• PRADEEPA K S
• S N YOGISH

Abstract — Cashew is a prominent commercial crop of India and six Indian states including Karnataka contribute exceedingly to the total national output. At present, India has a processing capacity of nearly seven hundred thousand metric tons and to meet the raw nut demand, the country depends partially on imports from several African and in recent years, from south-east Asian countries. This has considerable drain on the country’s foreign exchange reserves and there is an urgent need to increase local production to substitute imported raw material in order to derive the maximum benefits from a strong processing and marketing capability developed over the years by the Indian cashew industry. The main objective of the paper is to understand the area of cashew cultivation, cashew output and its significance as a commercial crop and to make suggestions in order to make cashew cultivation competitive and viable. The major challenges in cashew sector are; to break yield barrier of low productivity, ever increasing demand for cashew kernel both at national and international level, increasing competition with South- East Asian countries, development of site specific technology for better input use efficiency, up-scaling of cashew apple based products, development of cashew by-product based industries, automation with high precision and efficiency in raw cashew nut processing in the scenario of labor shortage, value-added cashew products etc. In this study opportunities and constraints for cashew development are assessed and few implicative strategies for cashew production scenario are suggested.

Cashew crop; Constraints in cashew cultivation; Production and productivity

"Cashew Cultivation in South India: Problems and Potentials", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.1080-1084, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907U32.pdf

"Cashew Cultivation in South India: Problems and Potentials", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp1080-1084, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907U32.pdf