Kerala - Kattappana   

Organic pepper grown by tribes to be exported

KATTAPPANA: The Periyar Foundation has begun collecting the organic pepper grown by the tribes of Vanchivayal and Mannakudy inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), Thekkady. The foundation plans to export the product like they did last year.

This year it is hoped that more pepper can be exported and the collected pepper is in the drying stage, PTR Deputy Director Georgy P. Mathachen told The Hindu on Saturday.

Last year, it was on the news when for the first time pepper was exported from Kochi. Vanchivayal contributes the major share of pepper and Germany is its main market, Mr. Mathachen said and added that the organic pepper is of high quality and the export of the product will help the poor tribes who used to sell it to the middlemen and traders.

The foundation, after procuring all the ripened crops after a preliminary survey, gives a better price for the pepper collected from the tribes. Last year, nearly 4,000 kg of pepper from Vanchivayal was exported. Earlier the tribes used to sell the green pepper even before the crop ripened, but this habit has changed, said a source.

But the foundation’s efforts to collect pepper from other tribal settlement areas this season has not fully succeeded as some tribes opposed the move on the belief that green pepper if collected as early as possible will give the plant a healthy growth and more yield in the following season.

Mr Mathachen said that the collected pepper will be exported by March and the quantity will not be less than that of last year.

Periyar Foundation is the only agency that collects organic pepper from forest settlement area, though tribes in other wildlife sanctuaries also grow pepper which are free from chemical and pesticide use.

A meeting of tribal farmers was recently held at Anavachal in PTR by the forest officials to include more farmers under the project. The officials also ensured the farmers that various benefits will be given to them for joining the scheme.

The foundation had taken various steps for improving the life of the tribals in PTR by selecting them as tourists guides for conducting trekking in PTR in projects aimed at protecting the wildlife reserve.

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