Maharashtra’s cashew cultivators, already reeling under the losses incurred during the floods of 2019, have seen their challenges triple this year. The shutdown of the weekly market, damage of crops due to rains and hailstorms and reduction in demand due to the raging COVID19 pandemic have hit them hard.

“Just when we thought we would recover the damage due to the floods of 2019 in this season’s sale, Corona’s second wave came and the government shut the weekly markets. We depend on these markets to sell our cashews,” Dileep Dhoble, a cashew cultivator from Maharashtra’s Sangli district told Gaon Connection.

Also Read: Maharashtra lockdown – Fresh troubles for Alphonso farmers and traders

“The government must compensate our losses because cashew cultivators are among the worst-hit in the state,” 48-year-old Dhoble added.

In April and May, a bulk of cashew cultivators bring their harvest to the weekly fruit and vegetable markets, which have become a platform for connecting cultivators and buyers. 

These weekly markets, set up by the Maharashtra government in 2016 to minimise the role of middlemen and allow cultivators to sell their produce directly to consumers or wholesale traders, have turned into an  alternative marketing channel.

Local municipal corporations are tasked with providing open spaces, where the farmers produce committees (FPCs), farmers’ groups or farmers themselves set up temporary shops to sell their produce. 

Talking to Gaon Connection about the probable reasons behind the fall in demand for cashew, Dhanshree Sawant, owner of a cashew processing unit said: “Due to restrictions arising out of COVID19, marriages and parties have all been postponed. Also, all restaurants and tourist hotspots have been closed. As a result, large scale consumption of dry fruits has dropped.”

Also Read: Why are Iranian apples making Indian farmers angry?

Citing measures that could reduce farmers’ losses, 40-year-old Sushant Naik, a cashew cultivator from Sindhudurg district told Gaon Connection that due to the desperation of farmers who are unable to find buyers, a lot of middlemen and brokers were trying to buy the produce at throwaway prices.

“Cashew kernels are being sold at rupees fifty or sixty a kilogram. Farmers can sun-dry the produce and store it for selling when prices improve. The government should also act to keep these brokers in check,” Naik said.

Cashew cultivators have been sustaining losses at Rs 70 or Rs 80 a kg for two consecutive seasons — the floods of 2019 destroyed their produce and  last year’s pandemic-induced lockdown ensured the produce would be sold at half the standard price.

Also Read: A mango variety that fruits thrice a year and is suitable for kitchen gardening

“I grow cashew in a hectare of land. The produce is already less this year. It has come down from eight hundred or thousand kilogrammes of cashew to four hundred or eight hundred kilos now. The hailstorm added to the devastation,” Mangesh Gurav, a 38-year-old farmer from Khambale village in Sindhudurg district told Gaon Connection. 

The acreage under cashews in Maharashtra is 91,000 hectares. “The maximum cultivation is in the districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigarh, Palghar, Kolhapur and Sangli,” 54-year-old Vilas Sawant, president of the Farmers and Fruit Producers Union, told Gaon Connection. 

Also Read: Maharashtra’s food output to fall sharply as a result of climate change post 2033: Study

An estimated 270,000 tonnes of cashews are produced in Maharashtra every year, and these are renowned across the world. Examining the reasons behind the hardships faced by the cashew cultivators in the state, Sawant said: “Due to poor harvest, disruption in the supply chain  and low demand, the selling price of cashew has gone down in the last two years. The government should set a minimum selling price. If it can’t declare MSP, it should provide a subsidy of rupees twenty five per kilogram like the state government does in Goa,” he added.

Read this report in Hindi