Time to increase cashew cultivation

Vijayawada: Farmers would come forward if there is good returns on any crop, says horticulture commissioner Chiranjiv Chowdary while inaugurating the two-day national conference on cashew nut and cocoa here on Friday.

About 250 representatives, including farmers, scientists and officials from 17 states attended the conference. The commissioner said that efforts were on to improve yield by introducing new variety seed of cashews. “The by-products like oil from cashew fruit is very much in demand and it is high time new products are derived from it,” he added.

He suggested that the farmers should go for inter-cropping cashew with turmeric, spices, ginger and others to increase income manifold. ICAR director MG Naik said many byproducts are being derived from cashew.

He appealed to the farmers to adapt to new techniques to improve yield and thus revenue. Cashew Exports Promotions Council of India chairman Dr RK Boods said that the farmers would get good revenue if cashew is cultivated in organic system.

OSCDC managing director from Bhuvaneswar Sadanand Naik said that 46 varieties of cashews are presently available in the country. He said that the cashew production would go up five times in the next five years.

The best cashew farmer awards were presented to A Kenneth (Nagaland), P Senapathi (Odisha), Lakshminarayana and Satyanarayana (Both from AP), Kurien Manku Naik (Kerala), K Siddhappa and Siddhappa Goud (Karnataka).