PANAJI: Mining in Goa is eating into the state's cashew production and this is becoming a major cause of concern for the cashew cultivators in the state. Not only has increasing mining activity resulted in lower cashew production, but even the area in which cashew is cultivated has been reduced, said Goa Cashew Manufacturers Association president Madhav Sahakari.
"Some of the best plantations in Sanguem, Sattari and Quepem have been destroyed by mining activities. The production has come down and even the area in which cashew is cultivated has reduced over the years. Mining is eating into the land, especially due to dumping of mining rejects in the cashew plantations," said Sahakari, speaking to the press before the conference of All India Cashew Manufacturers. The conference called the Cashew Quest -2009 will start on Friday in the state.
Ironically, while mining is hitting cashew nut production, Sahakari admitted that old dumps of mining rejects or exhausted pits were ideal for starting plantations.
"Cashew was brought to Goa by the Portuguese for conservation of soil. It can grow on any surface. There have been successful projects where some old mining dumps have been converted into cashew plantations," he said. But there is no data available with the Goa Cashew Manufacturers Association on how many such old dumps have been converted into cashew plantations and what is the cashew yield in these plantations.
Though the cashew industry in other parts of the country is growing at over 10% per annum, industry insiders admit that contrary to their expectations, reliance on imported seeds is increasing by the day. "The Indian production of raw cashews have been constant at around 4.50 to 5 lakh metric tonnes as against the industry's requirement of 13 lakh metric tonnes. This despite the fact that industry which was predominant only in Goa, Karnataka and Kerala is now spread over to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Gujarat," said Suresh Zantye, manufacturer and exporter of cashew kernels.
Zantye said that presently India is importing 7 lakh metric tonnes of raw cashew from East and West Africa and also from Indonesia. "However, in future, imports from these countries will dry up and units in India will starve on account of shortage of raw seeds. So there is an urgent need to increase the raw cashew production in the country," said Zantye.
Sahakari said that there are many factors responsible for low cashew production in the state. "We have not given attention to cashew plants and due to this our per plant production is lowest at less than 1 kilogram. Also, though there are government schemes for cashew cultivators, there is no proper co-ordination between the farmers and other constituents," said Sahakari. Besides, the other challenges before the Indian industry are to overcome fragmentation, improve processes and face the transition from manual process to gradual automation.
Goa, which is known for its cashew nuts, cultivates about 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of raw nuts annually in nearly 50,000 hectares of land. Of these, 80% of the cashew processed in Goa is sold in the open market and the rest is exported. "If global recession has reduced cashew exports in the country by 15%, then the cashew export from Goa has gone down by 5%. However, in Goa we are not really feeling the heat of recession as there is a big, local market for cashews," said Sahakari.
Source : TOI