Goa’s cashew quandary is a catch-22

There’s a lot to chew on Goa’s declining cashew yield. This Brazilian nut – a Portuguese legacy – is a major source of direct and indirect revenues for many Goans. 

Though, lately, this horticulture crop is in the thick of controversy revolving around agriculture, forest, environment and politics. This is threatening to hit not just its economics and productivity, but also Goa’s environment.      

This year’s 50 per cent slump in the cashew yield has already set the alarm bells ringing. There are projections of a further drop in the cashew yield in the coming times too due to climatic factors. 

Now, the doomsayers are calling for “timely invention” to avert the crisis in the State but tackling what has hit the cashew industry may not be that easy. This nutty issue is a catch-22. 

For some time now, environmentalists have been crying hoarse about how aggressive cashew cultivation is destroying the ecosystem of the region resulting in climate change. 

In a counter to this assertion, cashew cultivators and politicians have been claiming cashew yields have considerably dipped due to global warming and therefore more area should come under cashew cultivation. 

In her address at the second edition of the Cashew Fest Goa 2024, the Goa Forest Development Corporation (GFDC) chairman and Poriem MLA, Divya Rane said currently the annual raw cashew output was around 25,800 tonnes. 

A report brought out by Dharwad’s University of Agricultural Sciences titled ‘Analysis of Cashew Value Chain in Goa’ states the Coastal State produced 24,396 tonnes of raw cashew in an area of 56,735 hectares in 2016-17. 

It was then in the sixth position in terms of both area and production in the country. Today, the State’s ranking has slipped to the seventh place.   

In terms of production per hectare, Goa has always been below the national average. This year, the State’s output per hectare was 455 kg compared to 760 kg at the national level. 

This is not very different from the productivity of cashew trees at 430 kg per hectare against the national average of 748 kg per hectare in 2016-17. 

Rajendra Kerkar, an activist who has waged a war against state authorities to preserve Goa’s forests and rivers, has been repeatedly claiming indiscriminate cultivation of cashew trees on forest and other lands “will have serious implications on the ecology (largely in Sattari)”. 

According to him, forest lands, gutted by fires last year, are now being used to cultivate cashew crops. This has worried him no end and his fears may not be unfounded. 

If environmentalists are to be believed then continuation of this trend will further bring down the cashew yield by creating a climatic phenomenon of abnormally high temperature and unseasonal rains during winter months. 

Cashew crop grows well in the hot and humid climatic conditions of coastal areas with temperatures ranging between 20 and 38 degrees Celsius, humidity between 60 and 90 per cent and annual precipitation between 2,000 and 3,500 millimetres (mm). Well-drained deep sandy soils are ideal for it. 

As per the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), an apex agriculture research body, cashew covers the largest area among horticulture crops and is one of the major foreign exchange earners in Goa. 

ICAR website notes that 55,302 hectares of the State’s land area is covered by cashew cultivation with a total output of 27,070 tonnes.  

The cash crop is grown mostly in Pernem, Bicholim, Sattari, Sangeum, Quepem and Canacona talukas. There is apprehension among people like Kerkar that large chunks of forest lands are being used for growing cashews. 

This, they believe, is being done by forest authorities allocating forest lands to tribals or forest settlers under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. This law recognises the rights of forest-dwelling communities to land and other resources. 

This is ironic considering that the Latin American crop was initially brought to Goa by the Portuguese in the 16th century solely for the purpose of afforestation and soil conservation.  

Cashew farming does make a lot of difference to those dependent on it, but deforestation for the sake of it will certainly prove to be counter-productive. The best way forward for Goa is to integrate cashew plantations into existing farms without cutting forests.           

So, even as we celebrate Cashew Fest Goa 2024, it is time to say cheers to a future where cashews and healthy ecosystems thrive together!