Commerce Ministry plans to set up Spice Parks across India

Bydagi, Karnataka, Mar 21 (UNI) Union minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh today asked the Spice Board to explore the possibility of setting up of a Spice Park in the region comprising of Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri districts.

Inaugurating country's first Chilly processing Unit set up by STCL he said the Spice Park required 100 acres of land and an investment of Rs Ten crore for infrastructure development.

The Park would help production of value added goods of farm produce, he said.

The Centre also plans to set up Spice Parks in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.

The chilly processing unit having the capacity to process chilly at the rate of 20 tonnes per day will also help farmers avoid middlemen in selling their produce, he said adding that the they could also save post harvest expenditure of chilly as they can bring the chilly directly to the unit immediately after harvest without drying it.

The farmer can also store his produce in the unit if he was not satisfied with the price and sell it later when he got better price.

The government also proposed to set up 'Spice Parks' in Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.

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