Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
Contents of the chapter
Page No.
General introduction 1
Hypothesis formulated 19
The richness of the culture and the fragrance of the spices were the major sources
of glory of the ancient India. It is really amazing to see that India could maintain her
supremacy in the production and trade of spices even h m the Vedic ages dating back to
6000 B.C, to the modem era of the third millennium. The vicissitudes of history made
unbelievable changes everywhere but the Indian domination over the world spices market
The geographical and climatic peculiarities of South India in general and Kerala in
particular are the major gifts of nature still providing us an upper hand in the world of
spices. Geographical advantages of the state coupled with the sterling efforts of the
people, particularly of the high ranges of the Western Ghats, help us to produce the best
unbelievably by the spices. It was the taste of the 'Black gold' pepper and the flavour of
the 'Queen of spices' Cardamom, which attracted the Arabs and Europeans to this
It was the search for spices, which tempted the mariners like Vasco de Gama of
voyages to the East. ?'he significance of the spices in the history of the world is evident
from the fact that even the discovery of the American continent by Columbus was
spices. It was a new tum in the history when General Diaz, first arrived at the Cape of
Good Hope, in search of spices of Malabar coast, through the sea route. It was this
discovery, which eventually led to the arrival of Vasco de Gama at Calicut The basic
purpose of the e x w t i o n of Gama was to obtain a direct link with the South India for
spices trade, eliminating the Arab and 1tal;an spices traders who had monopoly at that
time. 2
India had monopoly in spices production and export for a very long period But
the situation is fast changing and we are facing extreme competition from many spices
producing countries. Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are the major
opponents of India in the world pepper market. There are countries like Sri Lanka, China,
and Madagascar etc, producing pepper though they do not raise much competition in the
mternational market
On the other hand, Guatemala is the major opponent of India in the international
cardamom market. They are able to supply cardamom at a price, which is far below the
price of Indian cardamom. Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, Honduras and Papa New
China and Pakistan are the major countries competing with India in the
lntemational ginger and chilly market. We have severe competition from Morocco, Egypt
and Iran in the field of coriander, cumin seed, and aniseed. However India still has a
Whatever may be the competition, India is still the leader in spices production and
more than 90 percent of our spices production is consumed in India itself. It is amazing
to see that the remaming 10 percent spices exported from India gives us 40 percent share
The state of Kerala has made considerable achievements in the export of spices
during the last many years. Pepper, Cardamom, Ginger, Turmeric, Nutmeg, Garlic,
Chilly, Tamarind, Vanilla and Cinnamon etc are the major items of spices produced and
exported from Kerala Pepper, Chilli,Cardamom and Turmeric constitute the lion's share
of Indian spices export out of which more than 60 percent is the contribution from
eral la'
The State of Kerala-has a remarkable share in the pepper production with about
1,80,000 hectares of land under pepper cultivation accounting for the production of more
than 50,000 tonnes annually. This means that more than 90 percent of India's pepper
production is fiom the state of Kerala It is interesting to see that the lion's share of
Indian pepper comes from the Idukki and Wayanad districts. Similarly, there are about
tonnes of cardamom annually. Of this, 45,000 hectares belong to the state of Kerala from
which we produce on an average 5,000 tonnes annually. Here also the contribution of
Though spices have much economic, historic, political and cultural significance,
the academic cornmuni@ seems to be neglecting the sector. This may be the reason why
the researches on the topic, particularly about the marketing aspects of spices, are very
limited in number. Another important point is that majority of the published research
works do not have much significance now due to the rapidly changing cultivation
practices and trading environments. However the researcher went through the available
published works as far as possible to obtain a clear theoretical background for the present
study. The findings of the literature review are briefly reproduced below.
Jose ' (1978) in his thesis 'Problems and prospects of India's major spices', has
made an overall study about the problems and future possibilities of our major spices,
pepper and cardamom. This study analyses the problems in the agricultural sector in
general and about the problems in the spices sector in particular. He found that pepper
and cardamom have considerable significance in the economy of the State of Kerala and
the problems of the sector will affect the foreign exchange reserves of India
pepper by standardizing the techniques. The study has covered the market requirements
of pepper particularly in European countries and proves that Europeans always prefer to
get spices in their natural form and color. The findings of the study are still significant
because the methods suggested are highly helpful to increase the export volume of
processed pepper.
made a detailed cost benefit analysis of cardamom cultivation, which throws much light
into various cost components of cardamom production, processing and marketing. This
study was primarily intended for analyzing the economics of cardamom plantation with
special reference to high ranges in Idukki district Various statistical tools have been
applied to have a microscopic view of the cost components and the impact of each such
element in the net revenue of cardamom plantation. However this study is more or less
marketing by making a detailed analysis of the marketing methods, channels and price
formation. The prime objective of the study was to observe the scope of cardamom
plantation and its significance in the economy of Kerala, particularly in Idukki district.
