Spices Board Labs to Conduct Pesticide Residue Test for Cardamom Farmers: Chairman

IDUKKI:
Spices Board Chairman Subhash Vasu has said that farmers can test the presence of pesticide residue in cardamom in the labs of the Board itself, sparing them of the inconvenience of taking their produce to far off places to conduct this important test.
Vasu, who took over as Chairman of Spices Board recently, disclosed this while interacting with a group of small scale farmers at the Spices Park at Puttady on Wednesday. The samples for testing will be collected in the Indian Cardamom Research Institute in Mailadumpara and in the office of Spices Park at Puttady.
Vasu said farmers are the backbone of agriculture and traders could exist and exporters thrive only when there are farmers to support them. “Hence, the board will take steps that will ensure the co-operation and co-existence of these three parties. All my efforts will be in this regard,” he said.
He also promised the farmers that he would take effective steps to draw the attention of Central government to the issues of the cardamom farmers. The Chairman’s visit was intended to provide a momentum to the awareness campaign on judicious use of pesticides and chemicals initiated by the Spices Board in Idukki.
Dr Rema Shree, Director, Spices Board presided over the event in which hundreds of small scale farmers attended. She also answered queries from farmers.