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Spice Board to be re-established in 3 weeks  

01 Feb 2021

The Spice and Allied Products Marketing Board is set to be re-established in three weeks after it was closed down in 2008, according to the Department of Export Agriculture – Economics Research Unit Director Dr. J.M. Seneviratne.  This reinstitution of the Board was said to be in response to the pivotal need of an authority to control the trade of spice and allied products, along with undertaking the responsibility of waste material disposal regulations and management.  The Spices and Allied Products Marketing Board was established under Section 2 of the State Agricultural Co-operation Act (No. 11 of 1972). On 16 July 2008, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to handover activities of the Board to the Department of Agriculture and to close down the Board from 27 July 2008 onwards.  The Board was under the preview of the State Ministry of Development of Minor Crops where it was decided that the revival of the Spice and Allied Products Marketing Board was essential to monitor the trade of spice and allied products in the country, as there have been illegal importations of products such as turmeric.  Dr. Seneviratne added that waste material disposal is inefficiently disposed due to the absence of an authority to monitor operations. This was another factor that urged the State Ministry of Development of Minor Crops for the almost immediate reinstatement of the Spice and Allied Products Marketing Board so as to impose renewed and amended waste material disposal regulations and monitor operations as the official authorised body.   “There are some value-addition factories for a lot of products and a lot of waste materials. Waste materials are not destroyed properly; we have to identify the regulatory mechanism to dispose these waste materials or else they will make their way back to the market. It is creating a lot of havoc; there are a lot of things that are under the control of the Board,” Dr. Seneviratne observed.   Furthermore, it was also announced that a chairman was newly appointed to the re-established Board who will carry out operations tentatively. These operations include building the Board’s organisation of staff and establishing a committee to investigate and take action on spice and allied products.   “Kuludumi Gunasekera was newly appointed and acts tentatively as the Chairman. There was a committee identified by the Chairman including people from departments of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board, plantation ministers, and other associates who are responsible for drafting the act that is in the final stage for the reinstatement of the Board,” Dr. Seneviratne commented. The process began with the committee investigating and documenting new regulations and a mechanism of operations that involve spice and allied products into a draft, which would be sent to the Cabinet for approval. After the Cabinet approves of the draft, the document would be sent to Parliament, where it will be thoroughly analysed and approved. Following this, the draft would be amended to include the respective changes from the Cabinet and Parliament. Thereby, the amended draft would exist as an act where it will be established along with the reinstatement of the Board.   It was mentioned that due to the nature of the process to reinstate the Board, the period of time taken to reinstitute the Board and its organisation would take approximately three weeks. The State Ministry of Development of Minor Crops and the Economics Research Unit Director also mentioned that he is hopeful that operations of the Spice and Allied Products Marketing Board and its firm would be re-established within the month of February 2021.   


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