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A.J. Vinayak

`Both states must be given right impetus to boost production'

Mangalore March 26 Orissa and Andhra Pradesh can play a major role in meeting the demands of the cashew industry, provided this sector gets right impetus.

The recent visit by a delegation of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers' Association to the two States, has found that Orissa, which produces around 60,000 tonnes of raw cashewnuts a year, has potential to more than double this.

The delegation also noted that Andhra Pradesh, which produces 80,000 tonnes, could triple its production in the next 10 years to meet the market demand.

Export potential

The KCMA President, Mr K. Prakash Rao, told Business Line that Orissa can export around Rs 300 crore of cashew in the next five years, provided the sector gets the right impetus in that state.

Five districts in Orissa — Chatrapur, Puri, Ganjam, Koraput, and Navarangpur — prominently figure in cashew production and processing. "Each of these centres has excellent potential to become major cashew hubs in this state," he said.

While Ganjam and Chatrapur together process about 24,000 tonnes of raw cashewnut per annum, Koraput and Navarangpur process 30,000 tonnes.

Jeypore, which is a major centre in Koraput district with more than 40 processing units, has adopted Karnataka's processing technology using steam roast and shelling machines. However, the infrastructure of these units needs to be improved. Since all the units are located within four sq km of this centre, Jeypore processing zone could be an ideal choice for development under the Centre's cluster scheme, he said.

Favourable factors

Mr Rao said that factors such as quality of local cashews, availability of fertile land and low labour costs provide Orissa a competitive edge over the other cashew-producing states. However, the biggest drawback is that major land holdings are with tribal people.

The Government has gifted those lands to the tribal people with the condition that they cannot sell them.

Since no major production is being taken up on these lands, a major opportunity to increase the production of raw cashewnuts is lost, he said.

"In spite of the huge potential, the State Government is yet to recognise this industry and provide the necessary impetus to accelerate its growth. It can be assessed that this state has the potential to export at least Rs 300 crore of cashew within the next five years," Mr Rao said.

Andhra Pradesh has cashew-processing centres at Tuni in East Godavari district, Palasa in Srikakulam district, Vetapalam in Prakasham district, and Rajmundry in West Godavari district.

The major cashew-growing centres in East and West Godavari districts have plenty of fertile land to triple production in the next 10 years, he said. In terms of processing, Tuni is superior as it uses most of the machineries supplied from Mangalore and utilises the manufacturing skills of Kerala.

With Vishakapatnam port being very close to Tuni, it can be declared as an export zone. If that is done, Tuni can easily generate an export turnover of Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore.

Farmers blamed

However, the only setback for increasing raw cashewnut production in Andhra Pradesh is that the farmers are not taking this crop seriously. Farmers prefer casuarinas plantation to cashew because of better profitability and liquidity. Most of the major cashew plantations are being replaced with casuarinas crop, he added.

More Stories on : Cashew | Andhra Pradesh

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