In the cashew industry parlance here, it is known as the ‘Aluva charakk’ (Aluva commodity). In other words, it is cashew kernels processed in hundreds of houses in the Aluva-Angamali belt.
Huge quantities of this commodity is entering the domestic markets directly and even brought to Kollam in bulk, mixed with the kernels processed here to enter the domestic and export markets.
So, what is wrong with cashew processing in Aluva or Angamali? In that belt, cashew processing is thriving as a cottage industry “and that is unauthorised” says Minister for Cashew Industry J. Mercykutty Amma. While cashew processed in that belt is of questionable quality, it is also an unethical business practice, she says.
While the activity provides income to hundreds of houses in that belt, the ‘Aluva Charakk’ enters the markets at the cost of the livelihood of hundreds of bona fide cashew workers. It creates unholy profits for those behind the activity and that is also badly hitting the authorised cashew processing sector of the State.
There are government-notified rules in force providing minimum wages and other statutory benefits to the workers. But the processing activity in the Aluva-Angamali belt is being carried out without meeting these mandatory provisions. It is a violation of the labour laws of the State.
Ms. Mercykutty Amma says the issue will be taken up with Minister for Labour T.P. Ramakrishnan for the intervention of the Labour Department to check the unauthorised activity.
Crude and unhygeinic
Unauthorised cashew processing as a cottage industry took roots in the Aluva-Angamali belt some years ago for various reasons pertaining to the high cost of production in the authorised sector. But the processing is crude and unhygienic.
Established cashew exporters based here say that the processing at the Aluva-Angamali belt is carried out without maintaining any hygiene standards and that it is eroding the reputation enjoyed by the Kollam kernels in the markets.
Traditional exporters say that a section of the cashew sector in Kollam itself has a big hand in the activity and raw nuts are even imported to be directly taken on the sly to the Aluva belt.