parameters. In his opinion the price formation of the cardamom in the international and
domestic markets is based on global supply. The peculiar nature of the auction system
the uends in area, production and productivity of cardamom in the three states of Keraia,
Tamilnadu and Karnataka with the basic objective of projecting the probable future share
of these states in the international cardamom market He estimated an annual growth rate
of 2.34 percent for cardamom. He also studied the trends in the export price of
production and growth so that all other aspects of the field were left untouched.
Baby Jacob l2 (1985) in his thesis 'Export development of Kerala', studied the
export performance of Kerala, analysing the trends and problems and made a
comprehensive analysis of the then prevailing export policies of the Govenunent The
performance of pepper and cardamom, being major export items were evaluated well and
remedial solutions were recommended to the problems of major export items including
cardamom in lndia and abroad', outlines the problems of marketing cardamom inside and
out side our county. The study has highlighted the future market possibilities abroad and
suggested measures for increasing the export volume and enhancing the prospects of
cardamom in India and abroad. He has analyzed the production problems of cardamom
and made some important suggestionsto solve such problems to a great extent.
of pepper with special reference to cooperative sector', has made a detailed study of the
international market, problems and suggestions for improving the return of the producers
and traders. However, the study was mainly intended to analyze the role of cooperative
societies and to observe the future scope of cooperative sector in the field of pepper
marketing. The study has not considered marketing problems of individual cultivators
and traders.
Muhammed Sajjad (1987) in his report 'India's cardamom trade with Middle
East' clearly points out the changing pattern of India's cardamom trade with the Gulf
countries. With the support of statistical data, economics of cardamom cultivation and the
future prospects of the sector have been discussed in detail. According to him, high price
of Indian cardamom is the reason for declining export volume and competitive pricing
Meena Benjamin '' (1988) studied the problems and prospects of exports of value
added spices in general and spice oils and oleoresins in particular, in her project report
named 'Problems and prospects of Exports of Spices Oils and Oleoresins From India'.
The study has covered the processing of spices, oils, major market trends in expo*
problems, export incentives, review of the export volume of producing countries, and
distribution problems of value added spices. The study gives some valuable indications
about the future possibilities of spices relating to processing and value additions.
Ramesh " (1990) in his thesis 'Volume of tmde and its impacts on the economic
economy, including the structure and composition of Kerala's foreign trade and the
interstate commodity flows. Spices are prominent export products and hence their trade
significance has been discussed in detail. This study points out the scope and potentials of
the spices of Kerala and also highlights the comparative advantages of spices over the
Sreekumar (1990) in his project 'The test launch study of Milma Cardamom
Milk', discusses the effectiveness of test launching of cardamom milk by Milma. The
report reveals that the project was a failure. Defective marketing system with inadequate
highlighted as the major reasons for the failure. Had the project been a success it would
have been highly beneficial to the cardamom producers. The conclusion of the report
indicates that even though the test launching was a failure the opportunity still prevails as
untapped.
19
Radha et al. (1997) in their book 'Marketing Management', describes the
more difficult and so the normal channels followed for industrial products cannot be fully
inadequate storage, transportation and communication facilities etc are noted as the other
RS.N. Pillai et al. " (1998) in their book 'Modem marketing' ,classified markets
of agricultural commodities into different groups on the basis of specific characteristics
and highlighted the major differences between the marketing procedure and features of
manufaaured goods and agricultural commodities. They have noticed the major defects
of agricultural marketing and suggested remedial measures for solving such defects and
problems. They have also described the importance of international marketing along
with the major activities involved in the process including market and product selection,
research etc.
George et al. 21 (1998) in their article, 'cardamom development past and present',
possibilities in the world market. They observed that the emergence of Guatemala as a
major producing country is real threat to Indian cardamom. The major constraints in the
Indian cardamom industry also have been investigated. The study also compares the area,
yield, production, and productivity in India with that of Guatemala and suggests various
Sreekantan Thampy (1998) in his paper 'organic the only way', advocates that
organic farming is the only way for the escape of Indian spices from the impending
failure. He aptly points out the changing attitudes of the developed nations towards
agricultural products from developing countries, which may turn out to be harmful to our
spices sector also m future. In his opinion the judicious exploitation of technology and
adoption of eco-iiiendly cultivation practices will help us to regain the glory of Indian
India during post independent era', have made an evaluation of development of spices in
India during post independent em.This study covers the historical background of Indian
spices and the achievements in the development of spices after the independence. It
M e x says about the emergence of Cardamom Board and subsequently the Spices
plan periods also has been made. It gives some importaut observations, conclusions and
Sreekumar 24 (1 999) in his article 'World trade in spices- Import and Re-export
of pepper', has analyzed the world trade of pepper comparing the global demand and
supply. He arrived at a logical conclusion tbat many countries are importing and re-
exporting pepper with or without value addition, and making benefit out of such
transactions. This study throws much light into the market forces in the global spices
trade and hints the areas where India can concentrate more for better marketing of
pepper.
