[IVC]: Côte d'Ivoire / Cashew nut sector: Hambol Council notes a drop in local production

June 21, 2019

View of a stock of products at a farmer's house in Niakara

Niakara, June 21 (AIP) - Taking stock at the mid-point of the 2019 cashew season, the regional delegate (DR) of the Hambol's Cotton and Cashew Council noted a decline in regional production, estimating from February 15 to date, at a little over 12 thousand tons, walnut harvests sold by the producers of Niakara against 20 thousand tons over the same period at the end of 2018, a deficit of nearly 7 thousand tons.

"From February 15, the date of the 2019 cashew nut marketing year, to date, only 12,246,682 tonnes of nuts have been sold by Niakara producers. Now, we should be at least 20,000 tonnes, when we go back to previous campaigns, "said regional delegate Atchoumou Koné.

He spoke on Tuesday at the Niakara prefecture during the mid-term review meeting of the 2019 campaign of the local committee of the departmental watch, organ chaired by the prefect of the district, Matenin Ouattara.

For the regional manager, the monitoring, control and regulation structure of the cashew nut campaign in Côte d'Ivoire, which has not concealed the existence of crop stocks from local producers, the figures are Below expectations in Niakara.

Referring to the adverse effects of global warming on the yield of cashew trees, he noted that this decline was also noticeable in the departments of Katiola and Dabakala. Anything that could "make Hambol lose its rank of 2nd region producing cashew nuts in Côte d'Ivoire after Béré".

Cashew growers in Niakara, questioned by the AIP on Thursday about the reasons for the fall in local production, have deplored, in addition to the vagaries of the weather, the growing disinterest in the campaigns over the maintenance of orchards .

"In the department of Niakara, not only have acres of cashew trees been ravaged by fire for lack of monitoring and maintenance of the plantations but also fruits have been abandoned to livestock for lack of motivation. This is due to the repeated failure of harvesting, "said Simon Koné Kpantouma (56), a cashew producer in Niakara.

(AIP)

jbm / fmo

Source: AIP

[Vietnam]: Vietnam backs commitments to enhancing ties with Ivory Coast: PM

June 20, 2019

Vietnam supports commitments to promoting cooperation between the country and Ivory Coast in not only economy but also other spheres, including national defence, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on June 19.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and FM of Ivory Coast Marcel Amon-Tanoh (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

At a reception for Foreign Minister of Ivory Coast Marcel Amon-Tanoh in Hanoi, the PM expressed his hope that businesses of the two countries will step up trade promotion activities.

He called on the Ivory Coast to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to operate in the African country and for Vietnamese goods to penetrate the market.

PM Phuc said he expects that Vietnam and the Ivory Coast will soon reach concrete outcomes in new cooperation spheres, stressing Vietnam stands ready to share its experience and assist the Ivory Coast in rice cultivation.

He suggested the two countries optimise their strength in cashew export, cooperate with and support each other in this regard.

The Ivory Coast would become a bridge for Vietnam to enter the African market while Vietnam would serve as a gateway for the Ivory Coast to penetrate into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as Vietnam’s major partners, he said.

The leader thanked the Ivory Coast Government for the attention and favourable conditions it has given to the Vietnamese community in the host country.

He said the minister’s first-ever visit to Vietnam will open up a new chapter in the relations between the two countries, contributing to the consolidation of the bilateral friendship and cooperation in the time ahead, especially in economy, trade and investment.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) receives FM of Ivory Coast Marcel Amon-Tanoh (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

For his part, Amon-Tanoh briefed the PM on the results of his talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, saying the two sides discussed many solutions to enhance the bilateral ties.

He said with an open and attractive business environment, the Ivory Coast hopes to attract more foreign investors, including those from Vietnam.

The minister suggested the two countries soon sign agreements on investment protection and double taxation avoidance in order to improve the efficiency of the bilateral economic ties.

In the process of economic modernisation, the Ivory Coast wants to develop the processing industry, especially cashew processing, he said, describing this as an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to invest in the country.

