The Hindu Business Line : `Make Maharashtra cashew export zone'

MAHARASHTRA needs to be identified as cashew export zone, according to Mr P.P. Balasubramanian, Director of Cashew and Cocoa Development (DCCD), Kochi.

Speaking on "Cashew in globalisation" at the national group meeting of scientists of the All-India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Cashew at the National Research Centre for Cashew (NRCC) in Puttur, Dakshina Kannada district, he said there was good potential for cashew cultivation in Maharashtra. Growers in the State have planted graded varieties of cashew. This has resulted in good yield in the region.

India and Vietnam, were contributing 68 per cent of the total production to the world cashew trade, he added.

India, which produces nearly 4.6 lakh tonnes of cashew every year, is importing another 4.5 lakh tonnes. Nearly 2.2 lakh tonnes of processed cashew is exported.

Vietnam, which produces around two lakh tonnes of cashew, was using only 30,000 tonnes for domestic consumption. Of the 1.78 lakh tonnes produced in Brazil, 1.10 lakh tonnes was exported, he added.