strategies and adopt a common stand on the food safety standards in pepper', compares
the quality standards for pepper prevailing in major importing countries of black pepper.
The ASTA, ESA and IS0 specifications were analyzed and he has pointed out the
urgency of the adoption of different methods by the producers and traders to fulfill such
WTO because the provisions of WTO insist all the countries producing agricultural
Peter 26 (1 999) in his article 'Making of the global leader', asserts a bright future
of Indian spices in the light of the statistics relating to the global production and demand
of the spices. He estimates an annual growth rate of 11 percent for black pepper and 5
percent for cardamom. In his opinion the global village in the new millennium will
witness perceptible changes in the food habits, dietary patterns and values, which would
offer ample scope for the spices sector, provided we are able to produce and supply as per
the changing quality requirements of the buyers. He also analyzed the emerging scenario
of the spices and the main production constraints. He also remarked about the spices
based novel products. In his opinion the major policy decisions taken by the Central
Government will help to boost production and export of spices in the years to come.
for Indian plantation sector', studied the consequences and probable impacts of WTO
globaluation particularly in the spices sector because spices are export oriented
agricultural products. The AMS (Aggregate Measures of Support) and QRs (Quantitative
developments in various rounds of WTO negotiations were analyzed in detail and arrived
at the conclusion that there are some issues of concern to our country particularly to the
spices sector because the problems of pesticide residue was ever a problem to the Indian
spice which may get aggravated and there is a possibility of developed nations using
perspective', evaluated the production of pepper in India in the global perspective. The
study includes global production and consumption pattern of black pepper in Werent
countries. The authors estimated the compound growth rate and coefficient of variation
origins and India has the least productivity ranking. The study amves at a conclusion that
India has much growth potential in the field but the present level of performance is
extremely inadequate.
productivity', argues that unstable area and poor productivity are the major drawbacks of
Indian cardamom. She substantiates the observation with a comparative analysis of the
productivity of the major cardamom producing countries, India and Guatemala Export
trends points out the dismal performance of Indian cardamom during the last decade and
highlights the urgency of immediate steps to regain the global market share.
Sreekanton Thampy 33 (2002) in his article 'Bio terrorism and changing trade
patterns', substantiates the impacts of 'The Public Health Security and Bio Terrorism
consequent to the attack on world trade centre and Anthrax events. Bio terrorism is the
intentional use of infectious biological agents or germs to cause illness, used as agents of
terror. He establishes that U.S.A is the prime importer of Indian spices and so any
restriction imposed by them will have definite impacts on the Indian spices exporters and
consequently the sector as a whole. The legislation will compel the companies exporting
food materials to U.S. to reveal their formulations and mixes and even the sources of
32,553 43,193
1997-98 )
I
1.30,101 1,54,176
manufactwed goods after 1993-94, spices show an upward trend year after year. Table
1.2. shows that the export of Indian spices is increasing both in terms of quantity and
value up to 1999-2000. Though there is slight decrease in the total value of exports
E-
Quantity Value
(Tomes) (Rs. Crores)
I
lL 2000-01 2,30,000 1,612.07
Sources : - Compiled from Annual Reports,Spices Board of India,Cochin and
Spices Statistics, Spices Board of India, Cochin, 1997.
Spices have a very important role in the domestic market too. Being a tropical
country, majority of the people in India regularly use different types of spices for their
daily cuisine. More than hundred crores of people in the country offer a very vast
domestic market base for spices. It has been estimated that on an average 2.8 percent of
the income of the rural people is being spent for spices and the urban people spend 2.3
percent of their money for making their food spicy. 34 This shows the significance of
spices in Indian iife. in India we have about 1,80,000 hectares of land under pepper
the deserving care and promotion which causes much distress to the cultivators and
the production of cash crops including spices, are not supplemented by adequate
2. The poor and totally unorganized farmers are not in a position to locate the real
problems behind the price fluctuations of their produces and they are not at all
capable of devising strategies to market their produces securing the best price.
