Cashew India app for farmers launched

Mangaluru: The Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR) in Karnataka has launched a mobile app that would provide information related to the crop’s cultivation, market data and research for stakeholders, including the farmers.

The ‘Cashew India’ app of DCR, which is under the Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR) and located at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, is available in 11 languages and can be downloaded from Google play store, a senior official said.

It gives comprehensive information on cashew grafts, nursery, cultivation, plant protection, post-harvest processing, market information and e-market beneficial for farmers, researchers, developmental agencies and processors at one place, S Mohana, senior scientist at DCR, who conceptualised and designed this app, said in a release.

He said a farmer or user of the app can upload and store images related to cashew and videos in My Cashew sub-section under the cultivation section.

It was also possible to record the expenditure, observations and data of the cashew farm. Real-time chatting is available for users under the chat room section.

Mohana said it was possible to order for grafts online in planting material section from the research stations in a state.

The users can give their buying and selling requirements in the market info section. Experts can be contacted through the ask expert section.

The app is developed for states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Meghalaya, Mohana said, adding this might be the highest number of states covered in an app.

A multilingual app, it is available in Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Bengali and Garo languages.

The technical Information for the app is provided by the scientists of DCR and from centres of the all-India coordinated research project on cashew in the country.

The financial support is provided by the mission for integrated development of horticulture under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, through the Directorate of Cashew and Cocoa Development, Kochi, he said.

The DCR is involved in carrying out research and extension activities to enhance the production, processing and value addition of the cashew crop.

Cashew is a most important plantation crops in the country as it brings in considerable foreign exchange earnings.