Union Minister Suresh Prabhu nod to set up Turmeric Board in Telangana

Hyderabad, March 03: The Central government gave consent for the setting up of a special cell on turmeric for Telangana State in the Spices Board office and also assured complete support to the Telangana State government for setting up a Spices Park in the State.

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu wrote a letter to Minister for Industries and IT K T Rama Rao on Friday in response to the latter's repeated pleas to the Centre for setting up a Turmeric Board for benefit of farmers.

Rama Rao has been repeatedly pursuing the issue of establishing a Turmeric Board keeping in view the problems being faced by farmers in Telangana State who are producing turmeric on a large scale. He took up the issue with Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and in response, the latter agreed to establish the special cell for turmeric farmers in the existing Spices Board.

In his letter, Suresh Prabhu admitted that both the Central and the State governments have a responsibility to facilitate marketing and research activity for the development of turmeric crop. While the Spices Board will oversee the quality control examination of turmeric crop and its exports, the special cell on turmeric will focus on issues pertaining to farmers in Telangana State.

He also expressed readiness to establish a Spices Park in the State under Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) in association with the Telangana government.