Assessment of Post-Harvest Handling of Cashew Nuts and Kernels in Lanja Tahsil of Ratnagiri District

Present investigation was undertaken during the year 2011–12 in Lanja Tahsil of Ratnagiri district by evaluating 47 cashewnut samples collected from the farmers. Maximum percent outturn(OT)was26.12% in the western region facing towards sea. The storage temperature, humidity and moisture content of the raw towards sea nuts were similar in the samples of all regions. About 42.56 percent farmers harvested their raw nuts daily by picking mature and ripe fruits from theground and manually detaching the nuts from apples. Only 19.14 per cent respondents were drying the nuts for 3–4 days, while remaining 80.86% respondents were drying them for less than two days, or sometimes not drying at all. The Bare floor storage was for less followed by two days 65.95 per cent respondents which indicated need for improvement in storage facilities in the study area.