Directorate of Cashew Research develops app for cashew sector

ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur in Dakshina Kannada, has developed a ‘Cashew India’ App for cashew farmers and other stakeholders of cashew in India.

Available in 11 languages, the app can be downloaded from Google Play Store. With the goal of being ‘farmer-friendly’, ‘comprehensive’, ‘easy to use’ and ‘countrywide info’, ‘Cashew India’ app is conceptualised with unique features.

The app gives comprehensive information on cashew grafts, nursery, cultivation, plant protection, post-harvest processing, market information, e-market, various stakeholders such as farmers, researchers, developmental agencies and processors at one place.

Further, using the app, farmer/user can upload and store his own cashew images and videos in ‘My cashew’, a sub-section under ‘cultivation’ section. It is also possible to record the expenditure, observations and data of the cashew farm.

Further, it is possible to order for grafts online in ‘planting material’ section from the research stations in a state. The user can give one’s buy/sell requirements in ‘market info’ section and they can contact experts through ‘Ask expert’ section, said Dr Mohana G S Senior Scientist of ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur.

Stating that the app is available in 11 languages—Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Oria, Bengali and Garo, he said real-time chatting is possible in ‘Chat Room’ with the users who are using the app at a given point of time and e-speak button provided throughout the app enables the app to read the text for users in different sections.

The concept, design and development of the app are carried out by Dr Mohana G S Senior Scientist and his team at the ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur.

The technical information for the app is provided by the scientists of ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur and scientists from centres of All India Coordinated Research Project on cashew in the country.