Supplementary Crops Development Minister Dhramadasa Banda told The Island Financial Review that under the North- East Costal Community Development Project (NECCDP) the Ministry had allocated Rs.7 million to cultivate cashew in the Eastern Province because a highly successful cashew harvest could be obtained from the Eastern province.

He said that cashew, coconut and palmyra could be successfully grown in the Eastern Province because the congenial climatic conditions in the Province helped facilitate cashew cultivation.

Cashew Corporation Chairman Priyantha M.Piyadasa said that unemployed young men and women would be able secure both direct and in direct employment opportunities when massive scale cashew plantation commenced. Around 75 cashew processing personnel had already been recruited for Batticoloa processing unit. Cashew had become a perennial crop in the Eastern Province. One of the principal aims of the Corporation would be to capture a lucrative export market for Sri Lanka cashew in the near future.

Cashew Corporation Plantation Manager G.B.B.Surendra said that for the first time in Sri Lanka the Corporation had decided not to use chemical insecticides for Batticolao cashew cultivation and the harvest would be entirely organic. The Corporation would also train employees on stand-shielding, over drying, peeling, sorting (grading) and marketing.

He said that a special emphasis would be laid to packaging and the entire packaging process would be environmental-friendly. The Cashew Industry would mainly depend on weather conditions, capturing more buyers and companies, specifications and customer requirements and freight rates and promotional rebates.