Webinar on “Spices in the Post-COVID-19 Scenario” organized

27^th May, 2020, Kozhikode, Kerala

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode in collaboration with The Indian Society for Spices (ISS) organized a Webinar on “Spices in the Post-COVID-19 Scenario” today.

Dr. Anand Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticultural Science), ICAR inaugurated the Webinar.

The Shri D. Sathiyan, I.F.S., Secretary, Spices Board, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India; Dr. T. Janakiram, ADG (Horticultural Science) ICAR; Dr. Santhosh J. Eapen, President, The Indian Society for Spices, Kerala; Dr. Gopal Lal, Director, ICAR-National Research Centre on Seed Spices, Ajmer, Rajasthan and Shri Geemon Korah, Chief Executive Officer, M/s. Kancor Ingredients Ltd., Kochi were the Key Speakers of the Webinar.

The experts accentuated on the need for a cohesive and inclusive approach in policy design for the spices sector. They also stressed on the requirement of strong intervention in the Institutional support for post-harvest processing and marketing of spices apart from taking urgent measures to strengthen the technology backstopping services to the farming community.

The framework for an action plan was also prepared during the Webinar. The experts highlighted the need for linking food safety and adoption of traceability systems. They also stressed on the requirement for the various Institutional stakeholders for developing close operational linkages to identify and prioritize critical challenges and develop cohesive responses to the challenges.

The Webinar was aimed at discussing the elements of a strategic response to the challenges raised by the pandemic situation in the country.

More than 200 participants from the various facets of spice sector including policy makers, academicians, researchers, industrialists, farmers and students registered their participation in the Webinar.

(Source: ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode, Kerala)