Chhindwara Spices Park, the country’s first such park, is expected to add flavour to Madhya Pradesh’s spice export business.
The park was inaugurated on February 17. The park is expected to start garlic dehydration and processing unit from May. But the unit is unlikely to become fully operational before next year.
The MP park is first among seven such parks planned by the Spice Board to be set up in Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
As of now, a garlic dehydration plant is running on a trial basis. A chilli extraction plant, steam sterilisation plant are in the commissioning stage.
“Flavoured Spice Trading, a company created by the Spice Board of India, is running the garlic plant on a trial basis processing 6 tonnes per day. By month-end, it will start processing 25-30 tonnes per day. A chilli extraction plant is being set up in the park which will be run by STCL,” said a park source.
The central government has already spent Rs 20 crore on the park. A testing laboratory is also expected to be set up. Though Chhindwara is a large producer of garlic and chilli, it lacks facilities for cleaning, grading, processing, steam sterilisation, warehousing and marketing support for traders.
While the garlic dehydration plant has a capacity to process 30 tonnes of raw garlic, it is currently processing 6 tonnes of finished products in the form of flakes and powder. The steam sterilisation and grinding unit of the STCL has the capacity to process 2 tonnes of raw material.