Reconstitution of the Director Board of Spices Board of India has been delayed by over a year. As a result, several issues pertaining to marketing and export of spices fail to get due attention, according to industry representatives.
The list of nominees has to be approved by the Union Ministry of Commerce. The ministry is yet to finalise the names of members, a top official of the board said. The official could not make a categorical statement as to when the Director Board, would be reconstituted.
Governing body
The governing body consists of about 30 members nominated from among the members of legislature, State governments, certain Central Government ministries, Planning Commission, plantation sector, spice growers, processors, exporters and specialist organisations in food technology segments. The three-year term of the last board of directors expired in December 2012.
The delay had been posing problems to trade bodies as several key issues were getting sidelined, said Kishore Shamji, an exporter of pepper.
There was a persisting demand to include pepper in the focus product scheme (FPS) of commodities to facilitate optimum benefit to farmers and industry, he said.
There were other issues such as procedures to be adopted by the trade in relation to the new norms brought in by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Spices Board officials, responding to the issues, said pepper was being traded at an all-time high price, a fact which could make the commodity ineligible to be considered in the FPS.
The issue pertaining to mineral oil content in pepper was being considered by FSSAI and not by the board, he said.
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