10,000 ha of existing cardamom plantation need immediate replacement: NABARD

Focus paper recommend interventions from Banks, Govt agencies for horticulture development


GANGTOK, January 28: The Sikkim regional office of National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) has pointed out the inadequacy replanting material for large cardamom informing the State Government that about ‘10,000 ha of existing cardamom plantation need immediate replacement’.

In its State Focus Paper 2010-11 released recently, the NABARD has underlined the existence of inadequate replanting material in respect of large cardamom. “About 10,000 ha of existing cardamom plantation need immediate replacement. Production of quality planting material through tissue culture, seedling production, etc, may be planned for replacement of old orchards in a phased manner”, NABARD suggested to the State implementing agency in the paper.

Asserting that cardamom is the major exportable item from Sikkim, the NABARD study paper pointed out that during the past few years, the area and production under large cardamom has decreased due to incidence of disease and pests and many orchards have been devastated leading to need for re-plantation. “The decline in acreage has been arrested from the year 2007-08 and 2008-09 as compared to 2006-07. Moreover, the productive life of Large Cardamom is 12-15 years and most of the orchards are old and senile which needs to be replanted”, said the report.

According to the paper, the area under large cardamom plantation was 19969 ha in 2005-06 with the production of 3157 tonnes which has shrunk over the years to 13204 ha in 2008-09 with 2970 tonnes.

Suggesting the replacement of old orchards with quality planting material, NABARD has recommended a concerted awareness programme among the farmers for replanting the old and diseased plantations. “In order to avoid spreading of diseases, good quality planting material produced by certified agencies only may be supplied to farmers for replantation”, it said.

In its table of area under crops and annual production from 2005-06 to 2008-09, the study paper observed that the productivity and yields are low under horticulture like other land based activities in the State because cultivation is largely down in a traditional way. Area under large cardamom, main horticulture crop, has decreased drastically due to incidence of diseases and pests in 2007-08. However, the major concern in the last two years has been that of a fungal infection by Colletotrichum sp.

The plantations too have become old offering potential for rejuvenation and re-plantation.

The paper recorded that critical areas like pest and disease management have been given main focus with intensification of efforts on containing decline trends especially in orange and large cardamom. Massive rejuvenation programme in orange and re-plantation in large cardamom has greatly helped in increasing the production of these crops, it stated.

At the same time, the study paper records that the marketing system in Sikkim is not well developed with the present practice involving village merchants purchasing large cardamom from farmers and bringing to assembly markets. Organized marketing is of great importance for the successful implementation of horticulture development programme in Sikkim, it states.

The study paper also emphasize on the remarkable progress made by horticulture in Sikkim over the past few years in terms of crop diversification, productivity, enhancement, export promotion, assured employment generation in agriculture and rural development, expansion in area under different crops, technological interventions for production and post harvest management and forward linkages through value addition and marketing.

At the same time, the paper states that though floriculture also has a tremendous potential but the State is yet to see a ‘break-through’.
The NABARD has suggested banks to ensure equipping their branch level officials with proper knowledge input such as appraisal, calculation of economics and formulation of horticulture projects and schemes. The banks have been also been suggested to fix branch-wise minimum target for horticulture financing to farmers and monitoring their inputs. Vegetable cultivation of SHGs may be financed and model schemes formulated by NABARD may be adopted by banks, the paper recommends. The banks have also been encouraged to take up new schemes on medicinal and aromatic plants.

The State Government agencies have been suggested to address the problems of farmers due to lack of any marketing infrastructure for their produce and lack of incentive to change their traditional methods. Farming techniques will improve and productive will increase only when farmers have access to vastly improved marketing channels, the paper observed.

The NABARD paper suggested that SIMFED could consider having a tie-up with the major marketing chains for direct selling of produce. It has also called for timely and adequate supply of inputs like bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides to the farmers at all times.

“Early efforts may be made to strengthen the existing Agri-Export Zone (AEZ), which will give a boost to marketing of agriculture and horticulture produce. Although ginger has been identified under AEZ, nothing much has been done in this regard”, the paper said. The focus paper also calls for given focused attention to commercial production of fruit crops and creating of godowns and cold storage facility for multiple crops.