The next important high-value crop to rise in the Visayas will be cashew as demand for the products starting from its apple and nuts is increasing every day.This was bared by Erwin Saw of Isla Casoy de Palawan Co., an investor who poured in some P5 million in the production and manufacture of cashew products in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Saw said Palawan is producing 90 percent of the 2.6 million fruit-bearing trees in the country, producing some 350,000 metric tons of the fruit and nuts every year. Puerto Princesa city agriculturist Melissa Macasaet said that out of 103,145 metric tons of dried cashew nuts produced every year, 92,830 metric tons are from Palawan.The company is buying cashew fruit and nut at P15 per kilo during the peak season or summer months and P50 per kilo during the lean months. But this is not enough and company buyers have already started looking for more cashew nuts, notably in the island province of Guimaras, to add to the company’s demand. Aside from mangoes, Guimaras is also producing cashew, mostly in backyard plantations. Palawan cashews are from six selected cultivators developed in the island province.The Department of Agriculture and the city agriculture office of Puerto Princesa have jointly developed a farming system that include the sloping agriculture land technology (SALT) using cashew as base crop, intercropping with pineapples, bananas and papayas for maximum land use, rehabilitation of old-cashew trees and cashew as a reforestation crop. The company is producing cashew fruits and nuts, considered as highly antioxidant product into other value-added branded products that include cashew spicy, garlic and honey glaze, roasted-cashew butter, tarts de casoy, polvoron, supreme cookies, prunes, wine, apple cider,
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