PM to unveil DCR Puttur’s new cashew hybrids among 109 crop varieties next week

Two cashew hybrids — ‘Netra Jumbo-1’ and ‘Netra Ganga’ — from the Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR), Puttur, will be part of the 109 improved, climate-resilient, nutrient-rich varieties of various annual and horticultural crops to be launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week.

‘Netra Jumbo-1’ hybrid is developed by the DCR Director, Dinakara Adiga, and his team. ‘Netra Jumbo-1’ nut weighs 12 gm. More than 90 per cent of the nuts are of the same size. About 29-30 kg of kernel is obtained by processing 100 kg of raw cashew nuts. This hybrid has a higher grade kernel (W130) than the existing export standard grade W180.

Stating that this variety saves labour costs to the tune of ₹16,000 per tonne on picking nuts, Adiga said: “Besides, at the current market price, the large size nuts fetch about ₹10,000 more per tonne. An additional profit of ₹26,000 per tonne is possible with this hybrid. Because of its bigger nuts, labour cost is saved in the factory as well.”

‘Netra Ganga’ hybrid was developed by the previous director-in-charge, Gangadhara Nayak, and his team. It has big nuts of 12-13 gm, cluster bearing variety with good yield. This variety flowers within a couple of years of planting and produces flowers and nuts for a long period (from December to April).

The percentage of kernel in this variety is 29.5 per cent. The Directorate said the variety is suitable for cultivation in high density planting systems as it responds well to pruning and it is highly precocious. It yields more than 5 kg per plant in the third year itself, it said.