The two sides also agreed to diversify collaboration in national defence and health care.

Reporters

Source: Nhan Dan Daily

[India]: Why African nuts get roasted in Kerala Assembly?

June 20, 2019

Congress leader Thiruvananchoor Radhakrishnan and Minister for Fisheries and Cashew Industry J Mercykutty Amma

Some of the least heard African nations like Guinea-Bissau and Burkino Faso, and the cashew they produce, had the Kerala Assembly in their grip on Thursday. While the opposition alleged huge corruption in the import of raw cashew nuts from Mozambique, Ghana and Guinea-Bissau, Minister for Fisheries and Cashew Industry J Mercykutty Amma said the transactions were done in the most transparent manner. It was Congress leader Thiruvananchoor Radhakrishnan who raised the issue when he sought to move an adjournment motion in the House. Thiruvanchoor's charge was that norms were outed to import lowquality nuts. “The very reason you formed a special purpose vehicle to import cashew was to do away with middlemen,” he said. “The ads for the import of cashew were placed in the local papers of Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Burkino Faso, Ivory Coast and Ghana. And the order was placed with companies there. But the man who actually supplied the raw nuts was a Sahadevan Pillai from Thazhava,” Thiruvanchoor said, causing uproarious laughter on the opposition side. The Congress leader even hinted that the man could be the very same Thazhava Sahadevan who was the BJP candidate for Mavelikkara Lok Sabha seat.

The minister, in her reply, said when the Cashew Board enters into an agreement with foreign suppliers, the suppliers have the right to appoint their own agents. “The board will deal with anyone the suppliers appoint as their authorised agents,” Mercykutty Amma said. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala then pointed out the irony of the new arrangement. “The agents these foreign suppliers had appointed, Sahadevan Pillai and Chandramohan, were the very same persons who had functioned as middlemen earlier. You promised to keep them out but has now brought them back in a new name. This is nothing but old wine in new bottle,” Chennithala said. Thiruvanchoor was especially critical of the quality of the imported nuts. He said the 'out-turn' of the imported cashew nut kernels was low, and their 'nut count' was high. Out-turn is the weight of the nuts after processing or the shelling of the nuts. “The out-turn was just about 45 and the nut count was over 190,” Thiruvanchoor said. The lower out-turn meant that a sack of nuts after processing weighed just 13-14 kg. “It should have been at least 50 for it to be protable,” the opposition leader later said. Thiruvanchoor said a higher nut count meant that the size of the nuts would be smaller. “The nuts that came here from Africa looked like they had chikungunya,” Thiruvanchoor said. Further, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the imported nuts were not fresh. “What we imported were nuts that were languishing unsold in the godowns of these African countries,” Chennithala said. The quality of the nuts, therefore, was all the more worse.

The minister unwittingly endorsed Chennithala's argument when she said Tanzania had approached the Cashew Board for the sale of nuts. “They have two lakh metric tonnes of nut stock lying unsold with them. They are willing to sell it at very low prices. Last year, they were unwilling to sell it for anything below $2000 per tonne,” Mercykutty Amma said. Dumping of cheap and low-quality nuts by African nations has been cited as one of the reasons why the domestic cashew industry had lost its competitive edge. Both Thiruvanchoor and Chennithala said the board had suffered a loss of Rs 20 crore by way of import. The minister refuted the charge. “I have no idea from where they have come up with such a gure,” she said. The nuts, the ones whose quality has now been questioned by the opposition, were imported using the sealed tender route, and not through e-tender. Any transaction above Rs 5 crore should mandatorily take the e-tender route. The minister said sealed tenders had to be resorted to last year because there was an urgent need to secure raw nuts. “In fact, we had started with e-tenders. But it was found that foreign companies could not take part in the tender process. Then, digital signatures were not approved of. So the board asked whether a sealed tender route could be taken. We discussed it in the cabinet and secured the approval,” the minister said. “Now, we have gone back to the e-tender process,” the minister added.

