ABSTRACT
Area under pepper cultivation ranged from 3.71 to 4.04 lakh ha during 1992-96 in ten major producing countries with India leading (1.84 to 1.98 lakh ha) followed by Indonesia (0.98 to 1.29 lakh ha) and Brazil (0.21 to 0.35 lakh ha). These ten major pepper producing countries are Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka [International Pepper Community (IPC) countries]; Vietnam, China (P.R.), Madagascar and Mexico (Non IPC countries). The other countries where pepper is grown on a lesser scale are Cambodia, Brunei Darus (Asia and Pacific Region), Fiji, Samoa, Micronesia (South Pacific Region), Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, St. Lucia (Latin American Region); Malawi, Zimbabwe, Benin, Kenya, Cote di Voire, Cameroon, Ethiopea and Zambia (Africa Region). The total global production ranged from 1.76 to 2.39 lakh tonnes during 1991-1996 with an average annual production of 2.00 lakh tonnes. The rate of growth in area is 0.97 per cent in the IPC countries with the highest growth rate in Sri Lanka (6.68%) followed by India (1.75%). The rate of growth in area is more in the non IPC countries (8.70%), more pronounced in Vietnam (17.63%) followed by China (P.R.) (14.50%). There is significant reduction in area under pepper in Thailand (5080 ha during 1990, 2390 ha during 1996), Malaysia (11250 ha during 1990, 8800 ha during 1996), and Madagascar. There is remarkable decrease in production in Indonesia (61,000 mt during 1991, 39,200 mt during 1996), Malaysia (29,000 mt during 1991, 12,000 mt during 1996), and Brazil (50,000 mt during 1991, 19,500 mt during 1996). The reduction in production is more pronounced in Latin American Region consisting Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and St.Lucia. The economics of pepper producing countries especially Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are gradually moving away from Agriculture sector to Industrial sector. Pepper farming being labour intensive and labour becoming scarce and costly, the shift is mainly due to economic reasons. India is the only country maintaining or even marginally increasing pepper production over the years. New production centres are emerging in Vietnam, China (P.R.), Africa, Pacific Islands, Latin America and Caribbean Islands where the cost of labour is relatively low at present. The
Caribbean island states like Guadeloupe, St. Martin, Saba, St. Eustatius, Nevis, Mom serrat, Dominica, Anguilla, St. Barts and St. Kitts are climatically suitable for black pepper cultivation. As a tropical crop, pepper cannot be cultivated in the temperate zones and these countries have to depend on countries of tropical zones for pepper. The use of pepper in addition to traditional use in food industry is also spreading to other aspects of human life like for beverages, cosmetics, perfumes, medicines, insecticides, fungicides and painting industries. The other biological advantage of pepper is that there is no replacement for pepper products. Synthetic colour and flavour are not preferred and natural product is always demanded by the food industry. Thus the demand for pepper is rising every year and pepper consumption in developed countries is also increasing.
