More than 230 Irula families in Ariyalur are finding steady income through cashew harvesting initiative

The Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur, Karnataka trained people from Irula in plantation management, pest control and scientific harvesting practices. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

More than 230 families of the Irula tribal community in Ariyalur district are moving from precarious livelihoods to sustainable sources of income through innovative cashew nut collection over the past four years, thanks to the joint efforts of tribal welfare and forest departments.

Tribal Welfare Department officials said Irula families living in 15 villages across the Jayankondam, Udayarpalayam and Andimadam regions have traditionally depended on seasonal jobs such as wild honey collection and other low-paid occupations, with little access to stable employment. To address this, the Tribal Welfare Department has tied up with the Forestry Department to enable them to directly participate in cashew cultivation and marketing.

“For several years, the cashew plantations managed by the Tamil Nadu Forest Plantation Corporation Limited (TAFCORN) remained inaccessible to the tribal communities as participation in the public auctions required a substantial Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). To overcome this barrier, the Tribal Welfare Department provided financial support of ₹ 86 lakh under the Tholkudi Allotresa cash12 hectresa59 plantation scheme to the Irula Tribal Social Societies in 2022 for a five-year lease,” the official said.

Under this initiative, members of Irula tribal welfare societies received training in plantation management, pest control and scientific harvesting practices from experts at the Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur, Karnataka.

G. Ramesh of Vettiyarvettu village said the initiative was extremely beneficial. “Earlier we were dependent only on daily wage labour. Now with the support of the government we have rented land by paying for it and cultivating it ourselves. Now we feel like owners rather than labourers,” he said. D. Annadurai of Sozhankurichi village said, “Earlier we used to work only as agricultural laborers and the income was not stable. But now it gives us stable employment for four months apart from net profit.”

During the 2025-26 season, they harvested 96,400 kg of raw cashew nuts. By selling the produce directly to wholesale buyers and sending the remaining produce to a modern cashew processing facility and marketing center in Koovagam village, where 164 tribal women are employed, they generated revenue of ₹ 1.37 crore and a net profit of ₹ 45.48 crore. The earnings translated into an average net income of nearly ₹19,800 per participating family. Apart from a share in the net profit, each member of the company was paid a daily wage of ₹350 for four months during the harvest season, which runs from January to April, official sources said. The state government is also planning to set up another cashew processing unit in the district, they added.

Supriya Sahu, Additional Principal Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forests said, “It is a transformative initiative and a collective effort of people and government departments. Empowerment cannot be achieved in isolation; it has to be synergistic. Members of society have also undergone the best training programmes. There is a fantastic opportunity to scale up such an initiative.”

Published – 5 Jul 2026 23:20 IST