Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

New Spices Park to have mass drying facilities

GUNTUR: The Spices Park which would come up on 124 acres of land at Mydavolu village in Edlapadu mandal would have facilities of drying of 10 metric tonnes of chillies daily. Scientists at the Spices Board have been conducting techno-feasibility studies on using micro-wave and radio frequency heating and drying techniques.

Spices Board Deputy Director P.S. Sreekantan Thampi and scientist at the Indian Cardamom Research Institute Y. Saideswara Rao told reporters on Tuesday that Spices Board had ambitious plans to set up six parks across the country. The drying facilities would benefit a lot of small and medium farmers, who cannot afford expensive poly dryers for processing chillies and turmeric. Farmers, however, have to wait for two years before the park becomes operational.

The proposed park was the biggest and the second of its kind to be set up in the country after Chilubara in Madhya Pradesh where foundation stone for a spices park was laid a couple of months ago. Foundation stone for the park would be laid by the Chief Minister on Thursday. Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh is expected to attend the inauguration.

New Delhi-based Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited, Cluster Development Initiative has been entrusted with the task of making a techno commercial feasible study for the proposed park and the board has already invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from registered exporters to set up units. The Board would invest Rs.25 crores towards creation of infrastructural facilities and moblise the rest through deposits collected from exporters. A research station to be set up on the same premises would conduct research on high yielding and disease resistant varieties of Chillies and turmeric, quality up gradation and development of new species, they added.

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