Gir Somnath (Gujarat): Jashwant Rolla, a farmer in Dhawa Gir village in Gujarat's Talala taluka, scripted a success story by reaping a considerable harvest from his cashew plantation in a barren farmland. Rolla's success has proved that cashew crops can be grown even in unproductive lands. Moreover, it is proven commercial cultivation of cashew can be more lucrative than even mango in the Gir region.
Over 17 years ago, Yashwant Rolla planted around 800 cashew saplings brought from Palghar in Maharashtra. Rolla planted those saplings on his own infertile arable land where no other agricultural crops including mango could be grown. Over 700 cashew trees were destroyed due to adverse weather conditions. But the remaining trees are healthy from which about 320 grafts have been prepared.
Now, the Dhawa Gir farmer was getting production of cashew nuts slowly and drawing an income of up to Rs 1.5 lakh per bigha. This is more remunerative than the mango crop. But there are problems due to the lack of established marketing for cashew in Saurashtra. So it seems a bit difficult to plant and produce cashew on a commercial scale at present.
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If farmers come forward to adopt diversified horticultural crops, then this area can become famous all over the world for cashew cultivation along with mango. Farmer Yashwant Rolla said that after 17 years of hard work, he has succeeded in cultivating cashews. Whereas, agricultural experts are not entirely sure whether cashews will be successful as a horticultural crop in this area.
After 17 years of hard work with great patience, the Dhawa Gir farmer has made a name for himself in cashew cultivation. While the Gir area is generally known as the mango area, one bigha can be planted with 40 cashew trees as against 16 mango trees. Regarding cashew returns, farmer Yashwant Rolla says that one cashew tree gives a financial return of around Rs four to five thousand during the year.
As 40 cashew trees can be grown per bigha, the estimated return per bigha would come to around Rs one and a half lakh. Such a return is not found in mango cultivation. This year, due to adverse weather conditions, cashew nut production has been affected to some extent. Currently, the price of cashew is around Rs 850 per kg. The production is low but the price is high. As a result, the farmers are getting good returns despite low yields.
Commercial cashew cultivation will get a boost. But commercial cashew cultivation in the Gir area seems to be a bit difficult due to prevailing circumstances. Today there is no solid system for processing and marketing of horticultural crops in this area. In the coming days, if the cultivated area of cashew increases, it will be produced on a commercial scale and eventually, cashew processing units may also come.
