Category Archives: Pepper

Kudloor industrial area bereft of basic facilities

Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Pepper, Records, All
The industrial area in Kudloor.

The industrial area in Kudloor. The first and the only KIADB industrial area in Kudloor in Kushalnagar is facing a lack of basic facilities. The layout is devoid of facilities and people are eagerly waiting for its upliftment.

Owing to the efforts of then chief minister Gundurao, the industrial area had come up at Kudloor in 1984.

There are more than 60 industrial units related to coffee, pepper and others that have come up in the industrial area. About 40% of them are related to coffee and its processing. Some of the food industries including ice cream, hollow bricks, iron and other industries are functioning. The annual turn out from coffee-related industries is Rs 4,000 crore, said Kudloor Kaigarikodyamigala Sangha president A N Praveen.

The industrial area has been completely neglected over the years. Owing to the pressure from the industrialists, pothole-ridden roads have been developed in the area.

According to KIADB officials, the government had sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the development of the industrial area. All the roads leading to various industrial layouts in the vicinity have been developed. The basic facilities will be improved in a phased manner.

Though 250 acres of land was acquired for industrial area, the khata of only 100 acres has been handed over. The remaining 150 acres has no khata. It is not even registered in the name of KIADB. As a result, several industrialists are denied facilities from the government, said, industrialists.

The industrial area has a lack of streetlights. As a result, people are scared to move around at night. Even drains are not constructed by the side of the road. Weeds have grown on either side of the roads.

There is an allegation that only coffee-related industries are set up in the industrial area. As a result, the employment generation is restricted and youth have been migrating to cities in search of greener pastures, said local residents.

There is even a lack of security in the industrial area. Theft cases too have been reported in the nights.

Department of Handlooms and Textiles assistant director Guruswamy said the department had submitted a proposal on setting up a mini power loom park at the industrial area in Kudloor. The deputy commissioner has given approval for the same.

Beeralingeshwara power loom will be set up in the future which will provide employment to women and men, he added.

Industries centre joint director Shankaranarayana said that a meeting to discuss the problems faced at the industrial area will be convened shortly at Koodumangalore Gram Panchayat hall. The officials from KIADB and others will attend the meeting.  

Meanwhile, MP Pratap Simha has submitted a proposal to set up an ESI Hospital in Kodagu. Even land has also been identified for the hospital at Kudloor.

However, the process for the setting up of the hospital has not been initiated so far.

Vanijyodyamigala Sangha, Kodagu, president M B Devaiah said, “We have appealed to Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar to help in the generation of employment in the district.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / b y DHNS, Kushalnagar / September 30th, 2021

Kozhikode Corporation to join hands with IISR for spice street project

Agriculture, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Pepper, Records, All

Kozhikode Mayor Beena Philip has said that the corporation was willing to cooperate with the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) for the proposed spice street project.

Inaugurating the foundation day programme online at the IISR here on Thursday, she said the emerging farming scenario enhanced the social and scientific relevance of institutions like ICAR- IISR in the wake of the pandemic.

She also emphasized that the spice economy was important for the farming sector. However, the ability to maintain and enhance spices production needs to be anchored on improved cultivation practices and research advances, she said.

Presiding over the session, Dr. A.K. Singh, Deputy Director-General, ICAR, New Delhi, said the spices sector had witnessed significant changes in the recent past, and that the country was poised to make gains in production and trade in spices in the coming years.

Dr. Athulya G. Ashokan, Associate Professor, Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, delivered the foundation day lecture on ‘Management of post-COVID syndrome’. The IISR also launched the e-commerce platform for sale of good quality spices from verified sources and products from incubatee entrepreneurs associated with the institute.

In a new initiative aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs, the institution has entered into an agreement with the Kozhikode District Kudumbashree Mission to provide support for development and marketing of value-added products, production of quality planting materials, and delivery training services.

The IISR also executed two technology commercialisation agreements for the turmeric variety IISR Aleppey Supreme and black pepper micronutrient mixture.

Marking the occasion, the institute conferred spices excellence awards on Kanthraj K.M. from Kodagu district in Karnataka and Rajesh E.M. from Kozhikode. R.L. Innovative Agri Pvt. Ltd., an agri-startup company, was also honoured with the award.

The staff recreation club of the institute donated 10 mobile phones and tablets to support online education of students from under-privileged sections as part of its outreach activities. The institute released five extension folders and three technical bulletins on various aspects of spice cultivation to mark the foundation day.

