Developpp.de - Indian organic spices
Indian organic spices
Indian organic spices
India is one of the world's largest producers of spices – a vital economic mainstay for small farmers especially. However, declining prices on the global markets and strict import regulations are making business tough. Members of the organic farming association Ecoland are meanwhile very interested in having certified spices for their own production lines. In fact they are presently unable to meet their needs. Not having access to a market has deterred farmers from engaging in organic farming in the past.
In its own interest and those of the producers, too, the association - working in a development partnership with DEG and a local partner - provided training for small farmers in the Kerala region to teach them how to grow and process organic spices. Besides training courses on quality management and cultivation methods, DEG and Ecoland set up a modern processing centre that will, in future, be run by the local producer community set up by the project. A control and certification agency has also been established for organic farming as part of the project. Its task is to ensure that the spices are suitable for exporting to Germany and the EU. Thanks to a special marketing strategy, the spices are to be marketed under their own label in future – both on the European and the Indian market. The project benefits the Indian people by giving them better quality spices for which the small farmers can charge a higher price, thus giving them a secure income. Ecoloand's member companies, for their part, gain reliable, good quality supplies of spices for their own production lines.
