Pandemic boosts demand for spices

New Delhi: With spices being recognised as a health supplement especially during the pandemic, their demand has increased tremendously and exports have also gone up, the government said on Wednesday.

Releasing a book "Spices Statistics at a Glance 2021" published by Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said strategies are to be planned to re-orient development programmes to give further impetus to the production and resultant export of spices. The book highlights the growth achieved in the spices sector during the last seven years from 2014-15 to 2020-21 in the country.

Tomar hoped that this publication will be useful for such strategic planning by government policy makers and stakeholders like scientists, researchers, farmers etc in the spices sector, an official statement said. According to the Agriculture Ministry, "The demand of spices has tremendously increased due to the recognition of spices as a health supplement especially during the pandemic period, which can be clearly seen from the growing export of spices like turmeric, ginger, cumin, chilli etc."

The rapid stride in production has made available quality spices for export which grew from 8.94 lakh tonnes worth Rs 14,900 crore in 2014-15 to 16 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 29,535 crore in 2020-21. India's spices production grew from 67.64 lakh tonnes in 2014-15 to 106.79 lakh tonnes in 2020-21, following an increase in area from 32.24 lakh hectare to 45.28 lakh hectare in the said period. The book is a compendium of all the spices statistics like, area, production, productivity, export, import, price and value of output of various spices produced in the country.