PANAJI
The quantum of cashew nuts procured by Goa Bagayatdar in the current season, forecast to be poor in terms of yields by multiple stakeholders, has surprisingly surpassed last year’s levels.
The prominent co-operative society, said to be among the State’s topmost purchasers of cashew nuts along with Zantye’s and a couple of other major processors, has thus far purchased a little over 1,200 tonnes.
Last year at this point in the season, the total procurement of the society was under 1,000 tonnes, Goa Bagayatdar sources said, but cautioned that the higher volumes this year cannot be construed as an indicator of higher cashew production.
“Cashew production has seen a decline in Goa for the last 3“4 years because of multiple reasons, particularly erratic climatic conditions. This year too, many are reporting a poor yield,” a senior functionary at Goa Bagayatdar told The Goan.
He added that the procurement may continue for some more days, but with an early monsoon forecast by the weatherman, it may not last until June 10 as was the case last year.
The Agriculture Department, meanwhile, is yet to make a final assessment of the cashew season this year. An official said the season has still not ended and compiling data on the total yield will take several more weeks.
