TRS MP K Kavitha on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a separate Turmeric Board for the welfare of farmers. In a detailed memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister, the TRS MP said it is the need of the hour, as India is the second largest exporter of turmeric. She said it has to be given importance and needs to be separated from the Spices Board, which handles more than 50 spices.
Citing the export data, Kavitha said in her memorandum that turmeric export is more than 88 million kilogram per year and other products like rubber (30 million kg) and silk (5 million kg) having very less than turmeric export are having separate boards. Negligence to the turmeric farming has even caused the less acreage in the largest turmeric producing states like Telangana and Tamil Nadu, she pointed out in her detailed memorandum, demanding several welfare measure for the farmers including Minimum Support Price.
She further pointed out that separate Turmeric Board would boost the Ayurvedic products and their exports also. "Turmeric is the perhaps the only spice in India which as witnessed intellectual property infringement by USA. In the light of increasing tensions and deadlock at the WTO meetings, the setting up of a Turmeric Board will be extremely helpful to speed up the process of attaining a Geographical Indication Tag for Erode turmeric which is under consideration at the WTO as well as other region specific turmeric varieties. This would be a significant step in increasing the brand value of Indian turmeric globally," she said.