Centre offers special funds for crop replantation

Kochi, Jun 8 (UNI) With the low productivity of senile plants adding to heat of competition at the global level, the Centre today announced to create special purpose funds to support the replantation of pepper, cardamom and rubber.

After his three-day visit to the State and series of meetings with all the stakeholders, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh told newsmen here that a Rs 370 crore fund would be in place for the pepper replantation with 68,000 hectares of the total two lakhs needed to be replanted in Kerala alone in the next five years.

Likewise, special purpose funds for rubber replantation and 3000 hectares of cardamom were in process, in collaborations with the State Governments, NABARD and National Horticultural Mission, the Minister said.

Mr Jairam said electronic auction for chillies by November and for cadamom by nexty year would be introduced and the ongoing WTO compatible scheme to give subsidy to pepper would continue till the target of 20,000 tonnes was achieved. Under the scheme, so far subsidy was granted only for 4000 tonnes.

Ruling out ban on export of natural rubber and affirming that it would remain in the negative list for all trade agreements, he said the cultivation would be extended in North Eastern States of Tripura and Assam, besides Karnataka.

He said a two-member committee had been set up to formulate a scheme to utitise the Rs 500 crore price stabilisation trust fund with crop insurance for pepper, cardamom, tea and rubber.

The Minister assured to take steps to control the smuggling of cardamom from Quatemala through Nepal, which has hit the prices of the produce, and he was in touch with the Revenue Intelligence department.

If the high productivity of cardamom caused decline in prices, low productivity was the reason for pepper. Efforts were being taken politically to solve the issue of pepper import from Sri Lanka, he said.

The Minister disclosed that an integrated pest management system would be implemented to cover chilli cultivation in 5000 hectares as a step towards organic farming.

We are taking agressive steps for the marketing of all spicces.

The West Asia, especially the Saudi Arabia has been identified as a thrust market for cardamom. We will hold a India Spices Meet in October in Dubai and later in Japan,'' he said adding that advice of a professional agency was sought to improve the domestic market.

India is fast turing into a spices processing hub as many foreign countries are outsourcing the processing to States like Kerala,'' he said.

On the crisis of Vanilla, he said a meeting, along with the departments of food processing and agriculture, would be called in July to discuss the measures including using of natural vanilla in ice cream and save the farmers.

UNI JA DK1647