Kerala Cashew Corp to buy raw nuts to ensure fair prices

The Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation(KSCDC) will procure raw cashew nuts from the market during the current season so as to meet raw material requirements of its processing units and ensure remunerative prices for the growers.

The Public Sector Corporation processed around 60,000 tonnes of raw nuts annually and made available 15,000 tonnes of exportable cashew kernels, providing employment for its workers for about 280 days a year.

“The Corporation, probably the largest manufacturers and employer of cashew kernels in the country, has been set up by the State Government with a view to grooming it as a model employer in the field providing employment to mainly women and physically challenged and has at present, 30 factories and more than 25,000 workers, out of which 95 per cent are women,” Dr K A Retheesh, Managing Director, KSCDC, told Business Line .

By setting up 10 procurement centres in major cashew growing districts of Kannur, Kasargode, Malappuram, Palakkad and Thrissur, the Corporation might be able to do some market intervention exercise, he said. It would buy raw nuts from the growers directly at the prevailing market prices. Last year, it was at around Rs 80 a kg, he said.

“If cashew industry is successful it will be beneficial for all stake holders like farmers, farm workers, industrialists, industrial workers, traders, brokers, etc,” he claimed. The primary aim is to enhance production of raw cashew nuts by ensuring fair prices for their produce, he said.

KSCDC, he said, focuses on procurement of raw cashew nuts directly from local farmers avoiding intermediaries. “This will guarantee realistic prices to farmers who will then be able to depend on it for their livelihood, thus facilitating the propagation of cashew cultivation in Kerala. Now, middlemen operating in this sector gather raw material from the farmers at a very low price and sell it in the market with a bulky margin, the beneficiaries being the middlemen and farmers crook up with little to spare,” he said.

Corporation has already invited expression of interest for association for purchase from cooperative societies which have infrastructure facilities like drying yards and godowns, he said.

“As a government company, KSCDC's purpose of setting up procurement centres is to protect the farmers from traders and middle men, to provide them with a minimum support price and at the same time procure good quality raw material required for its own production.” Dr Rethhesh said.

No pricing policy has helped the value of raw cashew nut and cashew kernel so far. However, market intervention of government agencies would protect the farmers from being exploited by middlemen, he said. During the last six years, the intervention of KSCDC in local procurement has helped the farmers to get good price for raw cashew nuts.