The spice import bill has multiplied eight times in the last decade which is around US$ 127 million in 2010-11 fiscal year against US$ 15 million in 2000-01 fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
?The authorities concerned did not take any effective measures to increase the area of the spice cultivation, making the government more dependent on import,? said an expert of spice research centre.
Besides, sometimes farmers are being deprived of getting benefits from major spice items, including onion and garlic, due to fall of market price as unscrupulous traders bring those items from India illegally, the expert said wishing anonymity.
He said the dependency on import of spices should be reduced by expanding their cultivation domestically.
The total cultivable land in the country is 14.056 million hectares, of which spices were cultivated on some 0.39 million in 2010, as per the data of regional spices research centre (RSRC) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute.
The data also showed that the total production of spice items was 1.5 million tonnes in 2010 against the demand of 2.5 million tonnes.
The researchers of RSRC said there were many reasons, including fear of low market price and insufficient storage facilities, which discourage the farmers to cultivate the spice items.
Of the 109 items of spices available in the world, the people of Bangladesh consume 27 kinds of spices and farmers of the country grow some 17 kinds of spices, informed the RSRC researchers.
The farmers of the country mainly cultivate onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger and chilly. They also grow coriander, fenugreek, black cumin and cardamoms on a small scale, said Shahana Akter, principal scientific officer of RSRC.
She said the country is totally dependent on import to meet the demand of spice items like cumin, cardamom (small), clove, plum, pistachio, nutmeg, mace and saffron.
Habibur Rahman, director general of department of agriculture extension, on Tuesday told daily sun that the demand for spice items has increased significantly for the increasing number of population in the last few years.
The government is taking an initiative to specify the different spice-cultivating region in the country, he said.
Habibur Rahman said, ?We will identify the ginger, garlic and onion cultivation zones in the country and motivate farmers to cultivate spices beside paddy.?
Iqbal Haque Swapan, senior scientific officer of RSRC, said, ?We have a scope to expand spice cultivation as we have developed many varieties of spice items, including summer onion.?
He also said major portion of the country?s land is being used for paddy cultivation. If the farmers get proper price of spice items and sufficient storage facility, they will be motivated for cultivation of the spices.
Source: daily-sun.com
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