Dr. J. Rema, Director, ICAR-IISR, and Dr. Vikramadithya Pandey, Assistant Director General, ICAR, spoke.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Special Correspondent / Kozhikode – July 02nd, 2021

COVID-19: Karnataka coffee growers demand special package

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Green Initiatives / Environment, Leaders, Nature, Pepper, Records, All

Members of Kodagu district Growers' Federation submit a memorandum to MLA Appachu Ranjan. DH Photo
Members of Kodagu district Growers’ Federation submit a memorandum to MLA Appachu Ranjan. DH Photo

Coffee growers in the district have demanded special package from state government, as planters are facing hardships in the wake of Covid-19 lockdown.

Members of the planters’ association have submitted a memorandum to the MLAs of the district in this regard and have urged chief minister to come to their rescue.

Kodagu district is affected by floods for past two years and the lockdown has worsened the situation, they said and pointed out that harvesting of coffee and pepper in most of the plantations had come to a standstill, resulting in the loss of crops.

It is feared that next year’s yield too will be lost as the growers are finding it difficult to maintain of their plantations.

The growers urged the government to provide special package for the coffee growers.

Vegetable and plantain cultivators too sought assistance from the government, stating that most of the cultivators in the district have been dependent on Kerala market. But, due to the lockdown, the fruits are getting rotten and has led to a huge loss.

The government should announce support price and should procure ‘Nendra’ banana and other fruits from the farmers, the growers said and also requested the government to waive the interest on the loans availed by them.

“A committee of elected representatives should be formed towards formulating plans to encourage farmers to take up cultivation in barren lands,” the memorandum stated.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Madikeri / May 08th, 2020

Pepper prices rise 15% amid lockdown on hope of healthy post-monsoon sales

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Pepper, Records, All

Farmers hold on to stocks due to great demand for high-quality Indian produce.

Some farmers who had finished harvesting had sold in panic.
Some farmers who had finished harvesting had sold in panic.

Pepper prices have turned buoyant again rising by as much as 15 per cent in India to Rs 325 per kg from Rs 285 earlier.

Rohan Colaco, a planter from Karnataka and a member of Karnataka Planters Association, said that pepper prices had been sliding prior to the lockdown. The spice was trading at around Rs 285 a kg and was expected to go down to Rs 260.

Some farmers who had finished harvesting had sold in panic. Also there was unripe pepper wine harvest and selling this year. After the lockdown, the prices opened at Rs 305.

“It is expected that there will be no inward movement of pepper through international borders. There is also good demand for high quality Indian pepper. Many farmers are keeping stocks to sell after the monsoons as winter demand will start strengthening. These reasons are pushing pepper prices up,” said Colaco.

He added that the spice had hit a high of Rs 330 about a year back. He believes pepper may approach this price as there already exists a huge stock of imported pepper.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Markets> Commodities / by T E Narasimhan / April 27th, 2020

Native spices get a new gene bank

Agriculture, Nature, Pepper, Records, All

SpicesKF16jan2018

Kozhikode :

The immense effort that goes into setting up a gene bank is such that it can be termed as a mission. And when a group of farmers here came together to start one, it turned out to be a worthy venture. And ‘spicy’ too.

The Koorachundu Sugandhavila Karshaka Samithi realised it was high time they set up a gene bank to conserve the native varieties of spices, after they found that imported and hybrid varieties have become popular among farmers. They decided to begin with pepper and the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), Moozhikkal, which got enthusiastic about the idea, decided to help the farmers collect a wide variety of local pepper plants.

Unlike the research institutes where spices are conserved in labs and experimental farms, the Samithi members will grow local varieties in their farms. As of now, the farmers are conserving 11 pepper varieties, including Arakulam Munda, Chomala, Pottanadan, Thulamundy, Kaniyakkadan and Nedumchola.

“The idea came up when we thought about the Western Ghats’ conservation and peaceful co-existence of farmers and wild animals,” said Samithi secretary P T Thomas.The Samithi, which began its gene-bank mission a month ago, plans to expand its basket to include clove, nutmeg, mace, cardamom and cinnamon in the coming days. It has 30 farmers, who own around 90 acres. Each farmer will collect a specific spice and grow it in his farm.

“Landraces of many crop plants are getting eroded due to a variety of reasons. Conservation of the landraces, which harbour many useful genes, is mostly a government effort. However, if people-participatory or farm conservation can be effected, it’ll help conserve landraces in their natural habitat,” said IISR’s crop improvement and biotechnology division head B Sasikumar.

