SPICES IN SRI LANKA..

The Indian Ocean tropical island of Sri Lanka formally known by names such as Taprobane, Serendib and Ceylon has been famous for its quality spices since time immemorial. The story of spices from Ceylon dates back to 14 th century and evidence has been uncovered of spice trade being conducted through roman period.

The western nations such as the Portuguese, Dutch and the English with maritime powers were attracted to the island mainly for its riches in spices, precious stones and ivory that was to be found here. As the botanical name stands “ Cinnamomum zeylanicum ” the cinnamon plant is an endemic plant to our island and we still continue to enjoy over 90% of the world market for true cinnamon. Sri Lanka being a tropical island close to the equator, the fertile and diverse soil types, varying micro climates and the favourable temperature variations, enhances the intrinsic value of most crops grown on this island.

The spices and Herbs used for flavor, aroma and Medicinal properties derive a special value from the said factors. However we are yet to obtain the true potential of these values as traditional system has been to market our produce as bulk commodities rather than to value add offer end products from the valuable spice crops. The newly emerging spice producing countries as well as the traditional large producers have been noted to adopt scientific agronomic practices as well as high yielding propagation techniques and have been able to produce large volume of crops at relatively lower cost. The bulk commodity prices of most spices have decline to this reason. The global food industry has been focusing on food safety and hygiene and the developed markets has introduce many entry requirements such as GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) for all food products entering these markets.

The market for Organic and Fair trade certified products too has been growing and the Sri Lankan Spice industry has the potential to value add our produce by gearing its products to these standards.