tamil nadu is the countrys fourth largest producer of cashew nuts and second largest exporter the state needs four lakh tonnes of raw cashew for processing every year but hardly 10 of this is harvested in tamil nadu the rest is imported from african countries including ivory coast and tanzania and thereby hangs a tale of declining yield and falling prices for local farmers and a nonremunerative business for the processing industry but farmers and processing industry representatives believe that they can turn things around with help from the state governmentthe 5000crore cashew industry in the state is facing its biggest challenge from vietnam which is flooding the market with cashew nuts that cost less than the local produce tamil nadu cashew processors exporters association secretary m ramakrishnan says these foreign processed cashew nuts are making their way into the indian market illegally posing a threat to our local business the government must take immediate steps to curb the illegal import of processed nutshe also wants waived the mandatory requirement for a certificate from the food safety and standards authority of india to import raw cashew nuts from africa such measures should be effected immediately because the volume of cashew processing in the state is expected to touch five lakh tonnes by 202425 he saysindustry sources say about 75000 tonnes of cashew processed in tamil nadu is exported largely to singapore malaysia and uae this apart a few companies use cashew nut shell to manufacture byproducts such as cashew nut shell liquid cnsl cnsl resin cashew friction dust and cardanol that have applications in the chemical industry however the cashew fruit largely goes waste on the farmlands despite having potential to be converted into valueadded products ramakrishnan says cashew fruit can be used for producing health drinks juice and feni cashew fruit is ten times the volume of nuts produced but is left behind in the fields if cashew apple is processed it will generate at least 20 more revenue for farmers he says cashew apples can also be used for production of bioethanol he adds the state agriculture department estimates that 36450 tonnes of raw cashew nuts were produced in 202223 the crop is grown on more than 85750 hectares mostly in ariyalur and cuddalore besides pudukkottai villupuram theni and thanjavur districts industry estimates about 1800 processing units are operating in four districts including cuddalore and kanyakumari with 90 of them being cottage industries each cottage unit processes less than 10 crore worth of cashew in 202223 processed cashew worth 750 crore was exportednow farmers in the panruti region of cuddalore especially wants a concerted effort to conserve and develop cashew cultivation they were devasted after tens of thousands of cashew trees were uprooted by cyclone thane that struck more than a decade ago in december 2011 film director and cashew farmer thangar bachan says only 30 of traditional cashew farmers are still engaged in cashew cultivation in panruti and surrounding areas the rest have migrated to jackfruit