The Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers’ Association (KCMA) has urged the Government to come out with a well-designed cashew policy to make the State the cashew hub of the country. At a digital seminar on ‘Making Karnataka the cashew hub of India’, organised by the Mangaluru chapter of CII , Subraya Pai, president of KCMA, said Karnataka can surely become a cashew hub and generate abundant employment to rural women and enhance the socio-economic condition, if the sector gets a well-designed cashew policy. “We will contribute to the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat by planting more saplings and trying to achieve self-sufficiency in raw cashew nuts. This will reduce our import dependency. We need more help and investments in research and development, innovations, and new techniques of production,” he said. Referring to the role played by cashew processing units in Karnataka during the pandemic situation, he said cashew industry has been a model for all the industries by ensuring no loss of employment amidst the lockdown. Noordeen Abdul, Chairman of Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI), said that CEPCI has submitted a revival package for the Indian cashew industries to the Centre. It is a roadmap to increase the domestic production of raw cashew nuts and recommended Karnataka as one of the States for implementing the roadmap. It has also suggested the government to penetrate new markets by elaborating the health benefits of cashew.