Emergent global marketing challenges for Kerala cardamom producers vis-à-vis role of the Spice Board of India

Aim/Purpose: This research paper attempts to deeply and rationally probe into the present situation, discussing the expected role of the Spices Board of India, which in 1987 started to function replacing the erstwhile Cardamom Board, where the focus was only on the Cardamom plantation sector and export development. Background Cardamom, the "Queen of Spices" is the third most expensive of the spices, next only to saffron and vanilla. The Cardamom Plantation and export development sector is now just one of the many focal points of expected action of promotional endeavors of the Spices Board of India. The cardinal problem is the 1990s market threat from Guatemala, which floods the market with Cardamom with cheaper prices, though it is qualitatively inferior to Indian green Cardamom. The second problem for Indian exports is that the higher cost of production coupled with increasing domestic market demand causes lower quantities for exports. Apart from the functional insufficiency of the Spices Board of India, in the view of the Cardamom farmers and secondary and tertiary market intermediaries, the present auction system, the scattered unorganized farming community at large, and other governmental promotional deficiencies together make the complexity of the present situation confounded. Methodology It was decided that conventional research methods, using structured survey methods and questionnaire, were not feasible or realistic as collecting data from a wide range of personnel vary from cardamom farmers to wholesalers to market intermediaries including exporters, extractors of oleo resin from cardamom proved arduous.