The meagre quantity of exports that is taking place should not be a measure of the potential, said a spice trader. When farmers realised the margins in organic spices, they would be more than willing to change over to organic farm practices.

During 1997-98 about 32 tonnes of organic spices were exported against 25-odd tonnes in 1996-97, which shows that the demand can be created by proper marketing strategies, opine industry players. Exports are expected to go up in the coming years as more farmers are switching over to cultivate organic spices.

With organic food campaign catching up in the western world, the spices are also being marked to be organic to provide a complete organic food intake. The awareness is more in the west and whatever littledemand, is from the west, especially Germany, according to a commodity trader.

The Spices Board is promoting organic farming of spices through non-governmental organisations and farmers' groups. Some of the spices have been identified in which organic farming practices can be applied right away. The Indian capability extends to black and white pepper, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace, ginger, turmeric and vanilla.

The promotion package involves awareness of organic farming techniques, identifying areas and post harvest aids, such as moisture measuring equipment and residue analysis among others. Vermi compost units are being widely popularised as the organic manure. Another area where the board is considering playing a major role and can be the driving force in marketing the product is by certifying the organic product. The spices industry in fact, welcomes the board's initiative in setting up an indigenous certificate programme. There is no agency in the country as such which provides any suchcertificates.

An international organisation called IFOAM, headquartered in Germany, which is instrumental in promoting organic farming globally is also involved in creating awareness in the country from its Indian base in Bangalore. They conduct training programmes for farmers are involved in promotion of organic cultivation of all food items.

The Spices Board also keeps in touch with these programmes and experts in the field, along with government and NGO personnel inspect the farming procedures.

According to industry sources initiating organic farming is a tedious process given our current practices. The farming process is not alien to the country but the onslaught of western practices have made our soil quite poisonous. It will take quite some time to get back to old practices, he said.