Belle Nagaraj Kamath - The Pioneer of Cashew Processing Industry in Moodubelle

Pic & Report by Dr Eugene D’Souza
Bellevision Media Network

Moodubelle, 11 April 2010: The credit of establishing the first cashew processing industry at Nellikatte in Moodubelle in 1999 under the name of Mahesh Cashew Industries belongs to Belle Nagaraj Kamath. Earlier, Nagaraj Kamath’s family had a grocery shop and gradually began to deal with raw cashew nuts. Their area of operation was right up to Bhatkal and Moodubidre-Kinnigoli acquiring raw nuts from the shops and supplying to B.R. Kamath and Sons Cashew Factory at Karkala, considered to be the largest in Karnataka.

Having been in the procurement of the raw cashew nuts business for quite a long time, Belle Nagaraj Kamath, who had studied up to PUC in St. Lawrence PU College at Moodubelle and was a commerce graduate (B.Com) from the MGM College, Udupi, decided to start his own processing cashew factory under the Khadi Gramodyog Scheme with government subsidy.

Belle Nagaraj Kamath says that, as he himself had come up in life with great economic difficulties and practically rose from nothing, he had a dream of providing employment to the poorer and marginalised section of the village population by starting some kind of gainful enterprise.  He could fulfil this dream by establishing the Mahesh Cashew Industries and later another cashew factory named Ashwini Cashew Industries at Arasikatte at Bantakal. In both these cashew factories, Nagaraj could provided employment to around 250 persons, most of whom are women.

According to Nagaraj, the cashew nut processing operations are carried on throughout the year. The raw nuts required for the processing are procured locally and from the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. Nagaraj also imports raw nuts from other countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa and Tanzania. On an average, the Mahesh Cashew Industries process around 40 bags of raw cashews nuts weighing about 3,500Kgs. The processed and graded cashew kernels are then filled in 65 tins of 10 Kgs each per day.

Nagaraj pointed out that the cashew nut processing operation has certain important stages. At the first stage, the raw cashew nuts are sun dried for two days and then stored. In the second stage, the required amount of nuts per day is steam-boiled. In the third stage, the girls who work in the cutting operation take the nuts from the boiler room to the cutting section and separate the kernels from the nut-shells. The cutting is done mechanically and the girls have to be quite careful during this operation. They take necessary precaution by applying castor oil to their hands and some of them even use gloves. After the process of cutting the kernels are separated from the nut-shells and the nut- shells are used as raw material for cashew nut oil mills.

In the fourth stage, the kernels are roasted in hot-chambers which look like huge cupboards through electric power with heat up to 80 degree Celsius. The fifth is the pealing stage in which the kernel is separated from the thin husk. Some of the women who are unable to spend an entire day in the factory can carry fixed amount of roasted cashew buts for pealing and return on the next day and take home another fresh lot.

The sixth stage is the grading stage during which the cashew kernel is sorted out according to its quality.  According to Nagaraj, as per the quality, the cashew kernel can be graded into 35 varieties. In the final stage, the cashew kernels are packed in tins according to their qualities indicated by embossed code letters and numbers indicating the quality of nuts contained in the tin. They are then sealed and labelled. Two tins containing the same quality of cashew nuts are then packed in a carton and kept ready for sending to the market by the dealer. The processed cashew from the Mahesh Cashew Industries is marketed in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. There is also provision for retail selling of smaller packets of cashew nuts in the factory. 

Belle Nagaraj Kamath says that there are around 150 cashew processing units in the Udupi District alone. These cashew factories are a boon for the villagers, especially for girls and women as they are given preference in the cashew processing units. They are given all monetary and other facilities. Transport is provided for picking up and dropping them at their residences. The workers are provided cheaper food through canteen facility. They are given monetary incentives such as Provident Fund (PF), Dearness Allowance (DA) and Bonus. They are also eligible for Employees State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) in case of illness. The payment to the workers is done on weekly basis.

Belle Nagaraj Kamath a fine entrepreneur who has a human touch. Soft spoken and unassuming, Nagaraj had been active in cooperative movement. He was once the president of the Belle Cooperative Agricultural Bank (CA Bank). He was also member of the belle Grama Panchayat. As the president of the Old Students Association of the Church Aided Higher Primary School, Nagaraj had worked for the betterment of the school.

In 1995, Nagaraj married Namitha Kamath and has two lovely sons-Nikhil (13 years) and Vishwas (9 years) both studying in the St. Mary’s English medium School in Udupi.

Bellevision, while congratulating Belle Nagaraj Kamath for his entrepreneurship appreciates his attempt to provide employment to the poorer and marginalised section of the villagers and wishes him success in his future endeavours.