Worldwide,
food habits of people are changing because of growing health consciousness.
Since organic foods are free from chemical contaminants, there is
growing demand for organic spices from Western Europe, North America,
Japan and Australia. The current estimated share of organic foods
in these countries is approximately 15 per cent.
In
organic produce supplying countries Egypt dominates. India exports
50 to 60 tonnes of organic spices every year. Malawi and the United
Republic of Tanzania are also leading countries in organic spices
production followed by Argentina, Zimbabwe and 21 other countries.
The
growing demand for organic spices is getting farmers interested
in this method of cultivation. Several of them have started to experiment
with it. The Spices Board of India has taken several steps to promote
production and export of organic spices on a large-scale. Spices
board director, S Kannan says, “In this era of globalisation spices
cultivators have started to give up conventional methods of cultivation
in favour of organic products that give them better prices.”
The
Spices Board publishes brochures, booklets, etc., to make farmers
aware of organic methods of farming. The board also encourages NGOs
and farmer groups to promote and adopt organic farming techniques.
Spices such as black pepper, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, fennel,
cumin, fenugreek, clove, nutmeg and vanilla are now being cultivated
under the organic system.
Crop
management
Organic
farming uses farm manure, oil cakes, vermicompost and biofertiliser
to improve nutritional value in spices. It also uses permitted fertilisers
such as powdered rock phosphate, sulphate of potashes, etc. Bio-pesticides
are used in place of chemical pesticides in pest management. Organically
grown crops, in fact, are more resistant to pests and require lesser
pesticides. “There are no strict rules and regulation in organic
cultivation. But one thing is that it never uses pesticides,” says
Dr C K George, former director, Spices Board.
Marketing
and certification
Recently,
members of the German Spices Traders Association had visited India.
According to George, “They were very keen to import spices from
India, especially from Kerala because compared to other countries,
Indian products are high quality.” Organic spices have bright prospects
but there are some technical problems in the marketing of products
as certification is an essential pre-requisite, especially in international
markets. There is no domestic agency in India and international
agencies such as BCS DICO Garanite GmbH (Germany) and Ecocert operate
here. Several European certification bodies are active in India.
“The Spices Board has taken initiatives to operate as a certification
agency,” says Kannan.
The
removal of quantitative restrictions is expected to open Indian
agricultural markets to the world and the demand for organic products
has given hope to farmers.
