A chill in the air in recent days has made cashew farmers in the state hopeful for a bountiful cashew crop this season, reports Bhiva P Parab
Goa’s cashew crop in the previous season was not normal disappointing many farmers in the state. This year with the weather favorable farmers are hopeful of good crop as the cashew season advances.
The clearing of bushes in plantations have begun in the various parts of the state. The cashew season is expected to begin shortly as already flowering has started in the state. However unseasonal rains and erratic climatic conditions which prevailed after monsoons are cause for worry as farmers fear that it will adversely affect the cashew yield.
Cashew cultivation is the livelihood for several farmers in the state. Families are sustained on the cashew crop through the income obtained from selling cashew nuts. Farmers said that, if the cashew yield is low as it was in the 2023 season, their income will be low and they will face difficulties due to shortage of money in the coming months.
A farmer from Pernem taluka said, “This season the climate till now is normal and there is still chill in the air. We are now at least expecting good returns from cashew in the coming days if the climatic conditions remain favorable.”
According to the information available from the sources, the local variety of a cashew tree gives on an average 3 kg of nuts per season while the high yielding varieties gives around 10 kg of nuts per season. The nuts collected are sold to wholesalers. However the rate to a farmer depends on the market forces and also the quality of nuts.
Production of the cashew nuts in the state over the years has increased, but productivity of the existing farms is hardly improved due to soil erosion and non-application of any nutrients. The agricultural department provides assistance by way of supply of neem cake, rock phosphate, gap filling of cashew grafts and also undertakes staggered contour trenches for soil conservation. Slowly more land is being brought under cashew cultivation, but there remains lot of scope for improvement of cultivation practices.
It may be noted that cashew was introduced by the Portuguese in Goa some five centuries back and soon became an important commercial crop in the state. There are several difficulties faced by farmers in cultivation and one of them is the forest fires.
During the summer season there are incidents of fire in the cashew plantations, especially in the hilly area, which destroys cashew plants making loss to farmers. It may be noted that the traditional Aagist, (fire cover) which used to be common in the past is rarely practiced in recent years. About three metres from the boundary of the cashew plants on the hill a grass patch of one to two metre is selected and by taking some grass at a time it is burnt and then extinguished, which creates a protective belt around the cashew plants hill. The practice known as Aagist, helps in keeping the fire away from the cashew plants, thus reducing incidents of large scale destruction of trees in the cashew plantations.
The cashew fruit in the state is used to make Feni, the traditional alcoholic beverage. “The fruit is collected manually by moving around plantations, which are mostly on the hills and are gathered into a Kolambi. A Kolambi is a natural rock having shape of a basin, selected for crushing cashew apples after separating the nuts. The Kolambi has a narrow channel to allow the juice to flow into a container, however nowadays some build artificial Kolambi and few even use machines for crushing. Artificial Kolambi is used mostly by distillers who make Feni in large quantities for sale. Preparing Feni is hard work and is a tedious job,” said, a cashew farmer.
According to the information available from the sources, for the preparation of Feni, fresh cashew apples are required. The cashew apples when crushed releases the juice which flows into a container. After the quota of collected cashew is crushed after around half- hour, a pure juice trickles down from the Kolambi called, Niro.
There is good demand for Niro and people come even to the cashew plantations to buy the drink. During these cashew harvesting days at many places, one can spot Niro in bottles kept for sale. The sale is mostly along roadside and the price of a bottle of Niro varies according to the place. Niro is priced at around Rs 100 to Rs 200 for one litre bottle.
