Spices scenario in the North Eastern States of India with special reference to production and marketing

India is reckoned as “Spice Bowl of the World”, for commanding a formidable position in the world spice trade. To compete with other spice growing countries in the world spice market, propping up productivity and tapping of potentiality of nonconventional spice growing areas is gaining importance. North Eastern region harbours a rich flora on account of its varied topography, climate and altitudes and has great potential for the development of horticulture crops like spices. In this region, a huge quantity of good quality spices are produced, but most of the growers during peak season sell their produce at throw away prices in the local market or to the commission agent. The need of the hour is to promote public-private partnership so that the production technology of important spices is taken to every nook and corner of this region. There is need to improve infrastructure extension network, focused research in order to harness the potentiality of this region for quality spice production. It is suggested to form farmers’ organizations/co-operatives both at local level and at the regional level for better marketing of the produce. India is commanding a formidable position in the world spice trade with 47% share in volume and 40% in value. India is always hailed as major producer of spice, but off late in the world spice market, it is facing stiff challenges from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Madagascar, Vietnam, China etc. To compete with other spice growing countries in the world spice market, propping up productivity and tapping of potentiality of non-conventional spice growing areas is gaining importance. North Eastern region of India, comprising of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim harbours a rich flora on account of its varied topography, climate and altitudes and has great potential for the development of horticulture crops like spices. The total geographic area of NE region is 262,180 square km which is nearly 8% of the total geographic area of the country (Yadav et al ., 2003). The region represents wide variation of climate ranging from cold to warm pre-humid and receives mean annual rainfall exceeding 2000 mm per annum. The soils of the region are usually rich in organic matter and acidic to strongly acidic (pH 4.5- 5.0) in reaction and thus suitable for growing different spice crops. The North Eastern region faces vagaries of high rainfall and consequently the nutrient depletion and the erosion. Agro-climatically the region is known for its wide diversity representing temperate, subtropical and tropical areas. The diversity within a single region provides ample scope for growing a large variety of crops (Dubey et al. , 2000). Vast scope exists for development, particularly of ginger, chillies, black pepper, turmeric, tree spices like clove and cinnamon etc.