Spices Board and the Meghalaya Government are in talks for setting up a spices park near Shillong, focussed on processing turmeric from Lakadong in Jaintia Hills district of the state and ginger from the north-eastern region.
Chairman of the Spices Board, A. Jayathilak, said on Friday that the government of Meghalaya had agreed to find sufficient land for the spices park. A techno-feasibility study for which was already under way, he added.
He said that Lakadong turmeric was famous for its high content of curcumin. This finds widespread applications in pharmaceuticals, including as an anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic agent.
The spices park near Shillong would be the latest in a chain of such facilities being set up by the Spices Board as part of its initiative to augment value-addition and quality improvement, said Dr. Jayathilak.
The Spices Board is investing about Rs.1,000 crore in these facilities, the first of which was set up in Chintwada in Madhya Pradesh with focus on garlic and chilli processing. The second spices park came up at Puttady in Kerala’s Idukki district with focus on pepper and small cardamom processing.
Spices parks are coming up in Jodhpur and Kota in Rajasthan, with focus on seed spices. The spices park coming up in Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu has its focus on chilli and turmeric processing while the one coming up in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, will process turmeric and chilli.
According to data from the Spices Board, there are about 2,000 hectares under turmeric cultivation in Meghalaya. The annual production is around 10,000 tonnes. The state has also nearly 10,000 hectares under ginger cultivation, producing nearly 50,000 tonnes annually. It has been found that the agro-climatic conditions in Jaintia Hills are best suited to the Lakadong variety of turmeric. Turmeric cultivated in other areas of the state shows less curcumin content.
Turmeric makes up 14 per cent of the total volume of spices export from India and it represents 8 per cent of the earnings in rupee terms. India exported 79,500 tonnes of turmeric during 2011-12 and earned more than Rs.730 crore.
Ginger represents 2 per cent of the export earnings and contributes 4 per cent to the total volume. India exported 5.75 lakh tonnes of spices during 2011-12 to earn Rs.9,783 crore.
