Amid hopes of making Karnataka the cashew State of India, the diamond jubilee of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers Association will be celebrated in the city with a technical session, a cashew festival and technical exhibition, on March 14 and 15 at the T.M.A. Pai Convention Centre. Office-bearers of the association told presspersons here on Wednesday that Karnataka occupied a place of pride in the country, having registered a good growth with nine districts having more than 400 cashew processors. In contrast, the industry had witnessed a drastic fall in Kerala. Growth The industry as whole, however, has grown in terms of a turnover from `. 50 crore three decades ago to `. 2,000 crore now. Export earnings have gone up from `. 30 crore to `. 800 crore. From here it needs to grow to `. 8,000 crore in a short span, to follow the example of Mozambique. A focus area now was addressing the colossal waste of cashew apple (about 4 lakh tonnes a year in Karnataka), which contained nutrients. Its vast potential could be harnessed in multiple ways by self help groups and growers but they lacked knowledge on the processes. The association aims to support such efforts, and the tech show would display how this could be done. They said cashew was wrongly perceived to be unhealthy in terms contribution to cholesterol but it was a myth and the forthcoming event would highlight this. As part of the diamond jubilee of Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers Association, a Cashew Festival will be held on March 15, in which women and hotel management school students aged above 18 may compete in making cashew-based dishes. Students can send an essay with the name of school and parent on health benefits of cashew nuts to kajufest@gmail.com by March 10 to win prizes from `. 5,000 to `. 15,000. It will be open to public from 4 p.m.