Fri, 21 Nov 2025

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 The 'toughest crop': Can tech help cardamom farmers?

Sensitive to the weather and soil cardamom is difficult to cultivate - can tech help?
Cardamom farming is considered one of the most challenging crops to cultivate due to its delicate nature and sensitivity to weather conditions, diseases, and pests. "It demands attention every single day," says Stanley Pothan, a farmer from Kerala who has been cultivating cardamom for decades. The crop requires constant monitoring and is prone to losses in case of extreme weather conditions. Despite the difficulties, farmers would like to increase their output, but it's not easy due to the risks associated with farming cardamom. "One bad summer or unexpected rain can wipe away the entire effort," says Mr Pothan. To ease the burden of tending to cardamom's needs, the Indian Cardamom Research Institute (ICRI) is working on crop improvement, pest and disease surveillance, soil management, capacity building, and technology transfer related to cardamom. They have developed an app that helps farmers monitor their soil health and provides tailored recommendations. Scientists are also researching hardier cardamom varieties that can tolerate major diseases and pests while being high-yielding and climate-resilient. One breakthrough has been finding a cardamom variety that can grow with limited water. Organic farming is another approach being taken by some farmers, including Mathews Geroge, who turned to organic methods after facing difficulties in growing cardamom conventionally. He uses ancient Indian cultivation methods of Vrikshayurveda and believes that sustainable farming begins with reducing input costs. However, one aspect of cardamom farming unlikely to change soon is the need for skilled workers, particularly women who are involved in harvesting. Mechanisation is limited in this process, making it labor-intensive.
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