
Despite its price touching a five-year high, the small scale cardamom planters in Idukki, which constitutes 70-90% of the production of the spice in Kerala, have not been able to reap the benefit of high price.
The price of cardamom, often referred as the queen of the spices, is ruling in the range of Rs 2,800-3,200/kg, which is the highest price since 2019 when it touched a record Rs 7,000/kg for a brief period.
Officials said due to warm weather conditions the production of cardamom have declined by 40%, which meant that the farmers have not been able to cash in on the high prices.
“There is better yield for the spice only in areas where there were adequate irrigation facilities,” said Satheesh S, a cardamom farmer in Kumily. He explained that cardamom plants thrive well in temperatures between 10 degree Celsius to 28 degree Celsius. “However the temperature rising over 30 degree Celsius for a prolonged period had resulted in the plants in majority of the plantations getting damaged,” he said.
He further said that many small cardamom planters in Idukki’s high-ranges don't have title deeds for the land in which they cultivate the crop.
“As a result, they might not have obtained cardamom registration (CR), which is mandatory for cardamom farmers to sell their cardamom in auction centres. Farmers without CR sell their products to local vendors, who will procure at a price much lower than the price that's quoted at the auction,” he said.
Tony Thomas, a Peermade-based cardamom farmer and a former member of the Vandanmedu cardamom growers association said, except for some big farmers, who cultivate the crop on 50-100 plus acres and some big traders in Tamil Nadu, this price rise has not helped the small farmers. “Large scale cardamom farmers who keep stock of the spice from the previous seasons in their warehouses can also reap benefits of the soaring prices,” he said.
Tony said that when production declines, the price is expected to soar even higher and should cross Rs 4,000/kg.
“However a lobby is behind the cardamom price continuing to stay between Rs 3.000 and Rs 3,500 at the auction. They would procure cardamom from small-scale farmers at a lower price and after grading them, the cheap quality would be kept for auction and the fine quality will be exported or sold in the markets at a high price,” he said.
Zacharia Njavelil, a member of Vandanmedu-based Cardamom Planters Federation, said in certain belts of Idukki including Nedumkandam, where climatic condition was not too harsh for cardamom this season, growers have enough produce to supply in the market.
“However due to various reasons including climatic issues, snail attack and water shortage, the total production of cardamom in Idukki district has considerably declined this season,” he said.
As per the Spices Board data, the production of cardamom went up from 22,165 tons in 2022-23 to 22,868 tons in 2023-24. During this period, the area of cultivation remained the same at 40,345 hectares. Zacharia said although the production had increased during the 2023-24 period, the production this season (2024-25) is expected to decline by 30-40%.
Small scale farmers federation president Y C Stephen told TNIE after the cardamom prices soared to an all-time high of Rs 7,000 in 2019, more farmers started cardamom cultivation in the following years. “However climate vagaries took a toll on the cardamom industry resulting in farmers facing losses from its cultivation,” he said.
As per the Spices Board, the daily auction price of cardamom which climbed to Rs 7,000/kg in August 2019 later plunged to Rs 1,500 in 2020. The price was hovering between Rs 700-800/kg in 2021 and continued to stay between Rs 1300-1500/kg in 2022. In June 2023, the price climbed to Rs 3,000 and touched Rs 4,000/kg on November 25, 2023.
From June 2024, the cardamom price continued to stay over Rs 3,000/kg and the daily price recorded at auction on January 9, 2025 was Rs 4,511.
Stephen pointed out that wild animal attack is a serious issue faced by cardamon farmers in the high ranges. “Marauding wild elephants, bison and other animals would damage the cardamom plants. In cardamon growing areas including Vandiperiyar, Nedumkandam, Santhanpara and Udumbanchola, wild animal conflicts are very severe,” he said.