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CTA to develop competencies of cinnamon producers Ensuring Sri Lanka’s ranking as the world’s top exporter of true cinnamon, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), signed a subsidy agreement with The Spice Council (TSC) to establish a Cinnamon Training Academy (CTA) in the southern region. Problems have surfaced, with the slow growth of the industry over the last five years, as well as a lack of European Union standards being ensured, thus the programme has been devised to develop the skills and competency of the cinnamon producers using experts in the relevant fields. The investment for the project is Rs 21.05 million, of which 72 percent will be met by Germany.
“The Cinnamon Training Academy will offer a potential for young people to become interested in this field and hopefully raise the income opportunities within the cinnamon industry as a whole,” said Andreas Hartmann, a Councillor for the German Embassy. An industry analyst said that local producers should be looking at two harvests a year and improving the quality of the product, too. “This will lead to better competition within the market, increase production, and increase worldwide consumption levels,” the analyst said. Cinnamon, Sri Lanka’s leading spice in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment, is considered the leading icon for the southern Asian region. Sri Lanka exports around 13,000 tons of genuine cinnamon a year and has a captive market in Central and South America. Cinnamon exports amount to about to 60 percent of the total earnings from all spice exports. Hartmann said that part of the objective was also
to help bridge the gap between the north, east and the south with
regard to the ever-worrying spiral towards a return to war, where
if such a situation arose Germany would reconsider such cooperation
with Sri Lanka. (LA) |
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