Spice Development Agencies to help boost production and exports
To ensure better management of spices and meet domestic requirements, Spices Board India, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, constituted advisory committee called ‘Spice Development Agency (SDA)’, to support various spice growing regions in the country. The regions to be designated as SDAs include Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), Gangtok (Sikkim), Haveri (Karnataka), Unjha (Gujarat), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Guwahati (Assam), Guna (Madhya Pradesh), Barbanki (Uttar Pradesh), Erode (Tamilnadu), Mumbai (Maharashtra). Each SDA, to be set up across ten spice growing regions covering ten States, will have Chief Secretary of the State Government, officials representing the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Agriculture, GoI, Agriculture Produce Market Committee representatives, experts from regional Agricultural Universities, Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, representatives of regional traders, regional officer of the Spices Board, as its members. The SDA will be responsible for coordinating programmes, activities and projects of the concerned agencies of the Central and State Governments related to production development, promoting consumption, among others. As part of infrastructural support, the agencies will provide assistance on methods related to improving cultivation, replantation, expansion of growing area, processing, packaging and warehousing. Under market assistance, the agencies will undertake programmes and projects for promotion of spices exports, disseminate information on market and prices among all stakeholders of the industry, collect statistics from growers, dealers and other agencies related to the spices industry and further submit recommendations to the Central and State Governments and Spices Board on matters related to production, marketing, quality and export of spices, among others. Under research and developmental support, the SDAs are aimed at conducting training activities on scientific cultivation and testing methods, establishing evaluation laboratories for quality assessment, developing suitable quality standards by introducing quality certification methods, encouraging studies and research on processing improvement and techniques of grading and packaging. The SDAs are conferred with powers to sanction expenditure for undertaking all the said-activities and services and other administrative expenses, as per the financial and administrative powers delegated by the Spices Board. For this purpose, the SDAs will prepare an annual plan and budget for its activities which shall be approved by the Board for implementation by the concerned stakeholders and agencies. Apart from listed regions, the Spices Board is likely to come up with more SDAs and notify the same for other regions based on the necessity. According to the Spice Board India review for 2013-14, spices exports have been able to record huge gains in both volume and value, by registering a substantial growth for the last few years, with a CAGR of Compound Annual Average Growth Rate (CAAGR) of 21% in value and 12% in volume and India commands a formidable position in the World Spice Trade. While a total of 8,17,250 tonnes of spices and its products valued Rs 13735.39 crore have been exported from the country during 2013-14 as against 7,26,613 tonnes valued Rs 12112.76 crore of 2012-13, a robust performance in the first four months of 2014-15 helped spices exports reach around 36% of the estimated target of at least 7,55,000 tonnes worth around Rs 12,305 crore in terms of quantity and around 35-36% in terms of value already. At this point of time when India’s spice market is witnessing an upward trend, the Spices Board coming up with an idea of setting up SDAs across the country will definitely take forward the domestic spices production to a record level, thus enhancing exports.
June 20, 2015 | 06:09 pm IST.
to success.