Kerala is a land of abundant natural wealth. The richness spices in the valleys and villages of Kerala attracted a number of foreign travelers to Kerala in olden periods. Located in the south of India this wonderful land became a world renowned tourist destination afterwards. Still the treasure trove of spices stood as attraction for many merchants to visit Kerala from foreign countries. The availability of rainfall throughout the year, and richness of natural water bodies including rivers, lakes etc. supported agriculture in Kerala. Thus agriculture became the backbone of economy in this land.
The major attraction of foreigners in Kerala was Black pepper. They called it as ‘the black Gold’. 97% of the total national output of black pepper in India is from Kerala. Cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, clove etc. are some of the other major spices cultivated in Kerala. The history says that Vasco Da Gama arrived India to find the sea route and thus to enhance the spice trade to western countries. They succeeded in that. The colonial period in India is directly linked to the spice trade. Kerala has a tradition of spice trade about 3000 years and the quality of the Kerala spice is famous all over the world.
Cardamom export is a major input in the revenue in India. Tea, coffee, cashew, coconut and ginger etc. are the other cash crops cultivated in Kerala. You can see coconut trees all over the mainland and even in each household. Kerala culture is closely related to coconut tree. Every part of the tree is used for making oil, craftworks, food ingredients etc. You can see tea plantations and spice gardens in the valleys of Munnar. Munnar is a wonderful holiday destination and the valleys of here remain greenish with the charm of these plantations and misty climate. Your visit to Munnar will get blessed with the mind blowing visuals of these spice gardens and tea plantations.
Cardamom Hills located in the south-east Kerala which is a part of the southern Western Ghats is famous for the cardamom spice gardens. Pepper and coffee is also cultivated here. This cool high range area is blessed with abundant natural beauty. The Western Ghats, Periyar Sub-Cluster including the Cardamom Hills is expected to be selected as a World Heritage Site and is under the consideration of UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
Vanilla is a spice introduced by East India Company and farmers in Kerala showed a great interest in cultivating Vanilla after the unexpected price rise for this spice in 2003. The major benefit of this spice is that it can be grown with other crops. Small scale famers tend to this cultivation in Kerala in those years. Clove is also another spice introduced in India by the East India Company. The districts in which clove is cultivated in Kerala are Kozhikode, Kottayam. Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram.