July 19, 2019
Visakhapatnam/Vizianagaram: The project to set up a cashew processing unit in sub-plan areas of Parvathipuram has once again been revived. First mooted in December 2011, the project
had been dropped subsequently. Now, project officer (PO), ITDA (Integrated Tribal Development Agency) Dr V Vinod Kumar has
decided to revive the project.
Images by IT
The cashew processing unit was proposed to be developed by the ITDA to
rescue farmers from the clutches of middlemen.
However, the project remained shelved for seven years. Now, two sites have been identified, one near GM Valasa— a threeacre site at Tarakakandi and another in Rawada in Kurupam.
ITDA PO, Dr V Vinod Kumar said, “Proposals are being made to
process the cashew grown in the Parvathipuram Agency area. However, it is too early to say anything about the scale of
operation of the processing unit.
The site too is yet to be finalised.”
Cashew is one of the major plantation crops in the Parvathipuram Agency and is cultivated across around 57 thousand acres
land, mainly by tribal farmers.
Speaking to TOI, horticulture officer of ITDA, RVV Prasad said, “Cashew is one of the most popular plantation crops as the cost
of maintenance is low and the crop is quite resilient.
The average yield per acre is low, but over 12,000 tonnes of cashew with
kernel translates into 2,400 tonnes of processed cashew.”
Another major project which was supposed to come up in the Parvathipuram Agency, covering the eight mandals was the
10,000 capacity multi-unit cold storage. However, only the first phase to the project, supposed to take place in Salur, has been
tabled.
Venkatesh Bayya
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