The Hindu Business Line : Cashew & raisin fest begins in Pune

Pune, Oct 23 Pune is hosting a cashew and raisin festival along similar lines as that of the mango festival.The fair, which began yesterday, will end on Friday. Participants from the different cash growing regions in the State, mostly from Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Jalgaonand and Ahmednagar districts, will showcase their products in about 30 stalls.

Production

Maharashtra during 2005-06 had recorded a total production of about 1.74 lakh tonnes of cashew and 55,000 tonnes of raisin. Around two lakh tonnes of grapes is required to manufacture 55,000 tonnes of raisin. The acreage under cashew is 1.60 lakh hectares and 45,000 hectares under raisin.

Maharashtra also exports about 1.25 lakh tonnes of cashew to the US, European countries and Japan and around 43 tonnes of raisin, mainly to the Gulf countries.

According to the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) officials, this low quantity of raisin exports is because the technology that is required to cater to the European markets is not available in the State.

This is part of MSAMB’s ‘producer to consumer’ initiative that it started in 2002 for mango, they added.

This is the first cashew and raisin festival. It has been decided to hold this as an annual event in Pune during the festival season, as Diwali is an occasion for dry-fruits. “This is when the demand peaks, from individuals as well as corporate houses (for gifting to clients),” the officials said.

They expect the fair to generate sales of around eight tonnes of cashew and 2 tonnes of raisin.

The response that is estimated to be generated, due to this festival is sales of around eight tonnes of cashew and two tonnes ofraisin.

They noted that one of the corporate houses in Pune hasalready made a transaction for around 250 kg of cashew nuts.

Flavoured cashews

To draw more consumers to the fair, value-added products of cashews with varied flavours such as mango, strawberry, pineapple and chocolate are being showcased at the stalls.

The mango flavour seems to have got a head start as it has made good sales, stall owners noted.

The other attractions include the black pepper flavoured cashews, salted cashew, red chilli and green chilli flavoured cashews. One of the stall owners noted that there were around 2.5 lakh farmer families involved in cashew cultivation in the State whilepointing out that it is labour intensive.