Presidential Cashew Fiasco

I did not know Cashew nut has aphrodisiac properties. 

Former President probably had some erectile problems.

That may be the reason it has gone up in price.

Almonds and cashews are rich in zinc, which can boost blood flow to sexual organs, helping us feel aroused and experience greater sexual pleasure. 

Walnuts, peanuts and sunflower seeds also contain arginine, used to treat erectile dysfunction.

 

Cashew

Cashew, also known as Indian nuts, is a rich source of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Cashew is rich in proteins, fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamins B1, C, E and K.

It has five times more Vitamin C than oranges.

It has antiseptic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

It may help to lose weight due to its effect on satiety. A handful of cashews increase the secretion of hormones that send a signal to brain that we are not hungry. Leptin is a hormone that the adipose tissue releases that helps the body to maintain normal weight on a long term basis. It does this by regulating hunger. Indian nuts are very tasty, so it can be a real treasure for those who are on a diet. Although, the cashews are rich in fat, these fats are harmless.

It is also a good natural diuretic.

Good for the nerves and useful for the health of joints and bones due to its rich content of minerals. Besides, regulating blood pressure, it lowers blood sugar and acts as a mild aphrodisiac.

Cashew is most popular in Brazil and the Caribbean islands, where it is considered a delicacy.

 

I had no intention of talking about Presidents in this piece but it was fortuitous. 

 

Idea was to find a city name where there was Cashew Plantation belonging to Cashew Corporation (CC). After half an hour of search in the Internet, I could not find the name. 

 

I hope it comes to my mind in my sleep.

Yes, the name is Silawatura, where there was an Army Camp protecting the cashew corporation land. I could remember the name after 4 hours of deep sleep.

1. Cashew plant was brought here by Portuguese.

2. The tree lives 400 to 500 years.

3. It is nutritious and has lot of antioxidants.

4. One of our relatives who was a reserve Army guy was working in this camp.

5. He used to say sometimes, the Barrel Bombs dropped by helicopters land on the cashew cultivation.

6. I used to tell him bring some cashew but he never did (probably prohibited to do so for officers).

7. We used make a lowly cashew curry with coconut milk which has a beautiful creamy taste.

 

I love eating cashew oil battered with Karapincha (curry leaves).

 

That is a delicacy.

Before I left Ceylon, I looked for the place in Queen's Hotel, Kandy, Side Bar where they served a healthy portion of cashew for Rs. 300/=.

 

It was closed, and gone bankrupt.

This is what is happening currently in Ceylon, without tourists, side restaurants are closing down.

 

I decided to give a treat to all those helped me (I was all alone).

Then I went to the main Bar of Queen's Hotel, Kandy to order a portion which had gone up to Rs.750/=.

I did not have time to go to Okray Restaurant, it had moved out of the city, probably due to high costs. 

It had an outlet in the city of Kandy (the name was Casamara) where I used go for a beer and a light meal. 

This is where I gave a treat to staff of our department when I retired and to the IMMI staff before it was wound down. 

I was visiting this place from IMMI days.

 

Silverdale Hotel and Bar is very expensive but I threw a party to my  alcoholic friend (gin and tonic), three yeas ago, soon after Coronavirus pandemic. 

The party, I was planning for my classmates had to be abandoned.

Ceylonese love to throw a party at least once in three months when money supply was reasonable.

 

Coming back to cashew story, they could not dish it out on the spot. 

Two hour delay. I think they have to purchase cashew first. 

Keeping cashew in stock was not a viable option. 

I ordered it at 1PM but had to collect it at 3.30PM.

I had enough time and waiting was not a problem.

 

Then I went to several other restaurants and none of them had cashew nut portion in the menu.

 

I had to be bit careful with my Rupee Balance and I did not give up giving the treat. 

Finally, on another day, I went to the manager of a reliable restaurant and I said, I need large number of portion as a treat to all those who helped me.

He agreed and I said make cashew portions, for this  much money, nicely wrapped in colorful boxes. 

Of course curry leaves were an essential accompaniment.

 

Even the three wheeler driver got a portion.

