Currently, the country has a total cashew cultivation area of 450,000ha and about 200 processing factories.

The festival will be held in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, the nation's major producer of cashew nuts.

Bui Van Thach, deputy chairman of Binh Phuoc People's Committee, said the festival would also provide the opportunity to share experiences in applying scientific and technological advances to growing and processing cashews.

The event will be divided into two parts - ceremonies and festivals with concerts, a parade of bicycles decorated with flowers and a food festival. The province will spend about VND12 billion (US$652,173) in organising the festival.

The festival would see the opening of a cashew trading floor and two seminars - one on building strategies for Viet Nam's cashew industry and the other on developing a national brand name, Thach said.

The Viet Nam Cashew Association (Vinacas), the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPC) and the Brazilian Association of Cashew Nut Manufacturers (Sindicaju) planned to discuss a roadmap to establish a world cashew association, he added.

A ceremony will also be held to hand over 200,000 cashew seeds from the Vietnamese Government to the governments of Cambodia and Laos.

The festival will honour and award the "Golden Cashew" tide to growers and processors who have made significant contributions to developing the domestic cashew industry.

The Golden Cashew Festival will be held from March 20-23 by the Binh Phuoc Province People's Committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, and Karri Development and the Viet Nam Cashew Association.

Nguyen Thai Hoc, chairman of the Viet Nam Cashew Association, said the industry has not been able to exploit existing potential in the domestic market because 97 per cent of the output was exported.

Domestic cashew businesses were still not fully aware of the economic and strategic value of cashew trees and had not invested in more modern technologies for processing the nuts, he added.

The Government should allot more land for cashew cultivation and offer preferential credit policies to help cashew growers and manufacturers maintain their leading position in the world market, Hoc said.

New varieties

Ngo Dong Hai of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said cashew trees played an important role in the country's agricultural production structure. The ministry has funded efforts by southern institutes to research and develop new seed varieties every year, he said.

He called on scientists and experts to map out practical development strategies for the cashew industry.

Currently, the country has a total cashew cultivation area of 450,000ha and about 200 processing factories.

Viet Nam is the world's biggest cashew producer and exporter, with annual production of around 600,000 tonnes.

Despite the global economic crisis, Viet Nam exported 177,000 tonnes of cashew last year, an increase of 7 per cent over 2008. Export value of cashews has risen steadily in recent years, from $504 million in 2006 to $651 million, $920 million and $850 million in succeeding years.

The industry targets earnings of $1.2 billion this year from exporting of 170,000-180,000 tonnes of cashew.