Kerala to set-up Cashew Board to revive

Kerala government would soon constitute a Cashew Board with an aim to revive the traditional cashew sector in the state, which gives employment to over 2.5 lakh people.
Minister for Cashew Industries and Fisheries, J Mercykutty told the assembly that the proposed Board was envisaged as a Special Purpose Vehicle to boost the cashew sector.
Replying to a notice seeking adjournment motion over the issues faced by the cashew sector, she also criticised the BJP-led NDA government and previous UPA government for not considering the state's long-pending demand to set up a similar facility at the national level. "The state government has decided to set up the Cashew Board headquartered in Kollam. It is a historic step to revive the cashew sector and to protect the interests of labours," Mercykutty said.

Stating that one of the main problems faced by the cashew sector was the non-availability of raw cashew, she said the proposed Board would take necessary steps to import raw cashew kernels and small-scale private cashew owners also offered support for this.
She also said the government was also planning a massive cashew plantation drive and a new variety of cashew that would give yield in one year would be launched in this September.
Detailing various steps taken by the LDF government to revive cashew sector, the minister said the public sector factories had been remained closed for eight months when the government came to power last year.

"With the strong intervention of the government, 40 of them have been re-opened. Of over 800 private factories closed due to various reasons including the non-availability of raw cashew, 428 have been re-opened in one year," she said. The minister also maintained that the government has enough stock of cashew--over 5000 ton--to run the public sector factories till Onam festival season. Meanwhile, seeking notice for the motion, P T Thomas (Congress) said the cashew sector was facing serious crisis and the government had not made any effective intervention to settle the core issues.
He also alleged that the CPI(M)-led government had failed to announce a cashew policy for the sector and did not give the bonus amount of Rs 2000 announced by the previous UDF government.

The opposition members later staged a walk out as Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan rejected their demand for discussion over the issue.