Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002, Tamil Nadu.
The study has been carried out in two major cashew-growing states, viz. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with the specific objectives of examining the production efficiency of cashew plantations and finding the processing feasibility of cashew units. The estimated mean technical efficiency (MTE) has been found higher of high-yielding varieties than of traditional varieties in Tamil Nadu as well as in Andhra Pradesh. The study has indicated that the sample farms, on an average, could increase the output of cashew by 18 per cent in case of high-yielding varieties and 24 per cent in traditional farms in Tamil Nadu, whereas the output of cashew could be increased by 16 per cent in varietal orchards and 21 per cent in traditional varieties in Andhra Pradesh, through the proper adoption of technology without additional use of resource. The study has suggested replacement of the traditional cashew orchards with high-yielding variety, adoption of modern production technologies like top working of existing senile plantations with high-yielding variety, and switching over from drum roasting to steaming method of processing to increase the value chain in cashew.