Chennithala said he did not doubt the thinking behind the decision. “The situation perhaps demanded such a step but what we are saying is that certain vested interests have used the decision as a cover to pursue their corrupt ends,” Chennithala said. The UDF staged a walkout demanding a vigilance enquiry into the cashew import deals with African nations.

By Onmanorama staff

Source: Manorama Online

[India]: Cashew Cultivation Extended to Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh

June 20, 2019

The cashew cultivation is generally done on the coastal line of India. Four centuries ago, the adventurous Portuguese came sailing down the Indian coasts and brought with them the priceless tree nut  "Cashew”, the wonder nut of the world. 

Images by IT

Cashew came, conquered and took deep roots in the entire coastal region of India. Cashew found the Indian soil more homely than its homeland. Later it spread as a popular crop to other parts of  India. Cashew cultivation at the present covers a total area of 0.70 million hectares of land, producing over 0.40 million M.T. of raw cashew nuts yearly.

In view of the export potential of the wonder nut the Cashew, the export promotion council of the cashew proposed the extended scope of the cultivation in other states of India also. 

The cashew cultivation is now being extended to non-traditional States such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, according to Venkatesh N Hubballi, Director of the Kochi-based Directorate of Cashew nut and Cocoa Development (DCCD).

On the occasion of the Foundation Day celebrations of the Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR) at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, he said cashew would be planted in about 2,000 hectares in Madhya Pradesh in 2019-20.

Images by IT

Its cultivation was initiated in Betul region of Madhya Pradesh in 2018-19, and varieties such as Vengurla-4 and Vengurla-7 are doing well there. The region has witnessed more than 90 per cent success rate till now.

Cashew cultivation will be introduced in Rajasthan in 2019-20. Though the survey is yet to be done, plans are there to cover about 150 hectares in that State, he said.

Stating that cashew is being cultivated in 19 States now, he said Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are the recent additions. Steps will be taken to intensify cashew cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, Jharjkhand, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Tripura and Meghalaya among others.

Based on the suggestion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a more focused attention on cashew cultivation, DCCD had made a project proposal to take up cashew cultivation on 1.2 lakh hectares in 2017. The Agriculture Ministry has approved the plan.

Following this, cashew cultivation was taken up on 48,000 hectares in the country. Hubballi said there are plans to take up cashew cultivation on at least additional 50,000 hectares during 2019-20.  Subhash Rai, a cashew grower from the region, who spoke at the foundation day celebrations earlier, stressed the need to form a farmers’ association at the national- level to provide a level-playing field for cashew growers in the country.

By: Chander Mohan

Source: Krishijagran 

[India]: Cashew growers form association

June 20, 2019

Images by IT

Cashew growers in the country have formed an All-India Cashew Growers’ Association, a national-level platform to highlight their issues, at a meeting at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.

A press release said that Nanya Achyuta Moodattaya, a cashew farmer from Dakshina Kannada district, has been unanimously elected as President of the association. Shankaranarayana Bhat Khandige, a cashew farmer from Kasaragod district of Kerala, has been elected as Vice-President of the organisation.

Deviprasad Kallaje from Dakshina Kannada district, Vilas Anantarao Thakur of Maharashtra, and Subhas Rai Kadamajalu from Dakshina Kannada district, have been elected as Secretary, Joint-Secretary and Treasurer of the association, respectively.

Eight members from Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have been elected as trustees of the organisation.

Reporters

Source: The Business Line India

[India]: Oppn. alleges graft in cashew procurement, walks out of House

June 20, 2019

Govt. says charges baseless and its efforts have benefitted sector

Images by IT

The Opposition walked out of the Assembly on Thursday in protest against alleged corruption in the tendering and purchase of raw cashew from Mozambique.

In turn, the government took strong exception to the Opposition's boycott on a “non-issue”.

Law Minister A. K. Balan said Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had violated procedure by harping on baseless charges of corruption in cashew procurement though Congress lawmaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had raised no such allegation in writing when he sought permission to move an adjournment motion in the House to discuss the ‘crisis in the cashew sector’.