 

Suffice is to say, every one of them was very happy with the treat.

 

I traveled by Sri-Lankan Airways to Singapore and I did not get any serving of cashew nut, it is only for the business class. 

I hate peanuts.

Read the piece below.

Probably, I would not travel by Sri-Lankan Airways for a very long time. Our carrier was famous for excellent Ceylon Tea and lovely food.

They do not promote Ceylon Tea.

Cinnamon Tea at the airport is lovely.

There is a Mesna Tea (based from Kandy) outlet at the Airport.

I think they (Mesna Tea) should open a cafeteria at the Airport.

They guy who used to make lovely Tea Pot left for job in Dubai. One incident worth recording. On of my contemporaries in the Arts Faculty (he was the PSU president and I campaign for his election), I met after long time about 20 years ago . 

I invited him for Tea Pot at a different joint and the cost was Rs.175/=.

His wife barred him from any more association. 

I lost a friend. 

He comes to collect his grandchildren every working day and every time I see him in Kandy he used to give flimsy excuse and slip away. 

Another incident when I made a simple help (not money) he did not oblige.

Reason: Price of the Tea Pot = RS.175/=.

What would had it been a glass of beer?

The bottom line is, none of those so called Campus Friends make a lasting friendship. The relationship is only casual and not worth making, at all.

 

 

Reproduction

Presidential cashew fiasco

How to revive our ailing cashew industry
Dr. Parakrama Waidyanatha

That the President, on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight, lost his temper on being served poor quality cashew nuts procured from a Dubai supplier is understandable. 

It was widely reported in the media recently. 

But, surely, did not the the Sri Lankan Airlines procurement and catering personnel check the quality before it was served, not necessarily to the president of a country, but to anybody.

The episode only adds one more to the reported long list of mismanagement record of the airline.

The two-year-old dwarf cashew hybrid yielding 5 kg in the second year.

The SLA’s explanation is that the price of the local cashew supplied by the Cashew Corporation (CC) is high and there is uncertainty over its ability to supply the needed quantity. 

Given the fact that cashew is only served in the first and business classes, and hence the requirement is small, it is hard to believe that the CC or any other local supplier (there are 25 local cashew firms in the country) could not provide assured supplies to the national carrier.
 

Be that as it may, the local cashew industry’s progress is pathetic. 

 

The CC was started some 50 years ago and it has an R&D arm also, but on the whole little has happened over the years.
A research project with the Wayamba University has produced four high yielding hybrids yielding on average 20 kg a tree, but adequate supply of plants is not available to farmers because of the inaction of the CC. 

 

Another excuse of the CC is that the army continues to occupy some 100,000 acres in the north and east, and much of this has gone into wilderness.

The Government should intervene to ensure that these lands are returned to the CC or ideally to farmers or commercial growers. 

 

It is a fact, that our Government has failed in nearly all its agribusiness ventures due essentially to politicisation. As per the statistics published by the Plantation Industries Ministry, the total extent and bearing extent under cashew has increased from 37,000 to 55,000 ha and 28,000 to 41,000 ha respectively in the last decade, but the total production and yield have been stagnant at averages of about 9000 metric tonnes a year and 300 kg per ha per year.
The stagnancy of production is inexplicable despite the bearing extent increasing by 86 percent during this period.

Are these statistics accurate (“statistics, lies and damn lies”)? 

 

Whatever it is, the table on this page shows the pathetic state of our cashew industry in comparison with that of some key producing countries.
The CC’s R&D arm has apparently done little as evidenced by the statistics. By contrast, the other major cashew growing countries in Africa, South America and Asia have taken vast strides in R&D. 

The African Cashew Alliance led by Tanzania now has one of the world’s biggest cashew gene banks. It has 38 registered high yielding varieties exceeding 3,000 kg/ha. The yields in Tanzania, like ours, were about 300 kg/ha two decades ago, but R&D progress has been substantial thereafter.
The dwarf hybrid (cultivar AR 4) in the picture is reported to yield 5 kg a tree in the second year after planting and 50 kg by the 15th year.

