Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Principal Secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee said the weather and soil conditions of Odisha are extremely favourable for cashew farming. “This year more than 20,000 hectares of new land area will be brought under cashew farming,†he announced. More steps are being taken to improve production and productivity of cashew in the State with application of innovations in this field, Dr Padhee said while addressing the National Conference on Cashew. He said that underdeveloped districts and tribal areas will be on cashew farming. More than 250 delegates from 19 States consisting of cashew farmers, processors, exporters, scientists from research organisations, experts, department officials, field level implementing agencies and officials of Odisha State Cashew Development Corporation participated in the conference which began on Tuesday. In the two-day conference all the aspects of the cashew sector commencing from production of quality planting materials, production technology, integrated pest and disease management, post-harvest management, value addition, processing, packaging and marketing will be discussed. The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will prepare a road map for cashew development for overall development of cashew in the country by incorporating the innovative ideas emanated in the conference. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is contemplating achieving self-sufficiency in cashew production by 2029 30.