Cinnamon Training Academy Limited launched

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

Plans are underway to set up a National Cinnamon Training Academy to infuse new blood into the cinnamon industry.

"We have source funding for the training component and establishment of curricula and other needs to train cinnamon peelers. This facility will be set up with an investment of Rs 70 million where UNIDO and the Standard Trade Development Facility of WTO will provide initial assistance, Spice Council Founder Chairman Sarada De Silva told Daily News Business.

The Spice Council together with leading cinnamon producers and exporters has set up a special company, Cinnamon Training Academy Limited to facilitate the efforts for a national academy, he said. The company has already acquired two acres of land to establish the academy in the main cinnamon producing area of Kosgoda in Galle District. The academy is expected to address the acute shortage of cinnamon peelers and training will be provided to ensure international hygine standards of GMP and ISO 22000 Food Safety standard.

The National Cinnamon Training Academy (NCTA) will also help elevate the social standing of cinnamon peelers who will be called cinnamon processors in future. They will have the opportunity to work in a comfortable and clean environment in the nature of a factory once the academy is set up, he said.

The training component will also include practices that facilitate high yield with the intention of doubling the national production. The yield could be increased by deploying good agromatic practices to 450 kgs per acre.

The trainees will be trained in the areas of planting, maintaining and grooming, to produce high value cinnamon for which the world demand is not met at present.

There are 31,000 hectares of cinnamon plantation in Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Kalutara and Ratnapura districts. The plants can be peeled twice a year but in over 60 percent cases is peeled once a year due to the shortage of 30,000 peelers.

The recently launched cinnamon logo registration in main markets such as Mexico, USA, the European Union, Peru and Colombia needs funding. The logo will be internationally launched on October 11 at the Germany Trade Fair where a special Sri Lankan delegation from the Spice Council is expected to attend. The council is working on obtaining GI for cinnamon with relevant authorities which is a long process.

"We will also set up a group processing facility to enable small holders to produce quality cinnamon. The cinnamon exports recorded an upward trend where 81 percent of the increase was recorded in export value while the value added products recorded a 152 percent increase for the first six months of this year", De Silva said.