About DASD
The Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development (DASD) was established on 1st April, 1966 at Calicut in Kerala as a subordinate office under Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India to look after the development of spices and arecanut at National level. This responsibility was earlier shouldered by Central Spices and Cashewnut Committee, which was abolished in 1965 consequent to the recommendations of Agricultural Research Review Team and the Indian Central Arecanut Committee which was dissolved in the same time.
The Directorate has the mandate for the development of spices, arecanut, a large group of aromatic plants and betel vine grown in the country at the National Level. The Directorate discharges the above function through the overall coordination of all the development activities implemented by different agencies like State Government Departments, State Agricultural Universities (SAU), ICAR Institutes etc. In addition, the Directorate undertakes implementation of certain critical programmes which are of vital importance int eh development process.