Cashew Anacardium occidentale L. which was introduced in Goa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, mainly to control soil erosion and to use in afforestation programmes has now become an important cash crop of Goa. It is grown in an area of 47,094 ha which comes to 30 percent of the total cultivated area. Goa has more land under cashew than any other state. Although there has been significant increase in the area under cashew since liberation 13,513 ha in 1961, there has been no significant increase in the productivity. The average yield is around 1.5 kg nuts per tree which is quite low as compared to other states. The estimated production of raw nuts is about 11,310 tonnes which is insufficient to meet the requirement of about 13 cashewnut processing factories having 20,000 tonnes capacity.

Address: Ela, Old Goa - 403 402, Goa
Telephone: 0832-2284678
Fax: 0832-2285649
Website: http://icargoa.res.in/cashew_cultivation.htm