Sri Lanka Spices to Have value Addition. Spice Council Website Launched to Provide Market Information

11th October 2010, www.dailynews.lk, By 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.

“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”.

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.