Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will launch a Weather based Crop Insurance Scheme for cardamom growers of Western Ghats on Saturday.
The Minister will launch the scheme in connection with the Coral jubilee celebrations of the Spices Board which will be for a fortnight from Saturday. Later, the Minister will hold discussions with growers and exporters on the scheme.
Spices Board officials said Idukki will be primarily considered for the Weather-Based Insurance scheme. Around 2,500 hectares of cardamom cultivated area will be covered under the scheme and small-scale farmers in the district would benefit from the pilot scheme during 2021-26.
BVR Subramanyam, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, will deliver the special address. AG Thankappan, Chairman, Spices Board will deliver the presidential address in the presence of D Sathiyan, Secretary, Spices Board, and Malaai Kumar Poddar, Managing Director and Chairman, Agricultural Insurance Company.
Key events
The fortnight-long celebrations will also include other key events at various locations such as a facilitation programme titled ‘Decoding the Flavoured Profiles of International Cuisines’ in association with the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition (IHM), Pusa for the benefit of spice exporters on March 3.
Virtual international buyer-seller meet in collaboration with the Indian Embassy in Japan to boost spice exports will be conducted through Spice Xchange India platform on March 4.
E-selling of large cardamom on March 7 will be held in hybrid mode with main event at Dimapur, Nagaland to benefit the large cardamom farmers in the North-East.
Distribution of productivity award for small cardamom farmers will be held on March 9 at Kochi for 2019-20 & 2020-21. A special award is also constituted for the highest productivity in the organic category.
A Spice Exporters Conclave on ‘Vision-2047’ will be held on March 11 with experts and key stakeholders including industry representatives to finalize the road map for further growth in spices sector.