He said Mr. Chennithala had raised the graft charge out of the blue. He had denied Minister for Cashew Industries, J. Mercykutty Amma, a chance to defend herself. Mr. Balan requested Speaker P. Sivaramakrishnan to expunge Mr. Chennithala’s allegations from Assembly records. The Speaker said he would rule on the matter later.

Mr. Radhakrishnan confronted the government with the accusation that the Kerala Cashew Board (KCB) had contracted the very middlemen it had sought to eliminate to procure raw cashew from Tanzania and Mozambique.

e-tendering bypassed

It waived the e-tendering process to enable the agents to import low-grade cashew with diminished nut yield at a rate higher than the market rate under the pretext of protecting the jobs of 3 lakh cashew workers in Kollam district.

The government had tendered for cashew in advertisements published in newspapers in far-flung Africa.

However, those who responded to the expression of intent were agents in Kerala. Mr Radhakrishnan also questioned the credibility of the firm contracted by the government to examine the quality of raw cashew imports. The KCB's import of cashew had caused massive loss to the State and undue pecuniary gain to the suppliers and their agents.

Chennithala demand

Mr. Ramesh demanded a Vigilance inquiry into the procurement process.

Ms. Mercykutty Amma said KCB’s successful market intervention had lowered the global price of cashew. Tanzanian government has agreed to supply 2 lakh metric tonnes at significantly low prices. The government had no say on which entities foreign suppliers appointed as their authorised agents in Kerala.

She said the government had bypassed the e-tendering process temporarily because some foreign suppliers did not have the digital signature to authorise their document and wire transfers. The issue has been resolved now.

Reporters

Source: The Hindu India

[India]: UDF alleges graft in raw cashew purchase, seeks probe

June 20, 2019

The opposition Congress-led UDF Thursday demanded a vigilance inquiry into the alleged corruption and irregularities into the import of raw cashew nuts by the state-run department and staged a walkout as the Left government refused their demand.

Images by IT

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that there were large-scale irregularities in the purchase of cashew by the Kerala Cashew Board and corruption in the functioning of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation limited and the Kerala State Cashew Workers Apex Industrial Co-operative Society (CAPEX).

The CPI(M)-led LDF government had purchased raw cashew from Mozambique, a south-east African country.

"Low quality cashew, lying dumped in godowns, was bought by the state. There was corruption behind import of unwanted cashew. Besides, it had taken two more months to bring the consignment to Kerala from Mozambique.

By this time, the price of cashew had crashed in the international market," he said.

Though the CAPEX managing director Rajesh had warned that the purchase of the low quality cashew would cause a loss of Rs 17.5 crore, it was ignored, Chennithala alleged.

"Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should be ready to order a vigilance inquiry into the corruption and irregularities into the import of raw cashew nuts," he said.

Stating that the cashew industry was reeling under grave crisis, the Congress leader said over 40 state-run cashew units were closed, leaving thousands of workers, majority of them women, jobless.

Besides this, over 700 private cashew factories were also not functioning, he said, adding that three small scale private cashew factory owners had ended their life in recent days due to the continuing crisis in the sector.

"Over 3-4 lakh labourers are working in the cashew sector in the state.The LDF government had come to power promising jobs to cashew workers throughout the year," he said.

"You (LDF) had also promised that you would take over the private cashew factories if voted to power. But, not even a single such factory had been taken over in the last three years," Chennithala said.

The Cashew Board was formed by this government to avoid intermediaries and purchase raw nuts directly from foreign countries but the government failed to implement it effectively, he alleged.

However, J Mercykutty Amma, state Minister for Fisheries and Cashew Industries, refuted the charges and said the government had purchased cashew nut as per the prescribed norms and guidelines.

She also said the government was committed to ensuring more working days to cashew workers and the chief minister would soon conduct a meeting with various stakeholders to resolve issues.

With Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan rejecting a notice for an adjournment motion over the issue, moved by Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, and chief minister their demand for vigilance probe, the opposition staged a walkout.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Source:  Business Standard  India