About DASD   

The Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development (DASD) is a subordinate office under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. It was established on 1st April, 1966 at Calicut in Kerala to streamline the activities of production in respect of arecanut, spices and a group of aromatic plants at National level.

Mandate

The Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Calicut 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.

The Directorate is responsible for coordinating and monitoring programmes under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) to promote holistic growht of the horticulture sector in the country.

The mandate of the Directorate is as follows.

• Assessment of the developmental needs of the mandate crops.
• Formulation of Central Sector / Centrally Sponsored Schemes and implementation of the same either directly or through the State Governments, SAUs, ICAR Institutes etc.
• Monitoring the implementation of Central Sector / Centrally Sponsored Schemes and coordinating the development activities.
• Rendering technical assistance to State Governments and other agencies on commodity development programmes.
• Collection and compilation of statistics of area, production, export, import, prices etc. and dissemination of the same to the Central and State Governments and other agencies.
• Keeping liaison with the research institutes and extension agencies and acting as a two-way channel in the transfer of technology.
• Undertaking the publicity and extension works relating to the arecanut, spices and aromatic crops
• Assisting the Central and State Governments on all matters relating to the development of the commodities.
• Accreditation of spices nurseries in the country to regualte the quality of planting materials

Development Programmes 

Presently the Directorate is responsible for coordinating and monitoring of  development programmes on spices under MIDH, which are being implemented in various States across the country. Besides, the Directorate is directly implementing the following programmes in association with SAUs and ICAR Institutes to supplement the efforts of the States.

• Production and Distribution of Planting Materials of Spices
• Accreditation of Spices Nurseries
• Establishment of Nursery Centres for Spices and Aromatic Plants
• Setting up of Seed Processing and Storage Infrastructure
• Technology Dissemination through Frontline Demonstration
• Organising National Seminars/Workshops/Training Programmes on Spices and Aromatic Plants

Statistics

The Directorate is the authority for collection, compilation and dissemination of statistics on spices and arecanut. The Directorate has been periodically pusblishing the statistics on area, production, productivity, prices and cost of cultivation of arecanut and spices.