Spices Board sees a potential to set up 25-30 spices parks in different parts of the country. “Each park will have export potential of Rs 500 crore. This will help us achieve export of spices worth Rs 30,000 crore by 2020,” Dr G.K. Vidyashankar, Deputy Director (Marketing) of Spices Board, told Business Line.
These parks would give a common platform for farmers, traders and exporters to accumulate quality produce in large quantities, while conforming to international standards. He said that it was time to diversify the product portfolio and look at opportunities in pharmaceuticals and neutraceuticals to yield better incomes.
The Parks would come up at Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), Puttady (Kerala), Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Sivaganga (Tamil Nadu), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Mehsana (Gujarat), Kota (Rajasthan) and Guna (Madhya Pradesh).
The Spices Park in Guntur would be operational in two months. Coming up on 125 acres near Mydavolu village in Edlapadu mandal, it would have common processing, testing and certification facilities. It will have mass chilli-drying capacity of 10 tonnes a day.
“It will specialise in chillies. It will produce value-added commodities such as oil, oleoresins, curry powder and crushed chillies. This will help the board to monitor and guide farmers and exporters,” he said.
Dr Vidyashankar was here to address a seminar on value addition to Spices and marketing at Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) on Wednesday.