Stakeholders hope creation of TN Cashew Board will give new impetus to processing industry
The cashew processing factors are facing severe labour shortages and to resurrect this ailing industry, the state government should find ways to mechanise the process to make it more efficient.;
A defunct cashew processing unit at Devicode, Kanniyakumari
MADURAI: Hailing the announcement made on Agriculture Budget 2025-26, on the creation of Tamil Nadu Cashew Board at Rs 10 crore, many stakeholders, who rely on cashew processing units, feel that the board will give a new impetus to the industry.
According to SP Jeyapragasam, former president of Tamil Nadu Foodgrains Merchants Association Limited, Madurai, cashew processing plants, which were once a flourishing trade mostly in Kanniyakumari and Panruti in Cuddalore district, are now struggling to revive.
The cashew processing factors are facing severe labour shortages and to resurrect this ailing industry, the state government should find ways to mechanise the process to make it more efficient.
MP Jayachandran, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Cashew Factory Owners Development Association, said since cashews are grown on a limited scale in the Kanniyakumari district, quantities of raw cashews were imported from countries including South Africa, Indonesia, Nigeria and Benin and processed in factories before exports to London, America, China, Russia and German from Dubai.
However, since its market price increased phenomenally, the stakeholders could hardly compete in the international market.
A tin weighing 11.340 kg of raw cashew was priced Rs 7,000, but it has risen to Rs 8,200 now, he told DT Next on Monday.
The Cashew processing industry once remained a major employment sector for women, who were engaged in peeling husk, roasting and grading of cashews. The industry was a key driver in Kanniyakumari with 504 registered units, but now it has shrunk to 180 units since the business is not a profit-making entity anymore.
Apart from these, the industry is weighed down by peak-hour electricity charges and unnecessary intervention of the Department of Industrial Safety and Health. Citing these, Jayachandran requested the state government to introduce more subsidy schemes and bear 50 per cent interest on capital loans like how the Kerala government did to lift the industry out of the red.