KOLLAM: With the demand for the setting up of a Cashew Board at the Centre being put on the back burner by the Union Government for quite a while now, the state government is giving serious thought to the prospect of establishing a similar body at the state level.
Cashew Minister J Mercykutty Amma, who dropped strong hints in this regard, said with such a body in place processes like cashew procurement, production and sale, ensuring working days and others would be brought under a single umbrella.
“The idea now is to constitute a Kerala Cashew Board on the lines of CIAL. It will have the powers to take decisions on cashew procurement, production and sales as well as initiating steps to ensure maximum working days for the workers. Its top priority will be to keep off the middlemen,” the minister said on Saturday.
“The government is actively considering such a proposal and as part of this, a meeting to be attended by representatives from the RBI and the nationalised banks would be convened on Tuesday to discuss the share pattern,” she said after inaugurating the programme of indigenous production of raw cashew at the KSCDC Kottiyam factory.
Mercykutty Amma, while claiming the financial condition of the two public sector units in the cashew sector-- KSCDC and Capex-- had improved substantially, said due to this the banks were keen on providing the overdraft facility.
The minister said till date the liability to the tune of `80 crore had been settled and an amount of `65 crore was sanctioned as working capital by the government for the two PSUs.
With the inauguration of the indigenous production of raw cashew, KSCDC aims to plant 5,500 hybrid cashew saplings at its 30 factories. Besides, it will produce two lakh hybrid cashew saplings and undertake mixed farming on the factory premises.