Industry records considerable growth:
Value addition in spices
Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA
The year 2011 was declared as value addition year for the spice
industry by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana.
The seventh Annual General Meeting of the Spice Council was held in
Colombo, last Friday.
Sri Lankan spices |
“The country exports spice as a raw material. However, action is
needed for value addition which will bring in more foreign exchange”, he
said.
With the global economy recovering and new business trends emerging
high quality products will have a good market.
“It is necessary to improve product quality to ensure continuous
increase in demand,” the Minister said.
The Minister launched the website of the Spice Council to enable
access to information and market places.
The spice industry has recorded considerable growth last year and
greatly contributed towards income generation of the farmer community of
non- traditional exports.
“Value addition of raw spices is an essential part to be competitive
in the international market and to earn more income, Spice Council
Chairman D.A. Perera said.
“The industry is developing fast with the advanced technology and the
country should use new techniques to produce high quality spices which
are inputs for food and the flavour industry”.
D.A. Perera |
The Spice Council has proposed the establishment of a central
research laboratory for experiments and laboratory tests that have to be
conducted for evaluation of value added products and for research and
development projects.
The Spice Board of India will be consulted to assist the local
farmers and industrialists for financial assistance and technical
know-how for continuous growth of the sector.
The Spice Council plans to set up a cinnamon plant nursery by May
next year and central processing centres to increase production. This
will be extended to other spices as well. It also plans to set up a
Cinnamon Training Academy for the betterment of the industry.
The development of new products having high commercial value is
important for the development of the spice sector. Crops such as
patchouli, vetiver, palmarosa and coleus could be grown possibly in
abandoned lands in the plantation sector. These crops could yield value
added products which have a high demand for various commercial
applications.
Organic agriculture is currently developing fast in the world and Sri
Lanka has already started organic farming and processing under
certification of international organizations, Perera said. |