Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Commerce, Industry and Civil Aviation, Government of India,

Shri Subhash Vasu, Chairman, Spices Board,

Ms. Rita Teaotia IAS (Retd.), Chairperson, Food Safety and  Standards Authority of India,

Shri M. Saravanan IAS, Director (Plantations), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India,

Dr. M.K. Shanmugha Sundaram IAS, Secretary, Spices Board,

Dear Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very Good Morning to everyone,

       I am very happy to address the fourth session of Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs [CCSCH] being held in Thiruvananthapuram.

       Let me at the outset, welcome all the foreign delegates from nearly 50 nations to Kerala, God’s Own Country, which is also known as the Spice Garden of India.

        I also compliment the Spices Board, Kochi for playing hosting this session of the Codex Committee Meeting which aims to discuss draft standards for eight spices including herbs, dried seeds and floral parts. I understand that Spices Board of India which holds the secretariat of the Codex Committee, has already conducted three sessions for fixing standards for spices in Kochi, Goa and Chennai in the last four years.

       As we all know, the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs is a subsidiary body under the Codex Alimentarius Commission[CAS]. As an international inter-governmental body with 189 member countries, it has been contributing to the development of standards pertaining to food. Since the Commission was formed jointly by Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO]and the World Health Organization [WHO], the standards fixed by it are used by many nations for harmonization of the national yardsticks fixed by them.

       The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitutions of all nations consider Health as a human right. Therefore, it is the duty of every government to ensure that measures to protect the health of citizens get utmost priority. Since health is undeniably related to food and nutrition, governments have to keep a strict watch on the quantity and quality of the food that reaches citizens.

       Though the standards fixed by the Codex Commission are not mandatory, nations have rightly come forward to hold inter-governmental discussions, considering the increased cooperation and competition ushered in by the age of globalization. This has also made the promotion of fair practices in global food trade very important. Thus, this meeting which also contributes to the coordination of food standards and regulation of food trade, has great relevance in the present age. 

       It is gratifying to know that it was India’s recommendation for the constitution of a commodity committee specific for spices that resulted in the formation of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs. Since India is leading the Committee with Dr. M.R. Sudarshan as Chairman, this is the right moment to devise standards, the benefit of which should also go to our farmers.

       It is appropriate that this session of the Codex Committee is held in Kerala, since the State has been a well known source of spices for the entire world. In fact, some of the spices have derived their names from Kerala. Ginger may be Zingiber to the scientific community and the world, but Keralites know that it came from our Inchi-veru. Our pepper and cardamom are also world famous. But, how much have our Spice farmers been able to encash on this tradition?  If our people lag behind in reaching global markets, one of the reasons could be the non-adherence to global standards.

I think it is also good to consider the global situation in crops other than spices.  For instance, advanced practices with an eye on global standards has helped Philippines to surge ahead of us in selling   bananas, to become one of the world's top five in that area. Thailand is making a global success in Rice cultivation and Malaysia has been dominating the export of Rubber, Cocoa and Palm oil. And, the Gulf countries, which are known to be dominated by deserts, are doing good work in agriculture, with Saudi Arabia exporting wheat.  These are just some examples of countries smaller than us reaping greater success in ensuring that their farm products succeed in the global market.

The success of all these countries lies in the importance they attached to the global standards of their agricultural produce. Our farmers cultivating spices should also be encouraged to think globally so that they make use of the best practices in their farms. We also need to find solutions to the issue of wastage in agriculture, mainly due to lack of proper storage facilities. Our efforts have helped to increase ouragricultural output in spices, but we need to double our installed capacity for storage facilities so that value addition also becomes easier.  Most importantly, let us make sure that ordinary farmers get knowledge about value addition and access to the   technologies used for it, in conformity with global standards.

       Personally, I would suggest that committees like this should interact more often with farmers so that they would become more aware of the global standards. I appreciate the efforts of the earlier sessions of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs in getting approval for Codex standards in pepper, cumin and thyme.

       As most of our Delegates are aware, Kerala had suffered a production loss of more than 25,000 tonnes of spices, valued at Rs.1,254 crore in the recent floods. Therefore, this Session’s plan to include draft standards for Cardamom and Turmeric is truly laudable since they are among the crops that dominate the spices cultivation in Kerala.

       I hope this session would adopt the draft standards and also think of standards that will remove trade barriers which ultimately affect our farmers. We also need to ensure transparency in the fixing of global quality standards for spices and culinary herbs so that we can strengthen the global food sector without compromising on safety.

Let me once again greet all the delegates from India and abroad and wish them a fruitful time in Thiruvananthapuram. I also compliment the organizers for conducting this programme in a befitting manner.

Thank You

Jai Hind

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