Cultivating arecanut in India: challenges, opportunities and sustainable practices

Abstract

Arecanut cultivation faces numerous challenges and opportunities. Key issues include vulnerability to climatic variations, declining soil fertility, and pest infestations, which negatively affect crop yield and quality. Traditional farming methods and limited access to modern agricultural knowledge Received: 19 Nov 2024 Revised: 27 Nov 2024 Accepted: 21 Dec 2024 exacerbate these problems. Additionally, fluctuating market prices contribute to the financial instability of areca nut farmers. However, there are promising prospects for arecanut cultivation. Diversified farming practices, such as intercropping with pepper, banana, and cocoa, and integrated farming systems combining crop production with livestock and fish farming can enhance productivity and sustainability. Adopting modern agricultural techniques and improving market access can increase yield quality and economic returns. This study emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to arecanut farming, integrating modern technology, diversified farming practices, and strong support systems to address challenges and seize opportunities for a sustainable future in India. Areca nut (Areca catechu), a tropical crop, is popularly known as betel nut, as its common usage in the country is for mastication with betel leaves. It is a palm tree species under the family of Arecaceae (Rangaswami, 1977; Ramappa, 2013). The crop is mainly grown in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and Andaman & Nicobar group of Islands. The economic produce is the fruit called betelnut or ‘supari’ used mainly for mastigatory purposes (Schoneman, 2010; Balanagouda et al., 2021). Areca nut is an essential ingredient of ‘gutka’ and ‘pan masala.’ It is consumed as a raw/ripe nut (adaka or kacha tamul), as dried ripe nut (chali supari) and as semi-mature, cut and processed varieties `Bateldike’ or `Kalipak’. In India, it is extensively used and linked to religious practices (Nair and Nair, 2021; Palanna et al., 2020).

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.601147

Pages

123 - 136

Creative Commons

Copyright

© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

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