India's large cardamom demand to rise globally: Spices Board

India is likely to witness a rise in demand for its large cardamom now in the international market since Sikkim, which produces a chunk of this highly-valued spice, has been declared an organic-farming state, according to the Spices Board.
Organically-grown large cardamom may be priced higher than its fertiliser-fed counterpart, but the former has burgeoning premium-class consumers abroad, whose number is increasing of late, said A Jayathilak, who is chairman of the governmental agency.
"Discerning users are willing to pay the extra money," he emphasised, noting that organically-raised large cardamom was another initiative under the present government's Make in India mission, which aims to make the country a global hub of indigenously-developed products.

India exported 665 tonnes of large cardamom in 2014-15.
In the first half of this fiscal, the powerful flavouring spice endemic to a certain section of the Himalayan terrain has earned the country Rs 20.11 crore in the international market, statistics show.
Sikkim, which grows large cardamom in 17,000 hectares, produces 4,000 metric tonnes (90 per cent of the country's production) of the spice annually.

The Kochi-headquartered Spices Board had designed the 'Organic Sikkim' logo that was released on January 18 in the presence of that state's Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling amid a host of leaders and top officials.

"Our message to farmers is this: You become exporters. It is simple but strong," Jayathilak said today.
"The work of our personnel is multi-disciplinary. We do not just do marketing, but research, spread of information, linkages between farmers and mediations to resolve issues," he added.
Large-cardamom cultivation will get a further boost in six months from now as the Spices Board is set to launch an e-platform for its famed fortnightly auction in Sikkim's traditional spice market of Singtam.
This is in accordance with the Digital India campaign, Jayathilak said.
"The idea is to cut down on middlemen. This will ease the post-harvest flow in the trade of the crop," he added.

"The Singtam auctions (on from 2010) have already had an impact in the national prices of large cardamom, with farmers getting six times more prices than what prevailed five years ago," he said.