KOCHI: The Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) has obtained the in-principle approval from the Central Government for setting up a spices processing cluster at Thodupuzha in Idukki.Kinfra proposes to establish Spices Park in Idukki for the processing and value addition of spices and its products, offering processor facilities at par with the international standards.
“The regional crop specific Spices Park is a well-conceived approach to have an integrated operation for encouraging cultivation, post-harvesting, processing for value addition, packaging, storage and exports of spices and spice products by meeting the quality specifications of the consuming countries,” said a Kinfra release.
The estimated project cost around Rs 12.50 crore for the proposed park excluding the cost of land. The Spices Park will be established in an area of 15 acres. This will include 20 developed plots for allotment to SME spice food processing units covering about 10.5 acres.
The park will also have common facilities such as telecommunication/ cyber centre, documentation centre, raw material storage facility, marketing outlets, cafeteria, conference room. The other facilities include well-laid internal roads, power supply, water supply, sewage treatment and common effluent disposal facilities. Kinfra said the source of funding was met by availing a grant of Rs 6 crore under the MSE-CDP Infrastructure Development Scheme of Government of India and the remaining from Kinfra under the government of Kerala. The detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed Spices Park will be sent to the Central Government to obtain its final approval.
India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices in the world. It produces more than 65 spices in different varieties out of the 109 spices listed by the International Organisation for Standardisation. Kerala is the leading producer and exporter of spices and produces the largest volume of pepper, cardamom and ginger. The total export of spices from India during the year 2015-16 is Rs 14,014 crore. The total pepper production in India is 57,000 tonnes and the contribution by the state is 20,000 tonnes. The total cardamom production is 17,990 tonnes; state’s contribution is 15,650 tonnes.
The ginger production in India is 10,81,430 tonnes; state’s contribution is 20,000 tonnes. The total tamarind production is 1,90,700 tonnes; Kerala’s contribution is 38,250 tonnes. The pepper export from Kerala, through Cochin Port, finds its way to nearly 50 markets all over the world and is dominant in this sector.