E-auction for other commodities soon

The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry will soon announce the rejuvenation package for major agricultural commodities such as cardamom, pepper, rubber, coffee, cashew and coconuts, said Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh.

He announced this while inaugurating the country's first electronic auction for cardamom at Cardamom Planters Association (CPA) Hall at Bodinayakanur in Tamil Nadu, the Minister said, adding that e-auction would soon be introduced in tea, chillies and tobacco. E-auction in chilli would be under the auspices of the Spices Board, while that in tea would start in September.

The Minster said that e-auction in cardamom would help in stabilising prices, which will benefit farmers to a great extent. Last year, at the auctions, the average price realised was to the extent to Rs 312 a kilo. The Board will soon extend the e-auction facility to the other existing auction centres in Kerala.

The focus will be on the development of the northeastern region of the country as the organic zone for spices such as ginger, turmeric and chillies.

Darjeeling tea, which accounts for 90 million kg of the country's total tea production of 970 million kg, is an important segment, he said. About 30 million kg will be produced as organic tea, he said.

The tribal belt of Paderu in Vizag district in Andhra Pradesh will produce organic coffee, while Guntur district will focus on development of organic chillies.

The minister announced that spices parks would be set up for turmeric in Erode in Tamil Nadu, cardamom and pepper park in Idukki in Kerala, Mint in UP, chillies in Guntur and seed spices in Rajasthan.

Spices Board Chairman V J Kurian said the initial apprehensions about the introduction of e-auction in cardamom has been cleared and hoped that the industry will accept the new system.

The board will invest Rs 2 crore for setting up a cleaning, grading and packaging facility for cardamom in Bodinayakannur which will also have a warehouse.

The minister said the present system of payment to farmers on the 21st day by the auction centres would be reduced to 14 days.

For this, an amendment in the auction rules will be brought in by the Spices Board. All cardamom farmers will be given an identity card also. With regard to the new auction system, the minister said that e-auction centre at Bodi would be a standalone system and later, there would be local area networking of auction centres.