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 Bonda
girls peeling cashew nuts in the processing unit at Mundiguda
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MALKANGIRI : Cashew nuts grown in Malkangiri
district will soon enter the retail market through Integrated Tribal
Development Agencies (ITDAs) and Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM).
A cashew
processing unit has started production at Mundiguda under Khairput block to
streamline the cashew sector in the district and provide employment to
Bonda tribals living in the Bonda Hill.
Cashew
nut cultivation in the district is primarily taken up by the primitive
Bonda tribals in Mudulipada, Andrahal, Badbel, Banguda and Padiaguda areas
under Muduliguda and Andrahal panchyats of Bonda Hill. Set up at a cost of
`80 lakh, the processing unit became operational last week. Around `50 lakh
was sanctioned under the Integrated Action Plan for civil construction and
the rest amount was spent by the administration for procuring machineries,
said ITDA project administrator RK Gond.
At least
40 Bonda tribals, mostly women, have been engaged in the unit to crack,
dry, peel, roast and pack the cashew nuts at a daily wage of `200 per day.
Two trained ITI fitters, who are the natives of Mudulipada, have been
employed to run the machineries.
After the
processing unit became functional last week, the Bonda Development Agency
procured 53 quintals of raw cashew nuts and Didayi Development Agency
bought 83 quintals from farmers. A total of 136 quintals of cashew nuts
were procured and sent to the unit for processing.
Sources
said even as cashew farming is taken up on a large scale by tribals, they
were forced to sell the produce to middlemen at just `80 to `100 per kg in
the absence of market linkage. However, after the unit was opened, the
tribal development agencies procured cashew nuts from the doorsteps of the
farmers at `140 per kg.
Collector
K Sudarshan Chakravarthy said the main objective of the project is to do
away with the middlemen and give a better market link to the Bonda farmers.
The unit
has been registered with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) and all farmers selling cashew nuts to the unit would be registered
under the Societies Act. While 5 to 10 per cent of the annual profit of the
unit would be used for its maintenance, the rest amount will be shared
among workers and farmers associated with the unit, he said.
The price
of the processed cashew nuts will be fixed depending on its quality and
structure. Processed nuts would be sold in retail market through ITDA and
OLM.
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