These two are the vital issues, which necessitated a study liie this. The relevance
of the study was felt more intensely when our country became a member of the World
Trade Organisation, which will have long standing impacts on our agricultural economy,
Scientific methods and techniques for effective marketing of spices and their
associated products will be highly helpful to the general economic growth of our State
because there are thousands of people depending on the spices sector for their livelihood
Generally, the price of a commodity must be either cost based or demand based. However
a close observation of the prices trends show that this principle does not have much
significance in the case of our major spices including pepper and cardamor.. Simiiariy,
any upward vend in the prices of spices should benefit the producers. But it is
paradoxical to see thar the producers of spices never get the benefits of price hikes but
they have to bear all the evils of adverse market conditions. This is a clear evidence to
believe that there is something wrong with the present marketing system of spices.
The export statistics show an upward irend in the total value since 1990 but in red
terms, i.e. considering the devaluation of Indian rupee during the same period it can be
Another factor is that the Government investment in the sector is increasing year
by year but there is no corresponding growth either in the production or trade of spices.35
At the same time the net benefit resulting from the spices sector to the producers and
traders is declining considerably, which compels them to quit the field itself.
The quality of Indian spices, particularly pepper and cardamom, was well
renowned even from the very beginning of the history. Even though there are many
countries producing spices the quality of Indian spices remains unquestionable, yet we
are getting ousted gradually horn the international spices market. We had monopoly in
the international spices market until the second half of the 18 ' century. But now our
contribution in the world pepper market is less than 25 percent. Same is the case with
Indian cardamom. India was the world's largest producer and exporter of cardamom till
1979-80, but the situation has changed now and Guatemala is presently dominating the
We have best quality spices, the government and other agencies are trying their
level best to increase production and export, the producers are trying hard to increase
production and productivin, but still then our spices sector is facing a total doom. Why?
It was this factor, which inspired the researcher to go deep into the problems and
prospects of the spices sector with special emphasis on major spices of Kerala, pepper
and cardamom.
The problems and prospects of the sector can be analyzed h m the following
viewpoints.
2. What are the basic problems in spice marketing in and out side India?
4. What are the probable impacts of globalization and WTO on our spices
sector?
These questions need immediate attention and analyses in the absence of which
our precious spices will disappear from the international market and will receive an
In India we produce and market more than fifty types of spices and export them
to more than 150 counbies around the globe. A study about the problems and prospects
of all these spices is far beyond the scope of the study. Pepper and Cardamom, known as
the 'King' and 'Queen' of spices respectively, have dominating role in terms of
In terms of value all other items of spices are far below the pepper, because it
procures more than 40 percent of the foreign exchange earnings h m spices export.
Cardamom is a major plantation crop in Kerala having much economic significance and a
peculiar method of marketing. Pepper, Cardamom and the value added products from
these two constitute the lion's share of the spices production and trade. So this study is
Kerala has a remarkable role in pepper and cardamom production. It is to be noticed that
the major portion of the quality spices produced in Kerala wme from Idukki and
Wayanad Districts. So the present study concentrates on Idukki district alone for
The major objective of the study is to evaluate the present marketing system of
spices and find out the critical issues hindering the growth and development of the sector.
and cardamom.
2. To identify and analyze the major factors iduencing the marketing of spices by
3. To review the role. played by the Spices Board of India, in marketing of spices.
4. To study the potentials and future prospects of the Indian spices in the changing
Based on the objectives of the study the following major hypotheses were
2. Cardamom producers do not differ scale wise, education wise or experience wise
variables of splces.
interdependent nature of variables. Such sub-hypotheses have been stated and tested at
The period of study was h m 1998 to 2002. However information and data
pertaining to past several years became inevitable during the progress of the study and
hence such relevant data are also used for analytical purposes.
This study is an exploratory one. The data and other information required for the
study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were
collected £tom the respondents directly, using a structured interview schedule and the
secondary data were collected from various sources including libraries, journals,
Since this study required information fiom spices producers, domestic traders of
spices and the exporters, three sets of schedule of i n t e ~ e wwere prepared. (Appendix I,
I1 and In) In order to obtain an overall view of the practical problems of the above
mentioned groups and also to make the schedule of interview more accurate and relevant,
a pilot study was conducted. Twelve spices producers, six each from pepper and
cardamom producers (two each from small, medium and large) and twelve spices traders,
20
six each h m pepper and cardamom traders (two each h m small, medium and large)
and six exporters (two each from small, medium and large) were interviewed for the pilot
study. The responses and opinions collected fiom them helped a lot to get an overview of
the sector and also to locate the major defects of the draft schedule of interview. Based
on the findmgs of the pilot study, the 6nal schedule of interview was prepared.
