Neater nut processing

A Sri Lankan tradition

Sri Lanka is an island off the southern tip of India with 18.6 million inhabitants and an area of 65,610 square kilometres.

In this case study you will find out about the importance of cashew nut production to people who live in two areas of Sri Lanka.

• Vanathavilluwa, is in the north west of Sri Lanka, where rainfall is minimal. Most households have cashew trees and many women worked in cashew plantations collecting cashews prior to processing.
  
  
• Gampaha, close to the island's capital, Colombo. Soil is fertile here and most families have a small piece of land where they can grow paddy rice, pineapples, bananas and coconuts. However, there is also a strong tradition of cashew nut processing and it is an important source of income for women with few alternative employment opportunities.

Cashew nut processing involved three key stages:

• shelling the nuts, to separate the kernels that we eat from the shells
• peeling the kernels, to scrape off their skin
• drying the kernels, to preserve them and make them look good.

 

Sriyani's story: shelling the nuts

Mechanical methods

Thileka's story: peeling the nuts

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