Thrust on processed spice exports

Realising the huge potential the country holds for exports of value-added spices, the Spices Board has initiated several steps to encourage farming and processing of spices as per the international standards on safety, said C J Jose, the board chairman.

Of the five lakh tonne spices exports worth Rs 8,000 crore, only 20-25 per cent accrued from value-added products, Jose told media persons on the sidelines of an exhibition opened on the inaugural day of the three-day World Spice Congress here today. The board is also studying feasibility of a study to promote branded products from the country.

On the stringent checks being in the western countries and the sensitivity of people to pesticide residues, the board is collecting samples of export consignments and conducting checks to detect the harmful and prohibited colourants like Sudan I and aflatoxins, Jose informed, adding that so far 800 samples were tested by the board.

"Some exports had already been banned from trading in the spices exports for not adhering to the standards," he said.

Stating that pesticide residues were largely found in chillies, which form the major spices crop in AP, Jose sought the active help from the state government to check the illegal practice, which would adversely affect the exports as a whole.

On the Spices Board's activities in Andhra Pradesh, the board chairman said that around 60 villages had been covered in the districts of Guntur, Warangal and Prakasam districts to promote organic farming with bio pesticides and also ferment traps as biocontrol agents.

The board is keen to extend the scheme to any number of villages in the state, if the state government renders necessary assistance. Jose also said India had a great potential in the area of herbal formulations, the global market for which was likely to touch $ 80 million by 2010.