Panaji: BJP MLA Dr Deviya Rane on Wednesday demanded before the House that the State Excise department should allow selling of cashew feni, a popular brew in the national and international markets.
She said that the cashew Feni has been given GI (Global Indication) tag bbut it is not allowed to be sold outside the state. Rane said that expanding the market for selling cashew will help the farmers in the state.
Rane was speaking on the floor of the House during the demands of grants tabled by the state government.
The MLA, who is also chairman of State run Goa Forest Development Corporation, said that the farmers are discarding the cashew apples and selling only nuts. “There is no utility of the cashew nuts as feni, which is brewed out of it, do not have market nationally and internationally,” she said.
She said that 80 per cent of the cashew apples gets wasted. Rane said that there is tremendous demand for cashew feni in the national and international markets.
Rane said that the Excise Department should give permission to export it. “The new airport will be commissioned at Mopa. The Feni should be sold at the duty free shops on the Airport,” she said adding that the sale of Feni should be allowed across all the Airports in the country.
