Telangana, a top turmeric producer in the country, needs an exclusive Board to focus on its promotion, according to farmers and people’s representatives. They demand that the Centre set up such a Turmeric Board.

Citing the examples of rubber and silk, Telangana Lok Sabha Member K Kavitha said that the mandate of the Spice Board was too big, handling several spices.

“The high value turmeric crop deserves a Board. We have made several representations to the Union Government,” she said.

She was interacting with farmers, scientists and officials of the Spices Board here on Monday at a workshop on production and export promotion of turmeric. She said the Government agreed to set up a Turmeric Cell in the State to address the issues.

Need value addition

Telangana tops in turmeric cultivation with 53,500 ha, which is about one-third of country’s turmeric acreage of 1.70 lakh ha. It produces 3.04 lakh tonnes (lt) of turmeric against the total domestic production of 13 lt.

“Despite being the world’s largest producer of turmeric, India exports only 6 per cents of its production. Because special zones to promote exports have not been created,” she said.

Telangana needs supply of high yielding and high curcumin content varieties.

She asked the Board to establish a gene bank to store germ plasm of indigenous turmeric varieties.

Set up FPCs

A B Remashree, Director (Research and Development), Spices Board felt that curcumin percentage in Telangana output was low when compared to the crop grown in the North East. “The State should consider setting up Farmer Producers companies to aggregate turmeric. This will help increase price realisation for farmers,” a Spice Board expert felt.

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