The Hindu : Karnataka News : Area under arecanut expands

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Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Area under arecanut expands

Raviprasad Kamila

Karnataka maintains lead in production

— Photo: Special Arrangement

White arecanut being sorted at a warehouse in Mangalore.

MANGALORE: Area under arecanut has expanded gradually in the country in the past five years with Karnataka maintaining its lead.

The State is in the forefront in production, according to the latest publication by the Union Ministry of Agriculture.

But associations of arecanut growers here have raised objections to certain statistics in the publication issued in May 2008. They said the statistics will mislead the Government while making agriculture-related policies, they said.

The publication, “Area and Production Statistics of Arecanut and Spices”, is by the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Kozhikode, under Union Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. It attributes the source of statistics to the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, New Delhi.

According to it, the area under arecanut in the country went up from 3.54 lakh hectares in 2002-03 to 3.96 lakh hectares in 2006-07 with production increasing from 4.15 lakh tonnes to 5.59 lakh tonnes.

Area in Karnataka went up from 1.44 lakh hectares in 2002-03 to 1.68 lakh hectares in 2006-07 with production going up from 1.92 lakh tonnes to 2.24 lakh tonnes.

Kerala stood second with area increasing from 97,000 hectares to 1.02 lakh hectares and production going up from 1.07 lakh tonnes to 1.10 lakh tonnes during this period, according to the publication.

West Bengal

It said that the area under arecanut in West Bengal went up from 9,100 hectares in 2002-03 to 24,000 hectares in 2006-07 with production going up from 16,000 tonnes to 1.06 lakh tonnes.

Referring to this statistics, S.R. Rangamurthy, president, Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative Limited (CAMPCO), said, “This cannot happen. There should be some mistake in the statistics. As per the publication, production has shot up more than four times in five years. This cannot happen in a non-traditional arecanut growing state of West Bengal.”

He said that arecanut was grown in West Bengal in a small quantity in areas bordering with Assam. CAMPCO had a marketing unit in Kolkata. “If at all there was a four-time increase in production it would have come to our notice,” is his claim.

Manchi Srinivasa Achar, president, All India Areca Growers’ Association, Puttur, claimed that statistics related to West Bengal “is wrong”.

It states that the area under arecanut in that State stood at 9,400 hectares in 2005-06 and it went up to 24,000 hectares in 2006-07. Production went up from 29,000 tonnes to 1.06 lakh tonnes during that period (in one year). In addition, it says, productivity of arecanut in West Bengal stands at 4,348 kg a hectare. Whereas in Karnataka it is 1,333 kg a hectare. “We do not believe this,” Mr. Achar said.

An arecanut tree needs six years to give yield. It means that planting should have been taken up on a large scale six years ago in West Bengal. “As far as we know, no such thing happened there six years ago,” he said.

Sridhar G. Bhide, president, Mangalore Agriculturists’ Sahakari Sangha, said, “Wrong statistics leads to wrong policies. The Government should correct it.”

Meanwhile, Director of the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development M. Tamil Selvan was not available for comment. An employee in his office said the director is on tour.

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