Vietnam is likely to overtake India as the largest producer of cashew nuts, Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh said here on Saturday. He was citing a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, which states that India could loose its leadership in five years. The study was assigned by the ministry of commerce to explore the health of the nation?s cashew industry.
India faces severe threat from Vietnam due to the poor productivity of its cashew plantations. Indian productivity is lower by three to four times the productivity achieved by Vietnam. ?While Vietnam has hardly 10% of the world?s cashew farming area, it produces 34% of the world?s cashew. India, on the other hand, has the largest share of land under cashew (24%) but has a share of only 19% of the total production,? Jairam Ramesh said. The productivity of Vietnam is 2.8 tonne of cashew nuts per hectare, while the average productivity in India is only 663 kg per hectare. The credit for highest productivity in India goes to Maharashtra with 1.1 tonne per hectare. The state has also displaced Kerala as the largest producer of cashew with 25% of the total production.
The government of India has a proposal to re-plant and rejuvenate cashew plantation to increase the productivity. Under the scheme, 50,000 hectare from a total planted area of 8,37,000 would be replanted at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore.