TIMES CITYTHE TIMES OF INDIA, KOCHI | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

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With acute shortage in domestic

production, prices should have easily touched `1,500 per kg by now. But local prices are hovering around `750 mark because the market is flooded with cheap Guatemalan produce— M M LambodharanGENERAL SECRETARY OFSPICES PLANTERS’ASSOCIATION

WHY GUATEMALAN CARDAMOM IS SO CHEAP?Cost of production for cardamom per hectare (in Rs)INPUTS GUATEMALA INDIAPlanting materials 31,600 357,750Planting (labour) 9,480 182,250Total initial costs 41,080 540,000Fertiliser 1,580 22,500Fertiliser application (labour) 632 21,600Pesticides 1,264 48,000Pesticide application (labour) 632 7,200Harvesting (labour) 9,480 150,000Cleaning (labour) 4,740 45,000Drying and miscellaneous costs 1,580 90,000Total seasonal costs 19,908 384,300Production per hectare 360 kg 750 kgCost of production per kg 55.3 512Source: studies on Guatemalan cardamom production and market sources

4000

3000

2000

1000

02014*

1503

3686

2333

578775 714

1089839

352

2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006*(Jan – 1st week of Sept)

Guatemalan cardamom imports to India (in tonnes)

SPICE ROUTE IN REVERSE Shenoy.Karun@timesgroup.com

In a 1992 dissertation on Guate-malan cardamom exports sub-mitted at the Francisco Marro-quin University of Guatemala, three words stand out strik-ingly – Malabar, Verushka

(Vazhukka) and Mysore. This particu-lar combination of words, which any Kerala cardamom farmer would rec-ognize instantly, are the varieties that are traditionally cultivated in the high ranges of Kerala.

Guatemala, a Central American country, grows them from the seeds brought originally from Kerala in 1914 and a century later, this cheaper Gua-temalan crop is hitting the shores of India, bringing down the domestic prices significantly. This is badly hurt-ing the farmers of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

“This year’s production in Idukki is so low that it wouldn’t reach even half of last year’s harvest. With that level of shortage in domestic produc-tion, prices should have easily touched Rs 1,500 per kg by now. But local prices are hovering around Rs 750 mark be-cause the market is flooded with cheap Guatemalan produce,” said M M Lam-bodharan, general secretary of Spices Planters’ Association, a group of 5,000 farmers in the high ranges of Kerala. The state accounts for 75% of Indian cardamom production.

Databases on India’s foreign trade also support this as records reveal that 3.48 tonnes of Guatemalan cardamom reached Cochin Port on Saturday. In fact, Guatemalan imports to the coun-try touched 1,528 tonnes, worth Rs 41 crore, till first week of September 2014, up from 588 tonnes worth Rs 20 crore in 2013.

And this year’s prices were as low as Rs 163 per kg as in the case of a 15 tonne lot that landed in Bangalore on May 29. Of the total 111 transactions this year, prices were mostly in the range of Rs 180 – Rs 340 per kg. It is introduced in the market with an im-port duty of 70% and the price range is then between Rs 300 and Rs 600 per kg, pulling down the price of domestic produce.

Oscar Majus Kloeffer, a German planter, first tried cardamom in Gua-temala 1914, from the seeds he sourced through his father in Germany. Just like the high ranges of Kerala, the high-lands of Alta Verapaz, a city 100 km

north of the Guatemalan capital, too had a fertile soil and microclimate so suitable that by 1980 Guatemala over-took India in cardamom production and soon accounted for 60% of the world’s production. According to the National Agricultural Survey of Gua-temala, area of cardamom plantations grew by 76% from 46,600 hectares in 2003 to touch 82,230 hectares in 2013.

Production grew by 60% over the past decade and touched 38,000 tonnes in 2012-13. While Guatemala ear ned $250

million (Rs 1,527 crore) through carda-mom exports in 2012, India generated Rs 212 crore during 2012-13.

Roughly 3.5 lakh farmers survive on this crop in Guatemala. And carda-mom farming has slowly spilled over to the neighbouring countries of Papua New Guinea, Honduras and Costa Rica. Africa is another place where German planters introduced cardamom.

Similar to what happened in the physical world, Indian cardamom took a drubbing in the virtual world too - www.cardamom.com, the most simple and straightforward commercial web address for cardamom, is owned not by an Indian, but by Guatemalan compa-ny Cardex, which claims to be the larg-est cardamom exporter in the world.

