Building up a spice genetic pool in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries is vital for the promotion of the production of spices which contributes 6% of India’s Gross Domestic Product, P. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor of Kerala Agricultural University, has said.
He was speaking after opening a three-day regional expert consultation meeting on ‘Technology sharing of spice crops in SAARC countries’ at the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) here on Monday.
Mr. Rajendran, while explaining prospect of the sector, said it was time to create an exclusive seed bank for the preservation of spices with the cooperation of South Asian countries. Also, there should be provisions for the exchange of planting materials among the SAARC countries and corpus fund for addressing the trade-related issues, he observed.
In his presidential address, Homey Cherian, head of the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, said the country was witnessing an increase in the productivity of spices as a result of the improved varieties and technological interventions.
He also stressed the need to have some new policy-decisions to further improve the trend.
As part of the meet, a technology exhibition pavilion was opened at IISR on Monday. T. Geetha, Principal Agriculture Officer, inaugurated the pavilion. Pradyumna Raj Pandey, Senior Program Specialist (Crops), SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dhaka, explained the concept and objectives of the meeting. K. Nirmal Babu, Director, IISR; and scientists from countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Nepal were present. Event coordinators said the delegates would be visiting some of the spice fields and processing facilities in Wayanad district on Wednesday.
They would also be part of country-wise presentations and brain storming sessions on policy and technological interventions for spice value chain development in South Asia.