 

Tanzania’s former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, on retirement, took to cashew growing and owns a plantation that yields 115 kg a tree at 25 years. 

Perhaps, our President too should follow suit, take to cashew farming rather than paddy on retirement.

Possibly the world’s biggest cashew gene bank is in Brazil, its north east region being the main cashew growing area. The country has bred 132 early bearing dwarf cashew clones. The genetic variability of cashew there is so great that the writer had the occasion of seeing an exceptional variety, almost a creeper, in Fortaleza, in the Ceara State, 35 years ago.

Cashew breeding and related research has also progressed rapidly in India and Vietnam which possess dwarf varieties comparable with those in Tanzania.
 

Coconut-cashew intercrops in drought-stricken Puttalam
In expanding our R&D in cashew, in the first place it should do well to attach cashew to an existing research institution rather than the CC pursing it. Given the fact that cashew is cultivated largely in the north and east, the Coconut Research Institute appears to be the best bet in terms of proximity to the main cashew growing areas and facilities. It is also already conducting research on coconut-cashew intercropping and has the expertise and other resources to get on with the task. One of the first things that should happen is the introduction of germplasm. Ideally some of the dwarf cultivars from Africa, Brazil, Vietnam or India should be sought.
Droughts in the last several years posed a serious problem to growing cashew as an intercrop in coconut lands in the dry areas of the north and east. A large number of coconut trees perished under intercropping. 

It would appear that coconut cannot compete with cashew in prolonged droughts, and intercropping cashew in those areas should be stopped. 

It should be confined to the intermediate zone coconut areas. Or else those areas are essentially utilized for extensive cashew growing given that the profitability cashew at reasonable yields (1000Kg /ha /yr) far exceeds that of coconut.

Tea-coconut intercrop
The loss extent for coconut could be compensated by inter-planting it with tea in the low and mid country wet zones. The potential for this appears substantial, and an economic study (20th Century Tea Research published by the Tea Research Institute) shows that the intercrop yields 29 percent more income than the coconut monocrop. Tea smallholders are already at it, but there is a need for the Tea and Coconut Research Institutes to conduct collaborative research to work out the technologies for expanding wider implementation of the system.
Cashew today is beyond the reach of the ordinary people, being so expensive, but it should be more affordable to our people because of its tremendous health benefits. 

It has a high content monounsaturated fat (especially oleic and palmitoleic acids) which lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol and raises the HDL (good cholesterol) and hence decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. 

Additionally, it is rich in protein and minerals, especially copper and zinc important for our health. An ounce of cashew nuts contains 160 calories, 5 grams of protein and 13 grams of fat. Also it has anti-oxidant properties which neutralize free radicals believed to be the major cause of several non-communicable diseases.

 

Reproduction

By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's government has decided to change the names of all state institutions still bearing the nation's former British colonial name, Ceylon.

The government wants the country's modern name to be used instead. The decision comes 39 years after the country was renamed Sri Lanka.

The change will be made as early as possible in 2011.

Reaction has been mixed to the new year's resolution that gets rid of what some see as a vestige of colonialism.

The minister of energy submitted a cabinet memo this week to change the name of the Ceylon Electricity Board, whereupon the president suggested the name Ceylon be removed entirely.

'Long overdue'
The island's British colonial name, derived from an earlier Portuguese one, was dropped in 1972 when the country became a republic and Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state.

The adopted name, Lanka, to which an honorific "Sri" was added, is much older and is close to both the Sinhalese and Tamil names for the island.

But the name Ceylon has persisted in many institutions, including the Bank of Ceylon and the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation.

One ministry now has the job of ensuring that names and signboards are altered.

The Ceylon Tea label, however, is unlikely to change, as the industry believes it's a brand of quality for the country's most famous export.

Some will be sad at the name change.

One young Sri Lankan told the BBC that the word Ceylon had historic meaning and added value to some institutions.

A blogger wrote that the post-colonial name was associated with "terrorism, war and [the late Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai] Prabhakaran".

But other Sri Lankans see the change as long overdue.

One young man told the BBC it was high time that names across the country showed some uniformity.