Cardamom From Kerala Was Introduced In Guatemala In 1914 But Has Now Returned To

Its Native Shores In A Cheaper Avatar To Haunt Domestic Farmers

Farmer associations in Idukki are yet to tap export market

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kochi: Over a century, Guatemala has become a leader in cardamom production and exports with farm-er cooperatives marketing their produce directly in the Middle East. But, farmers in Idukki are yet to venture into this segment avoiding the middlemen.

With the help of Société de Coopération pour le Développement International (SOCODEVI) – a glo-bal network of cooperatives – a local organization in Guatemala named Federación de Cooperativas de las Verapaces (FEDECOVERA) has emerged as a major exporter of car-damom to the Middle East.

FEDECOVERA now provides

support to 12,000 Guatemalan households to process their carda-mom using a common facility. The product is then marketed in the Gulf under FEDECOVERA brand. On the other hand, farmers’ asso-ciations in Idukki are yet to venture into this area.

“We are in the process of apply-ing for an import-export licence,” revealed KS Mathew, president of Vandanmedu Cardamom Growers’ Association (VCGA), which has formed its producers’ company Vandanmedu Green Gold Carda-mom Producer Co Ltd (VGGCP). The firm is now involved only in marketing cardamom in neighbour-ing states and didn’t attempt global trade because of funding problems.

VCGA has 3,000 farmers as mem-bers and its company VGGCP has 500 shareholders.

Similarly, Spices Planters’ As-sociation (SPA), an organization of roughly 5,000 farmers in Rajakkad and nearby places, is yet to venture into overseas marketing. “At present, only two private players in Idukki are exporting cardamom to the Middle East. We are yet to begin operations,” said MM Lambodha-ran, general secretary of SPA.

Meanwhile, Guatemala had pro-gressed in cardamom farming and production of related technology too. Along with cardamom, two clas-sifier machines from Guatemala also reached Mumbai port in May and August 2013, reveal records.

GUATEMALAN CARDAMOM TRADE 2008 - 201340000

30000

20000

10000

0

2000

1500

1000

500

02013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

Quantity (in tonnes) Export earnings in ` crore

PRODUCTION IN GUATEMALA AND INDIATotal area

Number of farmers

Quantity of pro-duction in 2013

Export earnings in 2013

82,231 hectares

3.5 lakh

38,000tonnes `1,527 cr

69,870 hectares 80,000

14,000 tonnes `212

cr

PLANTERS ASK SPICES BOARD TO STOP CARDAMOM IMPORTSKochi: Cardamom planters in Idukki district has asked the spices board, the nodal agency for promotion and marketing of Indian spices, to stop the rush of Guatemalan cardamom in domestic market. The board held a meeting of stakeholders of cardamom industry at its zonal office at Bodinayakanur in Tamil Nadu on Monday, which saw the participation of 50 representatives of planters, traders and auctioneers. Planters from Kerala alleged that Guatemalan cardamom had been found in warehouses in Bodinayakanur, which was being mixed with the local variety to be auctioned in centres at Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Relatively big in size, Guatemalan cardamom

could easily be found out by the taste and smell too. The

difference in processing methods leave the

Guatemalan variety paler in colour, while

the local produce is much greener. This is because Indian farmers use hot

air, rather than direct sunlight to dry

the berries.

SOCODEVI

German planter Oscar Majus Kloefferintroduced cardamom in Guatemala in 1914 from the seeds sourced from Kerala

Illustration:Gireesh

Exports in 2012 (in tonnes)Saudi Arabia

Pakistan

UAE

USA

9,488.12

2,843.75

6,372.02

681.98

1,777.36

17.90

148.44

54.51

Source: Banco de Guatemala, Spices Board

Guatemala

Guatemala

India

India

Guatemalan woman with cardamom

Thiruvananthapuram: DrG Vijayaku-mar, whoheads theMedicalTrust Hospi-tal in Panda-lam, has won

the British medical Journal(BMJ) award for his researchpaper on ‘initiatives on dia-betes project’ that waslaunched in Pathanamthittaand Alappuzha districts.Known as the Oscar for medi-cine, the BMJ award was giv-en to Dr G Vijayakumar in thecategory for excellence in pre-ventive healthcare from 700applicants across the country.

The ‘know diabetes pro-ject’ was conducted by Medi-cal Trust Hospital and Dia-

betes Care Centre incollaboration with World Dia-betes Foundation.

