Some of the major spices exported from India are pepper, cardamom, ginger, coriander, chilli, and turmeric. (Bloomberg image)

India’s spice is still making food tastier all over the world, but now at a higher rate. Spices exports from India have skyrocketed 3.5 folds in the last decade. In FY10, the value of spices exports was Rs 5,560 crore, which shot up to Rs 19,505 crore in FY19, Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. India – the land of spices – exported 5 lakh tonnes of spices in FY10, which rose to 11 lakh tonnes in the last fiscal. Some of the major spices exported from India are pepper, cardamom, ginger, coriander, chilli, and turmeric.

Even as India has a deep history of spices and the domestic quality has been above the quality of spices found anywhere in the world, there have been a few fingers raised on the quality of spices in today’s time. Saudi Arabia Food & Drug Authority (SAFDA) has detained a few import consignments of cardamom from India due to pesticide residue above the Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) during April-May 2018, according to Lok Sabha documents.

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However, to facilitate the smooth export of spices to Gulf and other countries, the issue of pesticide residue above the MRLs in export of cardamom (small) from India to Saudi Arabia has been taken up with SAFDA where they have been requested to provide a cooling-off period and consider allowing the export by relaxing the MRLs of pesticides for cardamom for two crop seasons, that is, till September 2022.

Meanwhile, as part of the efforts of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $5 trillion economy dream and make India a global powerhouse by 2024-25, Som Prakash, MoS, Ministry of Commerce and Industry had said the spice farmers should double their production while exporters need to increase trade with other countries.