Origin and distribution
- The plant is indigenous to the evergreen forests of South India and Sri Lanka.
- India once held the virtual world monopoly for cardamom, supplying 90-95% of the world off take of cardamom; but of late it is facing a stiff competition from Guatemala and other countries.
- The other major cardamom-producing countries besides India are Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia. Cardamom is also produced on a smaller scale in Laos, Vietnam, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Tanzania.
Area and production
- India accounts for 90% of the world's area under this crop. In India, small cardamom cultivation is restricted to the Western Ghat region of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Indian cardamom has higher oil content and aroma. Kerala occupies the first place, contributing to about 60% of the total area and Karnataka covers about 31% of the area, followed by Tamil Nadu (9%), with a production of 58.5, 34 and 7.5%, respectively.
- Coorg and Hassan in Karnataka; Kottayam in Kerala; and Madurai, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Salem and the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu are the important cardamom- growing districts in the country. These areas are well suited for cardamom cultivation since they receive heavy rainfall and are characterised by a deep, natural mulch of fallen and decaying leaves which favour good growth.
- The average annual production of cardamom is reported to be around 4,750 tonnes obtained from 1,05,000 hectares. 2009-10 DATA? India still meets about 60-65% of the world's demand through the export of cardamom to about 50 countries. The important countries importing cardamom from India are Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the erstwhile USSR and Japan.
- Cardamom is a tall growing, cross-pollinated, herbaceous perennial, with branched subterranean rhizomes. The real stem is the rhizome, which is subterranean in habit. Cardamom is a shallow-rooted plant. The leaves are 35 cm long and 1-10 cm wide, distichous, linear and lanceolate in shape, with short petioles. The inflorescence or the long panicles with racemose clusters arise from the underground rhizome.
- The flowers open in succession from the base to the top and develop into fruits. The calyx is cylindrical and persistent and the corolla tube is shortly exerted. The fruit is a trilocular capsule; the capsules are globose and rounded. The seeds are black when fully ripe in a capsule and embedded or covered with a white mucilagenous coat. There are 15-20 seeds in each capsule with a hard seed-coat.
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