In Karnataka, cashew occupies an area of nearly 1 lakh ha with a production of 52,000 MT of raw nuts per annum. However, the productivity (600 kg/ha) is lower than the national average (740 kg/ ha) and the state has the potential to increase its productivity upto 2000 kg/ha through the adoption of high yielding clonal varieties, and improved cultivation practices. In this direction, efforts have been made in recent years to provide grafts of high yielding varieties with improved, packages suitable for varied situations in Karnataka. Nearly 75% (74,814 ha) of cashew area is mainly distributed in two coastal districts, i.e., South Canara and North Canara. Shimoga district ranks third with an area of about 7,671 ha especially in parts of hilly zone. The remaining cashew area is spread over in the maidan districts of Bangalore, Koiar, Tumkur, Mysore, Belgaum and Havery. Cashew is being grown in nine out of ten different agro climatic situations in Karnataka (Fig-1), except in North Eastern Dry Zone. The soil and agro-climatic conditions prevailing in the zones is presented in Table-1 and described hereunder.
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