Spices Board to promote climate-resilient cardamom varieties in Idukki

Spices Board promotes climate-resilient cardamom varieties in Idukki to combat challenges of shifting climatic conditions.

The Spices Board will promote climate-resilient cardamom varieties in Idukki to mitigate the challenges posed by shifting climatic conditions. According to officials, last year’s severe drought significantly impacted cardamom cultivation, underscoring the urgent need for adaptive measures to safeguard the vital agricultural sector.

Sangeetha Viswanathan, chairperson of Spices Board, told The Hindu that the board would promote a new cardamom variety, ICRI-10, developed by the Indian Cardamom Research Institute (ICRI), Myladumpara, Idukki. “From the coming crop year, the board will promote the new variety to overcome the climate-related issues in the sector. The variety was developed after 10 years of research,” said Ms. Viswanathan.

“We need climate-resilient varieties to successfully continue cardamom farming in the district. We hope the new variety is capable of facing the challenge,” said Ms. Viswanathan.

Spices Board Director A.B. Rema Shree said the ICRI-10 variant cardamom was climate-resilient and had overcome last year’s drought in the area. “The variety will yield 3,000 kg a hectare yearly. The board plans to distribute the limited number of seeds to the farmers in the next crop year,” said the official.

The cardamom-growing hub of Idukki faced severe drought in 2024 due to the absence of summer rain. The Agriculture department reported to the State government that the sector in the district experienced crop loss in across 16,211 hectares of plantations.

Ms. Viswanathan said she would conduct a meeting of cardamom stakeholders in Idukki next week. “I will interact with cardamom farmers, dealers, the planters’ association, and auctioneers. I will ensure more transparency in cardamom auction. The farmers have raised complaints about the Spices Board’s fund allocation for the cardamom sector,” she said.

According to officials, the Spices Board chairperson will interact with stakeholders at Rajakad on Sunday (April 27); visit ICAR Myladumpara on Monday (April 28); and Puttady Spices Park on Tuesday (April 29). She will interact with cardamom stakeholders at SNDP Hall in Kattappana on Tuesday evening.