Celebration of Cashew Day cum District Level Seminar at DCR, Puttur
ICAR- Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR), Kemminje Puttur celebrated Cashew Day- 2026 on the theme “Value Addition of Cashew Apple” and organised Cashew Day cum District Level Seminar on 11-03-2026 at DCR, Puttur. As a Chief Guest on the occasion Dr. Selvarajan, Director, ICAR- National Research Centre for Banana, Tirucharapalli appreciated the achievement of the institute and AICRP ON Cashew centres for releasing more than 66 cashew varieties throughout major cashew growing regions since the inception of Institute. He also suggested that out of 60,000 tons of cashew apple production per year only 1% is used for value added products. The awareness about the cashew apple value addition should be created among cashew farmers. He also appreciated the activities of the ABI of the institute. As a guest of honour Dr. Femina, Director, DCCD Kochi appreciated the theme of the event and spoke about the nutritional value of cashew apple-based products and creating awareness among the public is need of the day. She also discussed about various schemes as well as credit support provided by government to start up FPO’s and other programmes. Shri Shree Padre, Executive Director, Adike Pathrike as a Guest of Honour discussed about the cashew value added products produced by various farmers and success stories of entrepreneurs from different parts of country in cashew apple value addition products and different ways of marketing them in various public places.
During the event, new cashew variety, Nethra-Samruddhi, Cashew Special and value-added products such as cashew apple jaggery, Cashew Sprouts Healthy Bites, Cashew Herbal Tea, Cashew Apple Milk Delight, Zingy Cashlime RTS, Cashew Apple RTS and Zingy Cashlime Fizz along with other publications of Directorate like Cashew News and extension folders were also released during the programme and institute website was also released. Dr. J. Dinakara Adiga Director, ICAR-DCR, delivered a presidential address and emphasized for branding and marketing of value-added products of cashew apple.
During the occasion, innovative cashew farmer award was given to Shri. Nagaraja N. from Challekere Tq. Chitradurga-Dist. and Best entrepreneur award to Shri Radha Krishna, Founder of Nidhi food Products, Puttur were felicitated. The technical session on value addition of cashew apple was conducted and different lectures were delivered for the benefit of participants. Dr. Jyoti Nishad, Scientist (Food Science) DCR, Puttur, spoke about the value-added products of cashew added products. Smt. Sruthi, G.K. discussed about the different schemes available for benefit of entrepreneur in MSME. Shri Sajeev, U. shared his success story about the utilization of cashew apple from Plantation Corporation Kerala (PCK). Vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Aswathy Chandrakumar, Scientist (Agricultural Extension). The programme was compered by Shri Prakash G. Bhat.