“The project envisionedprimary prevention of life-style diseases. Lifestylechanges identified wereadopting healthy diet, en-hancing physical activity,stress management (yoga)and addiction awareness.Students and teachers weretargeted since they are the ca-talysts that bring abouthealthy lifestyle in communi-ty,” Dr G Vijayakumar said.

He said project staff in-cluded trained personnel,dieticians, doctors and yoga-master, who conducted class-es for students (aged 10 years -17 years) and teachers. Theproject reached 800 schools,2.18 lakh students, 10,441teachers and 2.08 lakh adults.

Pandalam doctorwins int’l award

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kochi: Winners of KeralaState School Sasthrolsa-van will be awarded a goldcup donated by school stu-dents.

For the first time, theeducation department isintroducing an one-kg goldcup for the science fair, andgovernment schoolsacross the state collectedRe 1 each from almost 40-lakh plus students on Tues-day morning to purchasethe rolling trophy.

“… it is decided to col-lect Re 1 from children ofall classes and utilize it formaking a gold cup for Sas-throlsavam… All schoolprincipals of government,aided and unaided schoolsshould collect the amountfrom students on Septem-ber 23 between 10 am and 11am,” a circular issued bythe education departmentsaid.

Principals have beenasked to deposit the moneyin a bank account createdby the education depart-ment for this purpose.

Sasthrolsavam is a com-bination of science, maths,social science and IT fairs.

Going by the number ofstudents, the education de-partment would haveraised about Rs 40 lakh.The cup would cost aroundRs 27 lakh.

“Whatever amount iscollected will be utilized

for purchasing the cup. Ifmore money has beenraised, we will go for a big-ger gold cup instead of theplanned 1 kg one,” saideducation secretary A Sha-jahan.

School principals saidthe collection drive was al-so meant to get students in-volved besides creatingawareness among themabout the science fair.

“It has a twin objective:this will create awarenessabout the science festivaland popularize the sameamong students, besideshelping the cash-strappedgovernment save money,”said an education depart-ment official.

“We have already start-ed collecting Re 1 from stu-dents and no one has ob-jected to contributing, as itis not a big amount,” addedKerala private secondaryschool headmasters’ asso-ciation member P J Jose.

A gold cup for students, by students

EACH RUPEE COUNTS: Students collect coins for the gold cup

Jipson SikheraTIMES NEWS NETWORK

In recent times the yieldwent down drastically inthe district from 17,915

tonnes in 2000-01 to just 2,287tonnes in 2012-13.

The area under cultivationalso dwindled from 44,908 hec-tares in 2001-02 to around17,000 hectares last year.

“Our studies have shownthat the chances of foot rot in-

creased with the increase insoil acidity as the diseasecausing fungus phytophthorathrived and become virulentin acidic conditions,” said DrP Jayaraj, programme coordi-nator of Krishi Vigyan Ken-dra, Kannur, who was part ofthe multi-institution study.

Drastic fall inyield, lesscultivation

�Continued From, P 1

WAYANAD PEPPER

Thiruvananthapuram:Chief minister OommenChandy inaugurated theNoise-Free Campaign hereon Tuesday. But loudspeakerrental agencies in the capitalcity took the first step—albeitin protest—to make the statefree of sound pollution. Theyrefused to provide sound sys-tem to the event organizers.

The association of mikeset and speaker rental agen-cies decided against provid-ing ‘light and sound’ to the in-auguration of the campaign,a joint initiative by the ENTdoctors’ association and Indi-an Medical Association(IMA). The rental agenciesexpressed fear that the cam-paign would affect their live-lihood.

The event organizers did

try for loudspeakers till thelast moment. They were latercompelled to bring a moder-ate sound system from theIMA office, and set it up at Tri-vandrum Club, where Chan-dy declared the campaignopen.

“It is a good sign since ithas proved that our cam-paign has started on the rightnote,’’ said Dr N Sulphi, dis-trict IMA president and vicepresident of National Initia-tive for Safe Sound campaign.

A loudspeaker rentalagency, which has taken ad-vance for installing thesound system at the venue,withdrew after it was threat-ened by the association lead-ers.

“This campaign is devas-tating. How can we support acampaign which would ad-versely affect our livelihood?

We are not against noise pol-lution, but we believe thatthere should be restrictionsand not a total ban on loud-speakers. It is the politiciansand other associations whichare utilizing us. They de-mand extra sound system togive more effects. Even whenwe hesitate they want more,’’said R Hari, proprietor of Mo-han Sounds.

In his inaugural address,chief minister Chandy saidpoliticians and places of wor-ship were the main promo-ters of sound pollution.

