Production of Quality Planting Materials of Spices
1.1 Production and distribution of nucleus planting materials of spices The MIDH programmes on spices implemented in different states such as area expansion, replanting, rejuvenation etc. requires sizeable quantity of quality planting materials of the respective spice crops. In order to meet the requirement of various planting materials for the development programmes, small nurseries are proposed to be established in the selected locations on the identified spices and aromatic crops. Quite a good number of varieties of various spices and aromatic crops have been evolved from various Research Centres. However, adequate quantities of planting materials of these varieties are not supplied to the State Departments for large scale multiplication and distribution to the farmers, even after the long period of their releases, due to lack of sufficient infrastructure and funds available at the crop improvement centres. As a result, the planting material production programmes of the State Governments are mostly limited to the available stock of materials, which may not be able to generate the desired impact in the production front. The ICAR vision document 2050 also stresses the need to increase the nucleus planting material production. Availability of good quality planting material is the key to the success of spice cultivation as it accounts for about 40% of total cost of production in annual crops like , ginger and turmeric and in the long-standing crop of black pepper and tree spices, where these are the source of income for many years to come . Hence selection of quality material for planting and its storage till the planting season is very important. Availability of good quality planting material of high yielding varieties is negligible compared to the demand. In order to improve the situation, DASD has directly taken up nucleus planting material production programme with all the available released high yielding varieties by building up the required facilities in the Research Farms attached to the SAUs, ICAR Institutes etc. The Directorate assesses the requirement of nucleus planting materials well in advance for various State Horticulture Mission Programmes. All the selected spice crops under these programmes assigned to the State Governments are included for planting material production under DASD programme. The nucleus planting materials produced are supplied for further multiplication to the State Governments/farmers based on their requirements for various programmes in subsequent year. Wherever Certification Standards are not available, Truth Full Labeled (TFL) seeds will be produced with due care given on all the quality parameters. The nucleus materials are to be produced by SAUs/ ICAR institutes on firm indents and distributed following the norms of the SAU / ICAR Institutes. 100% assistance is provided to the SAUs / Central Institutes for taking up these programmes. It would be the responsibility of the producing agencies to ensure quality of the planting material produced by them. The quantity of nucleus planting materials of the spice crops proposed to be produced during 2025-26, the unit cost of production, physical target for the year and financial requirement thereon are given below. Table 1. Production of nucleus planting materials – physical target and financial requirement S. No Programmes Unit Cost per unit (Rs in Lakhs) Physical Target Financial Req. (Rs in lakhs) 1 Black Pepper / Betelvine Nos in lakhs 8.00 25.245 201.96000 2 Ginger rhizomes Qty in tones 0.30 150.500 45.15000 3 Ginger Protray seedlings Nos in lakhs 1.20 6.900 8.28000 4 Turmeric rhizomes Qty in tones 0.30 727.000 218.10000 5 Turmeric protray seedlings Nos in lakhs 1.20 10.470 12.56400 6 Chilli seeds Qty in (qtls) 0.75 46.770 35.07750 7 Seed spices Qty in tones 0.50 195.000 97.50000 8 Garlic Qty in tones 0.50 86.750 43.37500 9 Bush Pepper Nos in lakhs 40.00 0.660 26.40000 10 Tree spices grafts /seedlings i. Nutmeg grafts (Plagiotropic) Nos in lakhs 80.00 0.5700 45.60000 ii. Nutmeg grafts (Orthotropic) Nos in lakhs 140.00 0.0890 12.46000 iii Tamarind / Kokum grafts Nos in lakhs 20 2.2100 44.20000 iv Clove /Allspice seedlings Nos in lakhs 20 0.2800 5.60000 v Cinnamon /Cassia /Curry leaf seedlings Nos in lakhs 5 4.5800 45.80000 vi Cinnamon seedlings Air layers Nos in lakhs 25 0.9110 22.77500 11 Aromatic Plants Ha. 0.75 71.0000 53.25000 Total 918.0915 1.2. Small nursery for spices and aromatic plants The Directorate setup small nurseries (1 ha) in National Research Institutes/Agricultural Universities to generate sufficient quality planting materials of spices and aromatic plants which are in good demand in the domestic industries and also for the export. The nurseries will be having provision for naturally ventilated green houses and net houses and it would meet the specific standards of a model nursery with the capacity to produce a minimum 25,000 numbers of the planting material per hectare duly certified for its quality. The spices nurseries taken up under this programme need to be got accredited by DASD immediately after its establishment. 1.3. Upgradation of spice nurseries Objective : To strengthen the infrastructure of the existing nurseries to meet the accreditation norms and to ensure production and supply of good quality disease free planting material of desired high yielding varieties; To develop a network of accredited nurseries to fulfill the requirement of planting material of the spice growers. Non-availability of quality planting material had been a major bottleneck in improving the production and productivity of spices crop. Govt./Public Sector nurseries could hardly cater to 10-15% of the total requirement of planting material in the spices sector. The rest has to be met through private sector. Poor quality planting material supplied by private nurseries cause great loss to the farmers especially in perennial crops where they realize the truth only after couple of years. Genuinity of the variety and health of the planting material raised are two important factors that determine the quality of planting material. These two factors can be addressed only if there is required infrastructure in the nurseries. As the price of the Black Pepper and Nutmeg improved, the demand for planting material increased and hundreds of small unregulated private nurseries spanned in these tracts which started