Some women were earning the equivalent of 30p a day and suffering permanent damage to their hands from corrosive liquid during handling the nuts. The anti-poverty agency argued that too many of the costs and risks of trading cashews were transferred down to those least able to withstand them, and revealed a rise in unofficial processing units where margins are smaller and hazards higher. But a 2007 ActionAid report highlighted the pressure from UK retailers to drive down prices. Many of the nuts produced in India are sold in supermarkets in the EU, often with value added through roasting and salting. If you also look at the people dependent on this, you are talking about a very, very large number of people." Hari Krishnan Nair, chairman of the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India, who also runs his own business processing and exporting the nut, said: "We have approximately 1 million people engaged directly in the processing of cashews, and another 200,000-odd people who are engaged in the growing of cashews in the country. In each of these regions approximately 50,000 to 100,000 people work in the industry, making cashews vitally important to local economies. Most of the processing takes place in Goa, Bangalore, Kerala, Kanyakumari, the cape at the extreme tip of India, Panruti, near the old French colony Pondicherry, then Chennai and Rajahmundry, further north in Andhra Pradesh state.
The nut is among the country's top four agricultural exports, along with basmati rice, spices and tea. The industry is critical to the country, particularly to the south. More than 60% of the cashews consumed globally are processed in India. But the poor farmers who grow the premium product often bear the greatest risk in the trade.
It's time the EU took action and set up a regulator with the power to stop abuses by retailers that result in extremely low pay and appalling working conditions."Ĭashews are America and Europe's favourite nut.
Liz May, head of policy at Traidcraft, which helps fight poverty through trade, said: "Farmers and workers across the world are suffering every day because of unfair trading practices by supermarkets.
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