“Everyone has equal re-sponsibility to contribute to-wards achieving the goal ofsound-free surroundings.The government will provideall support for achieving thisgoal and will take all steps toimpose a restriction on sounduse,’’ he said.

Noise-Free campaign startson the right note, minus mike

G.Rajiv@timesgroup.com

Thiruvananthapuram: The fencing aroundthe open enclosures in Thiruvananthapuramzoo will be elevated with a 45 degree outward in-clination in the wake of a youth being killed bya white tiger in Delhi zoo. The fatal accident inDelhi is suspected to have occurred after theyouth reportedly scaled the barrier and hoppedinto the enclosure.

Zoo director B Joseph said that such in-stances could be averted by raising the fenceand by providing an inclination making it im-possible for anyone to scale the barrier. “We willput in place adequate measures to prevent theoccurrence of attack on visitors. The work onraising the level of barrier will begin this weekitself,” said Joseph. Besides, the zoo keeps ad-vanced darters to tranquilize the animals incase of menacing behaviour.

As per the norms of central zoo authority,the enclosure barrier of an animal should beerected in such a manner that live wire over-hangs or chain-link should be used to preventthe animals from escaping the enclosure. Re-garding the walk through enclosures, the areaopen to access by visitors should be clearly de-lineated and demarcated in such a manner thatanimals are not impacted by the presence of vis-itors and that animals are not in a position to in-jure them.

In the 157-year-old history of the city zoothere have been only few incidents of animal es-cape and ferocious behaviour.

As per records, the zoo had to be shut downfor 15 days in 1950s after Maniyan, the rhino, es-caped from its enclosure and roamed aroundthe premises. There were no tranquilizers atthat time and zoo-keepers had to resort to tradi-tional methods to bring it back to the enclosure.In another incident, the baby – who was seatedon the fringe of the wall separating the bear en-closure – slipped from her mother's grip and fellinto the enclosure only to be bitten to death bythe bear. The enclosure, located in a pit, was lat-er demolished and the present one built withproper elevation.

There were also incidents of bear and tigersbiting off the extended arms of visitors whotried to feed them or tigers slapping on the backof visitors and inflicting serious wounds whenthey sat on the grill and posed for photographs.The zoo authorities are now in the process ofpreparing a detailed disaster management planwhich envisages preventive steps and mockdrills . Meanwhile, the white tiger that killed theyouth in Delhi zoo is identified as male and theone that would be brought to Thiruvananthap-uram zoo in exchange for jaguar will be female.

Outwardly inclined barriersto come up at T’puram zoo

Stricter security to be in place at capital’s zoo

Rakesh NairAswin.JKumar@timesgroup.com

DELHI TIGER ATTACK

Thrissur: Thrissur zoo authorities too haveconvened an emergency meeting of the keepersand guards on Wednesday to evolve measures toup security measures in the wake of a man beingmauled to death by a white tiger in Delhi zoo onTuesday. The 13-acre Thrissur Zoo located in inthe heart of the city houses around 550 animalsincluding four leopards, three tigers, one lion,two crocodiles and a gharial.

The central zoo authority has bannedhousing of more animals at the zoo which facesacute space shortage. A proposal to shift the zooto a 336-acre forest land at Puthur, around 8 kmaway from the city has been pending for nearlytwo decades. Forest officials, who are in chargeof the zoo shifting project, said it is in the designphase now and would be completed in five years.

The animals are being kept in closed cagesand chances of a Delhi-kind of incident areunlikely, claimed officials.

However there were some instances wherevisitors and zoo staff were attacked by theanimals, but officials do not recollect any fatalinstance. “In one instance a staff of theneighbouring museum was bitten by leopardwhen he put his hand in the cage. In another casethe Himalayan bear had bitten the palm of avisitor who tried to feed the animal. In yetanother case, a zebra had bitten the hand of avisitor from Tamil Nadu,” said Narayanan Kutty, aformer supervisor of the zoo.

Superintendent Anilkumar said a meeting onWednesday will finalize the measures to betaken to strengthen the physical security and thesteps that need to be taken to regulate themovement of visitors so that such incidentsdon’t occur.

Thrissur zoo staff to meet on security measures today

Ramavarman.T@timesgroup.com

Product: TOICochinBS PubDate: 24-09-2014 Zone: Kochi Edition: 1 Page: TOIKRK02 User: arjunm2202 Time: 09-23-2014 23:29 Color: CMYK