Commercial cultivation of cashew is taken up in eight states of our country mainly in west and eastern coast viz., Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. India is the third largest producer and exporter of cashew in the world next only to Vietnam and Nigeria. It is the second largest consumer of cashew and also the biggest processor with highest acreage under the crop. The current cashew production of the country accounts for 23.0% of the global production.
Cashew is a versatile, though paradoxical nut. Beginning as a poor man’s crop, it ends up as the rich man’s favourite snack-food all over the world. There is substantial potential to exploit cashew by-products, such as cashew butter from broken nuts, cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) for industrial and medicinal purposes and the juice of the cashew apple that can be processed further.
Cashew is a good crop for small holder farmers. India is the third largest consumer of cashew nuts in the world & India stands first in Cashew Nut Processing. India processes around 1.59 million tons of cashew nuts every year though it produces only around half of the quantity that it processes. Thus, as an entrepreneur this project offers an exciting opportunity to you.