Cashew Fair attracts farmers and citizens alike

Mangalore, February 13: There is a need to increase areas under cashew cultivation as the opportunity for the cashew production in Karnataka is ample, said S D Sampath Samrajya, a senior member of Board of Management of Horticulture University (Bagalkot).

Speaking at 'Cashew Mela 2011', organised under the joint auspicious of the Horticulture University, Horticulture Research Station (Ullal), DK district Jilla Krishika Samaja, Agriculture University at Horticulture Research Station at Ullal on Saturday, he said compared to the neighbouring states of Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra, the average production of cashew nut in Karnataka is less.

He also said cashew earned foreign exchange of about Rs. 3,000 crore, but its production had remained static in the country at 4.5 lakh to 5 lakh tonnes.

Cashew processing industries needed 12 lakh tonnes in the country and they were forced to import raw cashew seeds. In Dakshina Kannada and Udupi alone there were more than 200 cashew processing units. There was a need to augment cashew production to meet the demand, he added.

S B Dandin, Vice-Chancellor of the Horticulture University, said his University would soon introduce stipend based courses to prepare youths to take to agriculture.

He said he had recommended the State Government to stress on “A-learning” (Agriculture-learning) in the “Agri Budget” which Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa has proposed to introduce from this year.

Revealing that he was part of the consultative meetings in this regard till last Friday, Dandin said that he wanted agriculture-oriented lessons for students from classes 8 to plus 2 level so that youngsters remained grounded to agriculture instead of clamouring for medical and engineering courses.

Attractive fair

The 'Cashew Mela' attracted a large number of farmers and enthusiastic citizens from different parts of the state. The fair was indeed an annual interactive field day for farmers under Ullal based Cashew Research Station, functioning under the Bangalkot-based University.

Varieties of seeds and cashew fruits were on display for the public. Cashew juice making machine and cashew nut cutting machines were also part of the exhibition. The exhibition also had a presentation on cashew production, methods of planting cashew saplings, how to get more yield, diseases affecting cashew trees and ways to control it etc.