Context: The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has established the National Turmeric Board of India at Nizamabad, Telangana.
Relevance of the Topic Prelims: Key facts about the National Turmeric Board.
About National Turmeric Board
- The National Turmeric Board is a dedicated body that will focus on the development and growth of turmeric and turmeric products in the country.
- Nature: It is not a statutory body.
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
- Functions: The board will perform following functions;
- Trade policy: It will work on policy formulation to increase turmeric yield and boost logistics and supply chain to foster trade into newer markets. The board has been constituted to boost turmeric exports to $1 billion by 2030.
- R&D and value addition: It will promote research and development of new turmeric products, and will look into value addition of turmeric related products for marketing abroad.
- Ensure quality and safety standards: It will ensure quality and safety standards of turmeric production and exports. It will put efforts to enhance the capacity of farmers and food producer agencies for the same.
- Awareness generation: It will work on awareness generation about the medicinal and essential properties of turmeric.
About Turmeric
- Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a flowering plant from the Ginger family grown in temperature conditions of 20-30 degrees Celsius and high rainfall conditions.
- India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric with 75% of global production.
- It has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and finds its mention in Ayurveda as Haridra.
- More than 30 varieties of Turmeric are grown in India and it is grown in over 20 states in the country.
- The largest producing states of Turmeric are Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
- The leading export markets for Indian Turmeric are Bangladesh, UAE, USA and Malaysia.
