Struggles of cardamom Cultivation

 Cardamom is considered as ‘Queen of Spices’ in the world. It is a sweet, lemony, eucalyptus flavoured spice and it is the world’s third most expensive spice after Vanilla and Saffron. Cardamom is grown commercially in plantations under the shade of tall shadow forest trees. It is a labour- intensive crop. It has most unique flavour and it has great demand in many countries such as Middle East, Russia, Japan, and Singapore. India is the major producer of Cardamom in tje world.The major Cardamom growing states are Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Kerala has taken the largest production of 76 percent to the total production.

Unfortunately, cardamom cultivation in Kerala is really suffocating due to a variety of problems, generally in cultivation, production and marketing areas. The depletion of natural forests, constant encroachments, weather changes, water shortage, drought, flood, soil erosion etc. has enough on potential to threaten the cultivation of Cardamom. When the impact created by adverse market price, increasing price of inputs, increased cost of production, competition from international markets, piling of agricultural debt, lack of agricultural insurance etc. hit the farmers instantly it would further shatter the economic backbone of the farmers especially with small and medium sized holding. The crop loss due to the infestation of pest and diseases multiplies the burden by reducing the yield of Cardamom. The major problems of cardamom cultivation is mentioned below.

The main problems of Cardamom cultivation is in production and marketing areas. These significantly affect the production and returns of cardamom growers. In the production area, most of the farmers facing the problems of pest and disease damage such as Chori, Katte, Azhukal and Chenthal, etc. All these cause serious fall in production and productivity of cardamom. It causes a decline in the quality of cardamom. Thus price of the crop also falls because price of cardamom is proportional to its grade in quality. The other problem facing by farmers are natural hazards like erratic rainfall, drought etc. Being a highly climate sensitive crop, all these affect the overall production of cardamom. Deforestation and the resultant climate maladies aggravate their crises. The cardamom growers are facing the problem of animal damage such as the destruction of cardamom plants by wild bear, Monkey, wild pig and wild Hen. Animal damage or wild attack is more severe for small and medium farmers. In the market side of the cardamom cultivation there is lack of organised market, poor grading system, high cost of labour, involvement of middlemen, unavailability labours are the major problems.

Instead of all the above noted problems there are many other problems faced by the Cardamom growers. High cost of fertilizers, vulnerable weather condition, price fluctuations, continuous crop failure, lack of government intervention, inadequate research and organisational support among them.

Mr. Nithin Raj. K, Asst. Professor, Department of Economics, Al Shifa College of Arts and Science