Spices Board will soon set up a common facility centre in Idukki district of Kerala for cardamom farmers, board sources said. The Board has identified 12 acres of land in Kuttiady, near Vandanmedu for the centre, which will have facilities for drying, grading and packing of cardamom.
In future, the board will also shift the e-auction platform to the new centre, sources say. The lone e-auction centre in Kerala is run by the Board in Vandanmedu in Idukki district.
Board sources said that the land would be purchased using the funds of the Cardamom Development Fund. The board has also plans to purchase an additional 8 acres of land in Kuttiady to provide additional facilities for cardamom farmers.
After much delay, the Board has issued notification for acquisition of 100 acres of land in Nedukanadam (Idukki district) for establishing a spices park. The slow response of the state government in acquiring land for the park, had at one time led to thoughts of shifting the park to the neighboring Tamil Nadu.
The board came up with the idea of ten parks in major spices producing centres for adding value to Indian exports.