About Cashew
The cashew nut (Anacardium occidental), a shrub or perennial plant in the sumac family (Anacardiaceae), is grown for its crunchy edible fruits, often called cashew “nuts” even though they are not good fruit. The domesticated cashew tree is native to the New World, but is cultivated in Brazil and India.
The seeds, which are rich in oil and have a unique flavor, are widely used in South and Southeast Asian cuisine and are a staple of many South Indian chicken and vegetarian dishes.
In Western countries, they are often eaten as a protein-rich snack. The cashew nut (Anacardium occidental), a shrub or perennial plant in the sumac family (Anacardiaceae), is grown for its crunchy edible fruits, often called cashew “nuts” even though they are not good fruit.
The domesticated cashew tree is native to the New World, but is grown in Brazil and India. The seeds, which are rich in oil and have a unique flavor, are widely used in South and Southeast Asian cuisine and are a staple of many South Indian chicken and vegetarian dishes. In Western countries, they are often eaten as a protein-rich snack.
Production process
Cashew products are apple cashew and cashew nuts/kernels. In India, cashew apples are used only in Goa to prepare cashew liquor called feni.
The cashew kernel is covered in a thin skin called the testa, which contains tannin and protects the sweet kernel from natural damage until it is processed. Therefore, the processing of cashew kernel is important. The grain content is about 22% to 24% inshell cashews. The main product is liquid cashew nut shell (cashew shell oil), which is an important ingredient in resin production. In India, the processing of cashew nuts began in the first half of the 20th century, and the processing was manual.
The Indian cashew processing industry started with a small family workshop, and over time, it has gradually developed into an active and well-organized industry. Due to the continuous increase in the worldwide demand for cashew nuts, the cashew processing industry has become a very profitable industry. Cashew processing plants are mostly located in rural and rural areas.
The number of cashew processors in India has grown rapidly from 170 in 1959 to 3,650 in 2005-2006, which are spread across many states in the country, providing employment to more than 0.5 million people, 95% of to make them are women, and India organizes it. about 1.18 million tons of raw cashew nuts during that period. The country probably has about 4,000 cashew nut processing companies.
India and the global cashew market
India is among the largest producers of cashew nuts, along with Vietnam, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. These four countries contribute 70% of global cashew production. Cultivated area is 4.71 million hectares worldwide producing 2.75 million tons per year.
In 2010, India produced 0.61 million tons of inshell walnuts from an area of 0.92 million hectares (NHB, 2010). This corresponds to 17.10% of the world cashew production out of 19.6% of the world cashew area. The biggest contribution to the country is from Maharashtra
(32.3%), Andhra Pradesh (16.15%), Orissa (13.7%), Kerala (10.76%) and Tamil Nadu (9.8%), indicating that the crop is grown in the peninsular region (Personal communication, 2010). In terms of imports, India is the largest importer, mainly from countries in the African sub-region.
Indian cashew industry
India was the first country to enter the global cashew market. The country has processed about 1.14 million tons of cashew nuts in 3,650 cashew processing plants spread across the country. The number of cashew processing companies has increased from 170 units in 1959 to more than 3500 in 2008.
The company employs about 0.5 million people and about 95% of them are women. (Anon, 2009). Forty-six percent of cashew processing is done in the organized sector while 54% is in the unorganized sector. The annual demand of the Indian cashew processing industry is about 1.5 million tonnes, of which only half is met by existing production.
To meet the growing demand, India imports in-shell cashew nuts from Congo, Tanzania, Indonesia and Thailand (Zheng, 2012). India exports cashew nuts to the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Germany (Department of Trade Intelligence and Statistics, 2011). Cashew has global value and Table 1 provides a summary of the different types of cashew products and products.
Raw and packaged
The proposed cashew nut processing unit will have an installed processing capacity of 500 MT raw cashew nuts per year for 200 days of operation.
The only equipment required will be cashew nuts. It is estimated that about 9.23 lakh Ha acres are under cashew cultivation in India. Therefore, obtaining about 500 tons of cashew nuts per season even at 100% using the license will not be a problem. Packaging materials like polythene bags and Corrugated boxes used should be available locally.
