Abstract

                                Moringa is considered to be a “Super Food” which is rich in Vitamins (A & C), Calcium, Potassium and Proteins. The Moringa tree is also considered to be a miraculous tree. It is not only useful in the kitchen, but it can also be used as a non-conventional feed stuff in livestock product and also as raw material in the manufacture of paper. Almost every part of the Moringa tree has some useful role. The PKM1 variety of Moringa is considered to one of the world’s best varieties, mainly cultivated in Tamil Nadu and particularly in Dindigul and Theni districts. In this study, we analyzed the trend of the variables area of cultivation and production in the districts of Dindigul and Theni and predicted the area and production for the years 2025 and 2030. The purpose of selecting these two districts is that they contribute to the major part (almost 50%) of the area of cultivation and production of Moringa in Tamil Nadu. The sampling adopted was simple random sampling. The area of cultivation of Moringa in Dindigul district overall shows an upward trend with mean 2005.35 hectares and SD of 666.17 hectares. The Coefficient of variation is 33.22%. The CAGR is 3.85%. The production of Moringa in Dindigul district overall shows an upward trend despite a decrease in the year 2012-13 with mean 96392.68 Tons and SD of 23872.36 Tons. The Coefficient of variation is 24.77%. The CAGR is 4.84%. The area cultivation of Moringa in Theni district overall shows an upward trend with mean 1985.55 hectares and SD of 1185.41 hectares, and the Coefficient of variation is 59.75%. The CAGR is 3.85%. The production of Moringa in Theni district shows an upward trend despite a decrease in the year 2008-09 with mean of 93635 Tons and SDof 48522.54 Tons. The Coefficient of variation is 51.82%. For Dindigul district, the predicted area in 2025 is 3,517.5 hectares and in the year 2030 it is 4039 hectares. For Dindigul district, the predicted production of Moringa in 2025 is 146722 Tons and in 2030 it is 164077 Tons. Similarly, for Theni district, the predicted area of Moringa cultivation in the year 2025 is 4818.5 hectares and in the year 2030 it is 5795.5 hectares. For Theni district, the predicted production of Moringa in the year 2025 is 205832 Tons and in the year 2030 it is 244522 Tons.

Key words : Moringa, Area, Production and Trend