Date:20/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/05/20/stories/2005052002341700.htm

Back KCDC hopes to grow 3.40 lakh hybrid cashew saplings this year

Our Bureau

Mangalore , May 19

KARNATAKA Cashew Development Corporation (KCDC) Ltd, which has taken steps to increase the area of cashew plantations in the State, planted around 1.75 lakh hybrid saplings on 802 hectares of land in the last two years.

Addressing newspersons here on Thursday, the KCDC President, Mr K. Taranath Shetty, said that this year another 2.80 lakh saplings are being planted on 1,360 hectares of land.

Added to this, the corporation will call for tenders to plant three lakh hybrid saplings on 1,500 hectares of land.

Apart from increasing the area of plantations, KCDC has set a target of producing 3.40 lakh hybrid saplings in its various nurseries during the year.

He said the corporation has taken up a project on identifying high-yielding trees in its plantations.

Those trees will be used for grafting so that offspring from them can be used in other plantations.

The Union Government, which has sanctioned a grant of Rs 44.4 lakh, has promised to grant another Rs 50.32 lakh for the development of a new cashew species, he said.

Best plantations under the jurisdiction of the corporation will be identified, and the staff there will be honoured, he said.

The corporation earned an income of Rs 3.37 crore in the last fiscal.

He attributed this to a good demand for cashew in the market.

Mr Shetty said that the State Government has decided to merge the Rubber Wing of Karnataka Forest Development Corporation with KCDC. The new entity will be known as Karnataka Cashew and Rubber Development Corporation. The process of merger is on, he added.