The proposed Spices Park in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, an initiative of the Spices Board of India, is expected to be set up by the end of this year. The Board is investing about R30 crore for setting up this park, aimed at benefitting chilli farmers.
Besides Guntur, which is the largest chilli market in Asia, the other states to have spices parks are Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh for various spices. ?With the increasing demand for chillies globally, quality issues have become important and the Board has also set up a quality testing centre in Guntur,? PS Sreekantan Thampi, deputy director, Spices Board said. ?There is a lot of demand coming from the global markets, especially the European ones, and spice farmers have to adopt good agricultural practices and advanced processing practices to cash in on the opportunity,? he said. The proposed park will bring warehousing, processing and packing all under a single roof.
Spices Board has joined hands with Iffco Kisan Sanchar Ltd to introduce mobile tele-network for the spices farmer in the state. This would give direct access to information on development, marketing and exports of spices. It has already launched this scheme in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and would be having a pan-India expansion soon.
The AP spice farmer tele-mobile network is expected to cover 10,000 spice farmers in the state in Warangal, Khammam, Guntur, Prakasam, Nizamabad, Karim Nagar and Kurnool. The farmers will receive first hand information on market fluctuation in prices, weather forecast, tips of agricultural practices, new schemes by the Board, apart from welfare schemes by the government.
