NEW DELHI: After tea and rubber, certain types of spices like pepper will now be preferred for the Northeastern region and North Bengal since the traditional cultivable regions of Southern India is saturated and land area has also shrinked.
Production from states like Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has showed a depreciating trend of late owing to which, non-traditional areas like North Eastern states and West Bengal are now being explored by the Spices Board.
The production this year in India is estimated at 35,000 tonnes as against 45,000 tonnes projected at the International Pepper Community Session late last year. The country has lost its prominence in pepper production and export due to short supply and stiff price competition from other producing countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Brazil.
North Eastern states and West Bengal are found to have conducive agro-climatic conditions, suitable for pepper. The intrinsic quality of pepper grown in these areas is at par with or superior than the pepper grown in traditional states.