The native varieties of pepper have the capacity to survive in the Western Ghats and can be cultivated at a low cost. Farmers can plant it under a jackfruit tree without the need for a support system, said Thomas. In contrast, imported and hybrid varieties need a proper support system.

The Samithi members are hopeful the gene bank will become fully functional in 18 months’ time. “The yield from native varieties can be an influential thing among farmers as the yield influences the farmer to decide whether to continue with the cultivation or not. However, at the Samithi, we’re planning to go forward without considering the yield from native varieties,” said Thomas.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by K C Arun / Express News Service / January 01st, 2017

Karnataka coffee growers in a fix over wage hike

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Pepper, Records, All

The new structure suggests 10% hike in the basic daily wage

Bengaluru :

Amidst the prevailing volatile price trend, an imminent wage hike of over 10 per cent is seen inflating the cultivation costs for the coffee growers of Karnataka, which accounts for more than two-thirds of India’s output.

Negotiations of wage hike have been completed recently between the growers and labour unions and the Karnataka government is expected to notify the new wages soon.

As part of the new wage structure, the basic daily wage is fixed at ₹305 — up 10.10 per cent over the current ₹277.41, said N Bose Mandanna, a member of the committee that negotiated the new wage structure. Including the other social costs, the total outgo for a worker would be in the range of ₹450-470 per day, he said.

Total outgo up
Labour wages account for around 60 per cent of the cultivation costs in the coffee sector, followed by fertiliser and fuel which constitute 35 per cent, Mandanna said.

“The wage hike is going to affect the growers badly,” said HT Pramod, Chairman, Karnataka Planters Association, the apex body of the growers in the State.

To offset the wage hike impact, the government should help the growers by reducing the interest costs. “We have urged the government to reduce the interest on loans up to 25 lakh at 3 per cent and above 25 lakh at 6 per cent,” he said. Pramod further said the impact of the wage hike could be more on growers of arabica, where the cost of production and pest incidence is higher and the productivity is low compared to robustas.

Global production
The revision in wages, after a gap of around four years, is happening at a time when the prices globally have been volatile and at multi-year lows.

The prevailing bearish trend in prices is largely attributed to a surge in global output, which is seen heading for a record in 2017-18 (October-September) at 158.8 million bags (of 60 kg each), about 0.7 per cent higher than last year’s 157.7 million bags, according to the latest estimates of the International Coffee Organisation released on Tuesday.

Production of arabicas is projected to reach 97.3 million bags — down 1.1 per cent from the 2016-17 season.

Robusta production in 2017-18 is seen at 61.5 million bags, up 3.7 per cent over last year, mainly on account of rebound in output of Vietnam, the largest producer of the variety. The prospect of a hike in global output is seen resulting in a bleak outlook for rebound in prices.

“We don’t have any hopes of getting a better price this year,” said DM Purnesh, a large grower in Chikmagalur.

Back home, the harvest of arabicas is almost over, while that of robustas has commenced in the key growing regions of Kodagu and Chikmagalur.

For 2017-18, the State-run Coffee Board sees a 12 per cent increase in total output at 3.5 lakh tonnes with output of arabicas estimated at 1.03 lakh tonnes and robustas accounting for the rest. Growers and the trade, based on the harvest and marekt arrivals, estimate arabica production to be around 90,000 tonnes, while that of the robusta could be much lower than the Board’s estimates.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Economy> Agri-Business / by Vishwanath Kulkarni / January 11th, 2018

Growers hope MIP on pepper will block dumping of Vietnam variety

Business & Economy, Pepper, World Opinion

PepperKF11dec2017
Mangaluru :

Karnataka, one of two major black pepper producers in the country, has wholeheartedly welcomed the Union Commerce Ministry’s decision to fix Minimum Import Price of `500 per kg on pepper on CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) basis.

India produces about 65,000 tonnes of pepper of which state’s contribution is about 30,000 tonnes. Kodagu, Chikkakamagaluru and Hassan districts are the major pepper growing areas in the state apart from the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

Konkodi Padmanabha, convenor, Consortium of Pepper Growers Association, told reporters here on Thursday that the decision will automatically block the import of poor quality pepper especially from Vietnam and as a result the demand for Indian pepper will increase. At present, farmers are getting a minimum of `380 per kg and experts believe that the prices may jump by `50-60 per kg in a fortnight and growers may get at least `700 a kg for the next season’s pepper.

