Spices Board established a Quality Improvement Training Program for farmers to help them avoid hazardous chemicals in the production of crops such as cardamom in order to prevent rejection export. Spices Board sources say that the Board’s authorities often follow up on rejection issues to assist farmers. In the past, some cases of rejection have occurred.
A Quality Improvement Training Program will be organized regularly to assist farmers and to raise their awareness of the use of chemicals in spice cultivation.
Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) is conducting an experiment in organic cardamom farming over a three-year period. According to KAU officials, the initiative has completed a year of operations. The findings will be thoroughly reviewed.
Senior scientists at the institution said the only way to improve prices for cardamom was to expand exports significantly. He also mentioned that the organic cardamom farming project has so far produced positive results.
Project Involving Teamwork
The Spices Board, the Rubber Board, and the Digital University of Kerala recently announced a collaboration to build spatial models of soil nutrients in cardamom tracts and an Android-based mobile application for cardamom producers to follow site-specific, need-based fertilizer recommendations.
The initiative was started by the Indian Cardamom Research Institute, Myladumpara, the Spices Board’s research arm, collaborating with the Rubber Research Institute of India, the Rubber Board, and the Digital University’s Geospatial Analytics Division.
According to the Spices Board’s forecast for 2020-21, the crop would cover about 69,000 hectares in the nation, yielding 22,500 tonnes. Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu produce the majority of the country’s small cardamom. Kerala accounts for most of the output. The crop is grown on around 50,000 hectares in the state, with an annual average yield of approximately 20,000 tonnes. The majority of cardamom output in the state comes from small farms.