The Indian spice sector has scope for further development as the country is currently the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices.
D Sathian, Secretary, Spices Board, emphasizes the need to focus on value-addition, compliance with quality and food safety, and ensure sustainable practices to maintain the numero uno position in the wake of stiff competition. Favourable government policies and active support from various departments will serve as a catalyst in the Indian spice sector's journey to greater heights, he added. Edited excerpts:
How was the export of spices during the pandemic period?
Spices exports have had a record performance even during Covid with steady increase in exports last year and the momentum is continuing this year. During 2020-21, we crossed $4 billion in exports. Steady rise in the export of immune-boosting spices such as turmeric, cumin, ginger etc., coupled with strong demand for chili, value-added products etc. have contributed well to the exports.
For the current fiscal, the export target for the spices sector is set at $4.8 billion. During April-August, we have achieved around $2.7 billion and the sector is on the right track to scale new heights in exports.
Can you brief on the steps taken to ensure quality & food safety?
Since leading importing countries have stringent quality standards, export promotion strategies are based on ensuring food safety and quality besides promoting value-addition.
The board is actively engaging with regulatory bodies of importing countries/regions such as Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) of EU, Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) Saudi Arabia, General Administration of Customs (GACC), China etc. to address the concerns of trade, with a view to facilitating exports.
We are in the final stages of re-launching the Spice House Certificate, as a mark for compliance with global standards of quality and food safety. SHC, as a mark of quality and safety compliance, will give added credibility to the holders, before the global spice fraternity. The Spices Board and Quality Council of India have executed MoU for implementation of a project doubling the exports of spices and increasing farmer’s income by IndGAP certification to enhance competitiveness of Indian spices in the international market.
What other value-additions from the Board?
The Indian spice sector is aiming to enhance the share of value-added products in the export basket from the current level of 50 per cent to 70 per cent by 2026.
Value-addition is the key to sustain India’s leadership position in global spice trade in view of the steady competition from low cost economies. The board has reinstated programmes for supporting value-addition and is popularising the benefits of various government schemes for promoting value addition for exports.
What other efforts are taken at the grass root level to add value to spice trade?
We are associating with National Cooperative Development Corporation as well as AFC (formerly Agricultural Finance Corporation) to support formation of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the spices sector which would help to enable integration of FPOs into agricultural value chains, aggregate spices, promote primary processing and value addition, develop capacity in spices value chains focused on exports etc.
Also, the DEH initiative of the Commerce Ministry, which aims at developing districts as an export hub for selected commodities including spices, is being implemented through the respective State Governments for promoting value addition at grass root level and further exports.
Does the board play any role with global institutions in ensuring a level playing field?
Spices and spice products which are grown mostly in the developing countries contribute significantly to the social and economic development of those countries. With this perspective, harmonisation of global standards in spice trade has a far lying impact in ensuring sustainable development in these countries.
The Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary herbs (CCSCH) has been set up under the CODEX Alimentarius Commission, with Spices Board’s initiative to develop international quality standards for spices and culinary herbs. Spices Board functions as the organising secretariat of CCSCH on behalf of the Government of India. In the last six years, the Spices Board has successfully conducted five sessions of CCSCH.
As of now, eight full-fledged Codex standards in spices and culinary herbs have been finalized by CCSCH, viz. black/white/green pepper, cumin, thyme, garlic, oregano, ginger, cloves and basil. Six more standards are under development by this committee, and the next session of this committee is tentatively proposed to be held in October 2022.
The Spices board chairs the ISO Technical Committee 34 for food and India holds the Secretariat for the Subcommittee 7 on Spices, Culinary Herbs and Condiments. So far, ISO has published 73 spice standards under this committee, and a few other standards are under development.
It engages actively with the International Pepper Community, an intergovernmental organisation of pepper producing countries. Also, the board is actively involved in the WTO SPS /TBT meetings to address the various concerns of spice exporters.
What are the steps taken for the ease of doing business?
Spices Board, in line with the Commerce Ministry’s initiative to streamline the compliances and facilitate ease of doing business, has digitised key compliances. Accordingly, the system for issuing Certificate of Registration for Export of Spices has been made fully online. In this context, the Ministry is in the process of having a relook on the Spices Board Act so as to eliminate restrictive provisions, thereby facilitating a business friendly ecosystem.
Any other technological intervention adopted for the spice community?
Spices Board is in the process of strengthening the e-spice bazaar portal to facilitate sourcing of spices from exporters. It has signed a MoU with UNDP for a pilot project for developing a “Blockchain Traceability Interface for Indian Spices”. This interface is being developed by UNDP and the same will be integrated with the e-spice bazaar portal.
The board has associated with leading e-commerce platforms for onboarding the FPOs/progressive growers/entrepreneurs for domestic and global selling of spices and spice products. Accordingly, the board in association with leading e-commerce players has provided necessary handholding to the spice growers, groups, FPOs etc to list their produce in the e-commerce portals for online sale. This will open up immense market possibilities before the stakeholders, by making use of technology.
Also, the board is in the final stages of facilitating online sale of large cardamom, a mandated crop which is grown mostly by the tribal population of the North Eastern States. This would help to uplift the rural economy especially Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Darjeeling and parts of West Bengal. Other initiatives include installing rapid testing devices at APMC for analysing the intrinsic parameters in spices such as curcumin in turmeric etc, so as to help the growers in making informed sale decisions.