A stratified random sampling was adopted for the collection of data h m the
sample respondents. Sample data were collected fiom spices producers, traders and spices
There are 61,470 pepper cultivators and 10,864 Cardamom cultivators in Kerala 36
which constitute the total population of the spices producers. The spices cultivators are
adopting mixed cropping and have the practice of crop shifting (Tables3.14 and 3.62)
Hence a different method was adopted for sample selection. The respondents were
divided into three categories as small, medium and large scale (based on area of
cultivation) and data were collected until each category became large enough for
In total, 180 pepper producers and 105 cardamom producers were interviewed.
The sample of pepper producers was drawn equally (90 each) from Idukki and
mainly in Iduklu district, the entire sample of cardamom producers was selected fiom
and Wayanad dishicts were included in the sample and 90 of them were interviewed. The
Moreover structured questionnaires were sent by mail to 30 spices exporters from other
states but only 12 of them responded In total, responses from 90 exporters only wuld be
collected. However there are only less than 500 registered spices exporters in India and so
Various statisheal tools like averages, percentages, ratios have been extensively
used for the cross examination of the data. Chi-square test is used as the prime tool for
analyzing tables drawn fiom the primary data One of the most powerful multivariate
techniques, Factor Analysis has been applied for extracting the prominent factors
influencing the problems faced by the producers, traders and exporters of spices. Time
series analysis has been applied for observing the future potentials and scope of the
sector. Along with these, Line Graphs, Charts and Segmental representations have been
1. Idukki
2. Palghat
3. Waynad
4. Kozhikkode
5. Kannur
P. Pepper
C. Cardamom
Table 1 3
Sample Design
Total
SI. District TaluWCen~ No.of respondents
Total 465
- ----
* Includes 12 mailed responses
1.83. Major factors analyzed
The following factors have been analyzed in detail for drawing inferences.
Table 1.4
Major factors analysed
From the point of view of From the point of view of From the point of view
spices producers domestic spices traders of spices exporters
Market price Supply of spices Demand
1 Market Awareness
I1 So-Sofrpia
1 Pricingby competition
I1 Intermediaries
Crop shifting
I1 Difficulty in
Marketing
Financial
Settlement
Table 1 5
Concepts and defmitions
Concept Definition
Medium-scale trader 1' A spices trader with an annual turnover of ten lakhs
or above but less than one crore
Large scale exporter ' An exporter with an annual export volume of hundred
tonnes or more
I
Low education group Respondents with SSLC or less
Some of the exporters and traders of spices did not cooperate with the data
collstion because they were skeptical about the purpose of the study. S i a r l y , some of
them were unwilling to fiunish the full details, particularly those relating the income,
The study is based on variables related with agricultural, climatic and economic
The study covers only two items of spices viz. pepper and cardamom and the
findings may not be relevant to other spices. Further, the study is based on the responses
obtained ha spices producers, traders and exporters of two districts of Keraia State and
inadequacy of information, common limitations of statistical analysis etc might also have
affected the study slightly. Chi-square test has been applied extensively for analytical
purposes and merging of cells has become inevitable in certain cases leadiig to reduced
degrees of hedom.
In spite of the above, maximum care has been taken to ensure that such l i t a t i o n s
The research report has been divided and presented in six chapters. The first
chapter gives a general introduction to the thesis explaining the theoretical background
of the study, its relevance and significance, major objectives, hypothesis tested,
tools applied for analysis of the data and major limitations of the study.
The second chapter is intended for providing the historical background of the
global and domestic spices trade. This chapter has been divided into two parts and the
first part gives the trend in the growth and development of the production and trade of
spices in general and pepper and cardamom in particular. The second part of the chapter
gives a general descnption about the functioning of the Spices Board, which is the
Third, fourth and fiftb chapters include the analysis and interpretation of both the
primary and secondary data. First part of the third chapter analyzes the marketing
problems of pepper producers while the second part deals with the problems of
cardamom producers.
Marketing problems of the domestic spices traders has been discussed in chapter
four while the fiftb chapter is designated for analyzing various issues in the international
The sixth and final chapter contains the summary of findings and conclusion.
References
5. Spices Board of India, Area andproduction ofspices in India and the world, Cochin:
1997, p. . 47.
6. Ibid p. 49.
7. Jose, C.A., Problem and Prospects of India's Major Spices, Unpublished Ph. D
Thesis, Cochin: CUSAT.1978.
11. Swaminathan, S., Trend in the area, production and exportprice of cardamom in
Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka, M. Phil Thesis, M a d e Madurai Kamaraj
University,1985.
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"
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