The geographical indication tag recently awarded to the locally grown Goan cashew nuts could prevent nuts imported from Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tanzania and other African countries being sold as the real thing. The influx of cheaper imported cashews have meant that several processing units in Goa have been unable to sell their produce, some have even had to shut shop leading to loss of jobs and misery for workers. Higher minimum wages and compliance norms than in neighbouring states have also led to dwindling in number of processing units from 40 in 2005 to only 15 now. Industry experts ahead of the National Cashew Day opined that GI status will help carve out a special marketable identity for Goan cashew and would bring the state the same level of global recognition that tequila brought to Mexico. Worryingly productivity of the cashew crop in Goa has dropped to 453 kg per hectare from @ 600 kg earlier leading to the state producing only 25,800 tonnes of cashew annually. The need of the hour is to introduce schemes which prioritize and incentivise cashew farmers as cultivation is a year long labour of love.
