Plantation Crops

CASHEW

 (Anacardium occidentale L.), Family : Anacardiaceae (2n = 42)

CASHEW in INDIA
Status in the world:
• The cashew kernel of India is of best quality in the world. India is the largest producer and exporter of cashew in the world. India stands first in area and production in the world, Area = 37 % and Production = 42 % production. Indian cashew export: 63 per cent of global cashew trade.
• Annual export earnings from India is nearly 2500 crore rupees out of which nearly 50 per cent is from imported raw nuts. In general over Rs. 3000 crore is the export earnings by the export of over 1 LMT cashew kernel and CNSL
Productivity:
• National average is 835 kg per ha (i.e., around 5.50 kg per tree) and this is far less than the achievable level of 2000 kg per ha (i.e., around 12.50 kg per tree).
• Maharashtra state is having highest productivity of about 1500kg per ha (Mainly due to adoption of drip irrigation and mulching techniques) while productivity in Kerala has come down (850 kg per ha) mainly because of old plantations.
Employment:
• Cashew gives employment to five lakh people in plantations and factories.
Processing units:
• In India there are more than 1700 processing units. Requirement of raw nuts for these factories is about 10 to 12 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) but domestic production in India is around 6 LMT. The deficit is imported from African and other countries viz.,