Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, a department within
India's Ministry of Agriculture, describes it thus: “Black pepper or the
black gold, the spice of commerce, is one of the most important spices,
which brought many seafarers to the shores of India from the ancient
times. It was one spice, the trade of which has become an important part
of history, which lead [ sic ] to . . . great adventure, exploration, conquest,
and naval rivalry.”49 Such praise of Kerala's black pepper as a cornerstone
for economic development and a cause of geopolitical skirmishes is not
without basis —European countries and India's maharajas fought to con-
trol South India's spice trade for three centuries before the British consol-
idated power in the subcontinent.50
To take advantage of the state's historic competitive advantage in pep-
per production, the government heavily promoted the crop immediately
after Indian independence from the British Empire. Kerala's Second Five
Year Plan, for instance, observes: “Pepper is an important spice crop of
the State. It is largely exported and is a good dollar earner. India is now
subjected to severe competition from some of the South East Asian coun-
tries. It is therefore necessary to put the production of pepper in India on
solid foundations as to enable it to withstand the growing competition in
world markets.”51
Maintaining Kerala's lead in pepper production was imperative for the
early state government. Through agricultural extension offices, it intro-
duced several new HYV pepper vines. Farmers began to rely on these pep-
per strains as their major source of income. Most of the farmers who came
to utilize the new pepper varieties were small to medium landholders,
with less than two acres of land, who devoted their pepper cultivation to
one or two of the newer HYV varieties only.52 In contrast to their previous
practice of saving seeds, many of these farmers also began to purchase
the pepper vines from the Agriculture Department, agricultural exten-
sion, and commodity boards, and as the Agriculture Department recom-
mended, began to utilize heavy doses of pesticides in their growing. As
a whole, the production of pepper and the outcome per acre increased in
Kerala.
In the 1990s, Kerala's pepper plants began to wilt and die off on a large
scale. Phytophthora, a fungus that ails the roots of pepper vines, caused
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