Private spice gardens to be regulated

Nethali STRUYS

Minor Export Crops Promotion Minister Reginald Cooray said that measures have been taken to regulate all private spice gardens in order to upgrade their standards.

The Minister pointed out that most of these gardens which are of great interest to tourists do not have even the basic facilities for the public. These gardens include sales outlets for tourists with low quality products.

He said it is vital to develop these gardens to boost promote spice production in the country. The demand for cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, cloves and sesame in abroad is very high. Hence, such neglect gives a bad image for the products and the country.

"We have already started registering all private spice gardens. Once we have the list of all the gardens we will be able to analyze and upgrade the gardens with proper infrastructure facilities and staff, " he said. This will gazetted in the near future, he added.

The government has taken further steps to develop two spice parks in Dalpitiya and Matale. These parks will be brought to international standards, the minister said.

Awareness programmes are being conducted with the initiation of the ministry on product standards, packaging, quality etc.