Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji
To boost cashew yield and meet the growing agricultural demand across Goa, the Government Agricultural Farm at Codar, Ponda, is taking major strides to multiply and conserve high-yielding cashew germplasm.
With an ambitious roadmap to scale up cultivation from five to 28 hectares, the agriculture department is actively preparing to supply approximately one lakh grafts to local farmers to enhance overall productivity and crop returns.
At the core of this yield-boosting strategy is the utilisation of superior hybrid and high-yielding varieties.
Assistant Director of Agriculture Nagesh Komarpant said that hybrid selections such as V-4, V-9 and V-10 are central to these efforts, with V-10 emerging as the top preference among growers due to high market demand for raw cashews, locally known as ‘bibbe’.
Farm Superintendent Prajyot Sakhalkar said that the newly introduced V-10 grafts, brought from the Vengurla Research Centre, are expected to reach full yield potential within three to four years. Furthermore, the agriculture department is collaborating closely with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to study local Goan varieties, focusing on nut and fruit size to release quality high-yield selections to the public.
To support this massive multiplication drive, the Codar farm has established a diverse gene bank covering over six hectares with more than 1,700 grafts planted across seven distinct plots. The phased expansion began with a two-hectare plot featuring 460 grafts of Vengurla-7 at a cost of Rs 1,49,880, followed by a second two-hectare phase in March 2023 that added 320 grafts of Tiswadi-3 for Rs 1,94,275.
The germplasm bank has further broadened its yield trial field across specialised plots.
These include a 0.6-hectare plot with 240 grafts of Nethra Jumbo and H130 (Rs 1,69,800), a 0.4-hectare plot with 160 grafts of Goa-3, Goa-4, Goa-5, Goa-6, Bhaskara and Vengurla-9 (Rs 62,000), and two additional plots dedicated to Nethra Jumbo-I and II featuring 150 grafts on 0.75 hectares and 100 grafts on 0.50 hectares, respectively.
Together, these plots serve as a crucial foundation for evaluating productivity, conserving genetic diversity and driving future cashew yields across the state.
