Spices Board India organised training programme in Guwahati

Guwahati: The regional office of the Spices Board India in Guwahati, in collaboration with United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied nutrition (JIIFSAN), organised a training programme on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) at the Horticultural Research Station at the Assam Agricultural University in the city.

Dr. A B Rema Shree, Director (Research), Spices Board in Kochi, attended the programme virtually and shared her thoughts and experiences regarding importance of GAP for spices to boost in the export of Indian spices.
Trainers mainly concentrated on personal hygiene and field sanitation of crop fields including less use of chemicals and pesticides.

The second day of the training programme on GAP was started with a field visit of spice nursery at Horticultural Research Station, Assam Agricultural University, Kahikuchi, Guwahati. During the visit, trainers make understand the trainees how to manage field-related constraints in hygienic and environment-friendly ways.

Certificates were distributed among the participants at the end of the day.

A total of 42 progressive spice growers from northeast states and West Bengal participated in the programme. Translation from English language to Assamese language in the training programme was done by Dr. Jayanta Kumar Sharma, Senior Scientist, Assam Agricultural University.

In the fourth day of training programme, spice processing unit of Sigma Spice Industries Pvt. Ltd. situated at Ratanpur, Chhaygaon, was visited by the participant, officials from Spices Board, US-FDA, JIFSAN and US Embassy, Kolkata.
During the visit the trainers practically showed the importance of good manufacturing practices. After the visit, Melinda Pavek, Consul General, US Embassy, Kolkata and Officials from Spices Board, Regional Office Guwahati had distributed the Certificate of Participation among the participants.

All total of 50 spice processors from N.E states and West Bengal participated in the programme.

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