PANAJI
This was a key takeaway from the ongoing ‘National Conference on Cashew & Cocoa: Production to Marketing’ happening in Panaji.
Speaking at the conference, Dr S K Malhotra, agriculture and horticulture commissioner of central government, said, “We produced 6.7 lakh tonnes of cashews in 2015-16, which was down from 7.2 lakh tonnes in 2014-15. Our annual requirement of cashews is 16 lakh tonnes.”
Dr Malhotra further said that there is a huge gap in demand and supply of cashews in India. But cashew is a high-value crop. The price of raw cashew nut jumped to Rs 169 per kg now from Rs 30 per kg in 2001. He continued, “There is huge scope in cashew production. I have suggested that high-value crops like cashew, cocoa and spices should be grown more in India.” As of now, cashew processing industries in India have to import nuts from Africa. But the demand for raw cashew nuts is increasing as processing units are growing in Brazil and Vietnam as well.
Similarly, India’s demand for cocoa is way higher than its production. The annual production of cocoa stands at only 17,000 metric tons in India, while the demand is 30,000 metric tons, which is set to increase to 40,000 metric tons by 2020.
There is a compelling case to increase cocoa production in the country, particularly when the demand of chocolate and chocolate-based products is increasing.
Chief Secretary, R K Srivastava, opened the conference, which is being organised by the directorate of cashewnut and cocoa development of central government.
