COIMBATORE: Pollachi nutmeg farmer Producer Company (PNFPC) organised the sale of nutmeg mace in the Kottur Malayandipattinam and received an order for 3.5 tonnes and the trade is worth over Rs 75 lakh.
Mace is the dried aril (cover) of the nutmeg fruit. Nutmeg is the only plant to yield two different spices namely nutmeg and mace. Over 50 farmers were benefited from this sale.
R Ranjit Kumar, a farmer and managing director of PNFPC, said, “We sensitise members to ensure good grading of mace through the removal of fungal mace and keep the broken mace within the permissible limit. Maces are checked for quality and if we find any below-standard products, the farmers are asked to take back their produce and grade the material.
Most farmers happily comply with the company standard since good-grade products fetch better prices. Pollachi mace has an average weight of 2.5 grams with the season’s first picked mace weighing about 3 g. The thickness of our mace gives it a distinct shape as that of lotus bud and the mace does not break easily as compared to the other maces in the world.”
He added, “The thickness of the mace has also been attributed to the lower yield per tree in Pollachi. The moisture content of our mace is between four to five per cent. Many exporters have complained to us about mace turning moldy during shipment due to the presence of excess moisture. We have shipped two consignments of mace to Australia this year and our buyers are extremely happy with it.”
The PNFPC is a non-profit farmer’s organisation formed exclusively for nutmeg farmers of the Pollachi region. In 2023, 35 tons of shelled nutmeg was sold to exporters and the total trade is valued at Rs 1.73 crore.
He further said that the price PNFPC ensures to its farmers was 40% more than the prices offered by the traders through whom the farmers used to sell their produce for the last 20 years and over 110 farmers benefited from the sales in 2023.
Pollachi MP Shanmugasundaram visited the premises, interacted with the farmers and flagged off the vehicles carrying the goods to Cochin.