Production and Export Performance of Cashew An Economic Analysis

Abstract

India is the largest producer, processor, exporter and consumer of cashew in the newlineworld. It accounts for 44.58 and 57.25 percent of the world production and exports newlinerespectively. Cashew is a major foreign exchange earner for India. A multistage random newlinesampling procedure was adopted in selection of the sample farmers. newlineA positive growth in production of cashewnut was observed and the interactions newlinebetween mean yield and area variance have contributed to variability of cashewnut production newlineat all India level. newlineThe establishment cost of cashew plantations was higher in Dakshina Kannada than newlineBelgaum. The extent of input use and cost of cultivation of cashewnut was higher in Dakshina newlineKannada than Belgaum. The reasons for higher costs in Dakshina Kannada are the higher newlineuse of inputs and higher wage rates. newlineThe financial analysis revealed that cashew enterprise has maximum NPC, BCR, newlinePBP and IRR. Among the five marketing channels identified, the producer s share in newlineprocessor s rupee was highest in channel-V and lowest in channel-II. newlineAll states registered significant growth in area, production and productivity except in newlineKerala. The wholesale prices showed increasing trend in all markets. Spatial price integration newlineshowed that all markets were not integrated at original price, except Karnataka and Tamil newlineNadu.The growth in export of cashew was significant in quantity and value. Markov Chain newlineanalysis revealed that USA, Australia and Netherlands were stable importers of Indian newlinecashew kernels. USA, Japan and Korea were the stable and loyal markets for Indian CNSL. newlineThe study suggests to enhance and to stabilise the production through increased newlineproductivity. The wholesale prices were highly integrated between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka newlinemarkets at first order of integration. To prevent fluctuations in prices of cashew, Crop newlineInsurance Scheme for cashew has to be initiated. Diversification of geographical newlineconcentration can be achieved by export promotion policies.