Govt promotes cashew cultivation through MGNREGS

Mysuru: Cashew production has become stagnant across the country and to increase it, the Centre has modified the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme allowing farmers to take up plantation in their lands from this year.
The department of horticulture will provide farmers saplings, material along with labour cost, sources told TOI.
After Mysuru betel leaf, farmers in the district can take up cashew plantation under MGNREGS.
The Union government is encouraging farmers to take up several horticultural crops under MGNREGS apart from National Horticulture Mission schemes by including papaya, drumsticks, coconut, banana, mango, guava and other local specific plantation crops like rubber from this year.
Deputy director of horticulture Dr BT Rudresh told TOI that farmers having job cards issued by local gram panchayats can take up plantation especially in dry lands, areas with degraded soil and marginal land as such land is good for cultivation of cashew.
The department will provide farmers up to 400 saplings per acre after purchasing them from cashew cultivation areas of Kodagu, Kolar, Dakshina Kannada and Belagavi.
Dr Rudresh said farmers can get assistance up to a maximum of Rs 80,000 per acre for buying saplings, other material and for labour. He said that the department has received many enquiries for cashew cultivation from HD Kote, Hunsur, Periyapatna and Nanjangud taluks.
Yield from third year
The high-yielding H-30 variety saplings will be supplied to farmers. Farmers can plant up to 600 saplings in their land depending upon space. Though the cashew plants will start flowering within a year of plantation, they will start yielding only from the third year. The hybrid variety of plant will yield nuts weighing 12- 13 grams. Farmers can harvest 18 to 23 kilograms of nuts from each tree per year and an acre of cashew plantation can produce 1,300kg nuts per year, officials said.