• Proposal by Plantations Minister gets Cabinet approval 
• Govt. says dedicated body needed to implement proposals 
• Board was made defunct in 2008 

Cabinet yesterday gave the greenlight for the re-establishment of the Spices and Allied Products Marketing Board to support and implement Government policies for the sector. 

The Spices and Allied Products Marketing Board was established under Section 2 of the State Agricultural Co-Operations Act No. 11 of 1972. On 16 July 2008, the Cabinet of Ministers decided that the activities of the institution should be handed over to the Department of Agriculture and the institution should be closed from 27 July 2008. 

The Spices and Allied Products Marketing Board is currently under the purview of the State Ministry of Development of Minor Crops including sugarcane, maize, cashew, pepper, cinnamon, clove, betel related industries and export promotion. 

A formal mechanism is required to implement the programs identified by the said State Ministry and the proposal made by the Minister of Plantation Industries Ramesh Pathirana to reactivate the Spices and Allied Products Marketing Board and continue its activities was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Government Information Department said yesterday. 

One of the first policy steps taken by the Government after it came into power was to change import regulations and provide support to the spices sector.

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