The Hindu Business Line : Industry to press for raw cashew production policy

The domestic cashew industry is gearing up to recommend to the Central and the State Governments for a raw cashew production policy to ensure that the country will not lose heavily on account of vagaries in imports.

India, which produces around five lakh tonnes of raw cashew, imports another seven lakh tonnes every year to meet the requirement of processing sector.

At a three-day cashew conference, the manufacturing associations of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, with participation from manufacturers from other States will discuss the matters related to production and various other issues at Canacona in Goa from September 11.

Mr K. Prakash Rao, Programme Coordinator of ‘Kaju Quest 2009’ , told Business Line that the conference will arrive at a road map for drawing up a ‘raw cashew production policy’.

These recommendations will be submitted to the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar. Currently, India is importing over seven lakh tonnes of raw cashew from East and West Africa and also from Indonesia.

Stressing the need for a raw cashew production policy, he said that the cashew industry is growing at over 10 per cent a year in India, and the reliance on imported raw cashew nuts is increasing by the day.

“It is reliably learnt that the Africa Cashew Alliance is actively pursuing manufacturing activity in Africa. This will mean that the imports from these countries will dry up and units in India will starve on account of the shortage of raw cashew nuts.

“Therefore, this conference will lay special emphasis to discuss and debate various ways and means to increase the raw cashew production in this country sharply in the coming years,” he said.

The core focus would also be to how to increase the productivity per hectare of land so as to make it more profitable to the farmer, he said.

The Commissioner of Union Horticulture Department, and directors of horticulture departments of cashew-growing states have been invited for the conference.

Mr Rao said that the conference will also showcase the latest manufacturing technology and the recent innovations developed by India and Vietnam. The issue related to shortage of labour force in the industry will also be discussed in the conference.

Over 450 delegates from nine cashew manufacturing states will attend the conference, he added.

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