Government to Support Kerala Woman Who Found A Solution Cashew Pests

A Kerala based woman Aniyamma Baby from the district of Kannur developed a "Cashew Multiple Rooting Propagation Method" which is a groundbreaking practice to develop support roots in cashew trees to protect senile cashew gardens from devastating borer attacks and frequent cyclonic storms which were backed up by the Centre as an essential method on Monday.

This ingenious method will not only help India cement its status as the prime producer of cashews in the world but also help cashew farmers to defend their crops better. The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is an evergreen tree grown in the tropical regions of India. It is well known across the world for producing cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit.

Cashew Multiple Rooting Propagation Method

Hence this innovative method "Cashew Multiple Rooting Propagation Method" in which roots are generated in grown-up cashew trees, thereby helping improve production per unit of area, This new method has been further verified by ICAR- Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur in Karnataka as well as Kerala Agriculture University in 2020.

According to a press release published by the govt "It has been found to be a unique method and provides anchorage against wind damage/cyclonic storms, and restores cashew trees from a severe attack of cashew stem and root borers (pests) in a very eco-friendly and cost-effective way. The technology offers new hope to the cashew growers having senile cashew gardens to realise additional yield,"

Aniyama Baby’s pioneering work in this field and its appreciation by the Govt is a sign of India moving ahead with the times and will also help other farmers to come up with more innovative methods in the future.

The Kannur based Innovator had come up with 2 methods namely the Cylindrical Shape Method, and the Low Lying Parallel Branch Method about which the ministry was quoted as saying "Both of her experiments were successful, and she has been using these two methods in her old senile cashew plantations for the last 7 years to support her family with a continual supply of high cashew produce,"