CAMPCO MD Suresh Bhandary M said it may take another 2-3 months for the new prices to stabilise after the old stock is cleared.“The MIP will not be applicable for the licences already issued for import for Vietnam pepper. It will apply only for fresh licences.” Further, he said the fixing of uniform MIP for all grades of pepper and even crushed and ground pepper will avoid chances of adulteration.

Organisation’s co-ordinator K K Vishwanath urged the Centre to ban the import of black pepper into the country, impose dumping duty on imported pepper, hike the import duty from present 64 percent to 108 percent, allow the import of pepper only through any two ports for better monitoring, take strict measures to certify the quality of imported pepper and bring in laws to issue ‘Fake country of origin’ for imported pepper. He said they want ban in pepper import as traders may now use the Nepal route.

“Since there is no port in Nepal, foreign countries import to Nepal through ports in Kolkatta. Then it become easy for them to push it inside India as there is free trade agreement between the two countries.” Padmanabha thanked commerce minister Suresh Prabhu for his positive response to their petition in just 13 days and union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde and MPs Nalin Kumar Kateel, Prathap Simha and the state government for taking up their cause.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Services / December 08th, 2017

Farmers’ collective sets up black pepper gene bank

Agriculture, Pepper

The gene bank features 42 native varieties of black pepper
The gene bank features 42 native varieties of black pepper

Kozhikode :

In a bid to arrest the declining fortunes of black pepper in its historical home turf, a farmers’ collective in Wayanad has set up a gene bank featuring 42 native varieties, including rare accessions, of the spice indigenous to Kerala. The Wayanad Social Service Society (WSSS) hopes to protect and popularize the native pepper varieties many of which have better disease resistance and drought tolerance but had been abandoned by farmers following the advent of high yielding hybrid varieties.

Apart from protecting the diversity of black pepper in the state, the field gene bank of pepper, spread around three acres at Mananthavady, would also make available planting material of native varieties to farmers.

The native pepper varieties which have been collected from Wayanad, Nilgiris, Coorg and other Malabar districts include the once widely cultivated Kalluvalli, Jeerakamundi, Neelamundi, Cherumaniyan, Karimunda, Ibe rian, among others. Farmers say that these varieties are drought tolerant when compared to hybrid varieties.

“Kerala had earned its global monopoly in pepper trade from ancient times onwards. Though the yield of native varieties was less, they were resistant to drought, pests and disease at tacks. The intensive and unscientific high input farming of hybrid varieties using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, have contributed to decimation of pepper cultivation in many regions of Malabar,” said director of WSSS Father John Choorappuzhayil.

He said that native pepper varieties for the gene bank were collected from remote tribal colonies apart from a few wild varieties of pepper from the forests.

“We are still in the process of identifying and adding more native varieties to the gene bank. We hope to collect around 60 native pepper varieties soon,” he added.

Dr N Anil Kumar, the director of the biodiversity programme of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, said that native pepper varieties could vanish forever if left unprotected especi ally in the wake of increasing challenges posed by climatic variations in the region.

“The diversity of black pepper, which had its origins in the state, has immense genetic value. Also it is a historical and cultural treasure given its role in establishing the spice trade and pepper routes in medieval times originating from Kerala. Even the government should think of exploring the tourism potential offered by the on-farm assemblage of native pepper varieties,” he added.

Anil Kumar said that farmers who took up the cultivation of native pepper varieties should be provided incentives by the government.

“Also it would be prudent for farmers to set apart at least 10% of their land for cultivation of native varieties as is mandatory in some European countries,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kozhikode News / by K R Rajeev / TNN / May 30th, 2017

Augmenting Black Pepper Production – A Success Story From Kodagu

Agriculture, Pepper, Videos

Published by ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research Kozhikode

An 11 minute documentary film on success of black pepper farmers in Kodagu district of Karnataka who has been successfully adopted the high production technologies developed by the Cardamom Research Centre of Indian Institute of Spices Research, Calicut in Kerala. The documentary is produced under the NAIP Sub Project, Mobilizing Mass Media Support for Sharing Agro-Information.

Category
People & Blogs
License
Standard YouTube License
Music
“Beckoning Hills” by Ronu Majumdar (iTunes)

source: http://www.youtube.com / by ICAR – Indian Institute of Spice Research / May 31st, 2011