a very major movement for NPM chilli — that is chillies grown without pesticides use, NPM for non-pesticide management — in the most important chilli-producing state of Andhra Pradesh. This movement is being led by women’s self-help groups.

In the Naxalite-affected Paderu tribal region of Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, we are also actively promoting the intercropping of organic pepper with organic coffee and already the lives of some 60,000 poor tribal families are undergoing transformation.

I have already mentioned Spice Parks that are going to be set up in different parts of the country. Along with these parks, we are going to be establishing a network of testing and evaluation laboratories, apart from facilities for certification for organic products.

Let us however, not forget, that organic certification is not so much for the product per se but is based on the entire process of cultivation. That is why extension is crucial. The Spices Board will have to gear itself to working more closely with the State governments and with research laboratories of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

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