Kerala - Kannur   

Plea to set up Cashew Board

Staff Reporter

Cashew growers expect good season

KANNUR: Even as cashew growers in the district are looking forward to a better yield during the ongoing cashew season, there is growing concern about large-scale conversion of land under cashew cultivation into rubber plantations.

Cashew, being a crop purely dependent on climate, favourable climatic conditions during the current cashew season bodes well for the growers who are anticipating a good harvest this year. The cashew growers in the district say the better cashew yield from graft plant varieties in the first phase of the cashew season is an indication that there will be a good cashew season. Major cashew growing areas in the district such as Iritty, Peravur, Irikkur, Taliparamba and Payyannur are not facing any threat from pests, mainly tea mosquito, which wreaks havoc during the cashew flowering season.

Cashew growers, however, are not cheerful about the price cashew is fetching this year. Raw cashew nuts are collected from the growers at Rs. 36 a kg. The growers and Agricultural Department officials fear that unless cashew fetches good price, the conversion of cashew areas into rubber plantations will be accelerated.

"Irikkur area has already witnessed major conversion as cashew growers have shifted to rubber," said a senior Agricultural official here. The Agricultural Department has launched a Rs.60-lakh project for cashew rehabilitation in the district, which envisages cutting of unproductive and senile cashew trees and replanting the areas with hybrid varieties, he said adding that under the project Rs.10,000 a hectare would be given to the growers. The Horticulture Mission was also implementing a rehabilitation scheme simultaneously, he added.

The district is estimated to have 25,681 ha of land under cashew cultivation, as per the figures available with the Agricultural Department. Kannur and Kasaragod together account for 70 per cent of the total cashew cultivation area in the State. Kannur is estimated to produce 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of raw nuts. A large number of trees in the district are local varieties, which start yielding late in the season. They are also aged.

"If cashew fetches good price, say Rs. 45-50 a kg, no cashew grower will shift to rubber," said George Michael Kallivayalil, who grows graft varieties of cashew at Kolayad. He said the growers were free from any extra strain to grow cashew, adding that lower price would persuade small holders to shift to rubber, as rubber gave sustained revenue whereas cashew was only seasonal. He also said if there was grading of cashew nuts, good quality large-sized nuts produced in the district would fetch better price. He reiterated his demand for a cashew board constituted on the model of Rubber Board.

The Cashew Farmers Union said the price of cashew this year was not favourable for promoting cashew cultivation. Union State president George Nambudakam said effective utilisation of cashew apples could also give a boost to the growers.

According to Agricultural Department officials, an estimated 3 lakh tonnes of cashew apples were being wasted every year. Product diversification activities could offer additional benefit to the growers, they said adding that the Department had already initiated steps to encourage entrepreneurs to make items such as syrup from cashew apples.

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