RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN SMALL CARDAMOM BY ICRI: An evaluation

Abstract

Realising the vital role of research and development for building international competitiveness of plantation sector, the Ministry of Commerce established research institutes under different Commodity Boards to undertake research and development on specific crop(s) assigned to them. This study, apart from being a preliminary evaluation of recent research undertaken by Indian Cardamom Research Institute (ICRI) under the Spices Board of India, is a first step towards exploring the synergy between different research institutions under the commodity boards. By conceptualising innovation as a cumulative, interactive and socially embedded process, the study has taken into account both the inputs and outputs of research with due consideration for the institutional context in which research is undertaken. The study comes up with a number of recommendations and is presented in the concluding section of this paper.