IDUKKI, India — Spices grown in the mist-shrouded Western Ghats
here have fueled wars, fortunes and even the discovery of continents,
and for thousands of years farmers harvested them in the same
traditional ways. Until now.
Science has revealed what ancient kings and sultans never knew: instead
of improving health, spices sometimes make people very sick, so Indian
government officials are quietly pushing some of the most far-reaching
changes ever in the way farmers here pick, dry and thresh their rich
bounty.
