Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 6.2
Environmental Rating for Growing Cashew
Parameter
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
Class I
Class II
Class III
Class IV
Class V
Altitude (m)
20
20-120
120-450
450-750
Rainfall (mm/year)
1500-2000
1300-1500 1100-1300
900-1100
Proximity to sea (km)
<80
80-160
160-240
240-320
Maximum temperature
(
o
C)
28-32
32-33
33-34
34-35
Minimum temperature
(
o
C)
19
18-19
17-18
15-17
Humidity (%)
70-80
65-70
60-65
50-60
Occurrence of frost
None
None
Very rare
Once in 5
years
The growth and production of cashew is highly dependent on latitude,
altitude, temperature, rainfall, relative humidity (RH), sunshine, wind and
soil moisture content (Prasada Rao and Gopakumar, 1994). It has been re-
ported that the maximum temperature, humidity and rainfall are the major
climatic factorwhich determine the productivity of cashew. The RH dur-
ing preflowering stage is the vital factor in explaining the yield variation
in cashew plantations (Haldankar et al., 2003). Cashew is very sensitive
to waterlogging and hence heavy clay soils with poor drainage conditions
may not be suitable for its cultivation.
Studies conducted at Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur to deter-
mine the suitability of cashew cultivation in India using Arc GIS showed
that cashew is distributed along loamy red and lateritic soil, mixed red
and black soil, coastal and deltaic alluvium derived soil. The elevation of
the cashew growing areas ranged from 0 to 1000 m above mean sea level
(MSL) and the productivity of cashew was higher in regions up to 750
m above MSL. It was observed that mean annual rainfall distribution in
cashew area ranged from low rainfall (300-600 mm in Gujarat) to high
rainfall (2700 to 3000 mm in West coast and NEH region). The productiv-
ity was highest in region with a mean annual rainfall distribution of 600
to 1500 mm. The overlay maps showed that cashew is cultivated along re-
gions where the mean annual temperature ranged from 20.0 to even more
