page_title: Cardamom
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Cardamom / World production / Cultivation
caption_attribution_description: English: A cash crop from Tehrathum district of Nepal
context_page_description: Cardamom, sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are recognized by their small seed pods: triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin, papery outer shell and small, black seeds; Elettaria pods are light green and smaller, while Amomum pods are larger and dark brown.
  Species used for cardamom are native throughout tropical and subtropical Asia. The first references to cardamom are found in Sumer, and in the Ayurvedic literatures of India. Nowadays, it is also cultivated in some other countries, such as Guatemala, Malaysia and Tanzania. The German coffee planter Oscar Majus Klöffer introduced Indian cardamom to cultivation in Guatemala before World War I; by 2000, that country had become the biggest producer and exporter of cardamom in the world, followed by India.
  Cardamom is the world's third-most expensive spice, surpassed in price per weight only by vanilla and saffron.
context_section_description: In 1873 and 1874, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) exported about 9,000 lb. each year. In 1877, Ceylon exported 11,108 lb, in 1879, 17,732 lb, and in the 1881-2 season, 23,127 lb. In 1903, 4,000 acres of cardamom growing areas were owned by European planters. The produce of the Travancore plantations was given as 650,000 lb., or just a little under that of Ceylon. The yield of the Mysore plantations was approximately 200,000 lb., and the cultivation was mainly in Kadur district.  The volume for 1903-4 stated the value of the cardamoms exported to have been Rs. 3,37,000 as compared with Rs. 4,16,000 the previous year. India, which ranks second in world production, recorded a decline of 6.7 percent in cardamom production for 2012-13, and has projected a production decline of 30-40% in 2013-14, compared with the previous year due to unfavorable weather. In India, the state of Kerala is by far the most productive producer, with the districts of Idukki, Palakkad and Wynad being the principal producing areas. Given that a number of bureaucrats have personal interests in the industry, in India, several organisations have been set up to protect cardamom producers such as the Cardamom Growers Association (est. 1992) and the Kerala Cardamom Growers Association (est. 1974). Research in India's cardamom plantations began in the 1970s while Kizhekethil Chandy held the office of Chairman of the Cardamom Board. The Kerala Land Reforms Act imposed restrictions on the size of certain agricultural holdings per household to the benefit of cardamom producers.
  In 1979-1980, Guatemala surpassed India in worldwide production. Guatemala cultivates Elettaria cardamomum, which is native to the Malabar Coast of India. Alta Verapaz Department produces 70 percent of Guatemala's cardamom. Cardamom was introduced to Guatemala before World War I by the German coffee planter Oscar Majus Kloeffer.  After World War II, production was increased to 13,000 to 14,000 tons annually.
  In addition to Guatemala and India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania are also significant growers of cardamom. The average annual income for a plantation owning household in 1998 was US$3,408. Although the typical harvest annually requires over 210 days of labor, most cardamom farmers are better off than many other agricultural workers, and there are a significant number of those from the upper strata of society involved in the cultivation process. Increased demand since the 1980s, principally from China, for both Amomum villosum and Amomum tsao-ko, has provided a key source of income for poor farmers living at higher altitudes in localized areas of China, Laos, and Vietnam, people typically isolated from many other markets. Laos exports about 400 tonnes annually through Thailand according to the FAO.
caption: Cardamom as a cash crop in Nepal's Terhathum District
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