Growth in area of arecanut culativation and production: An overview

Arecanut is one of the major commercial crops in the world. Many countries are producing for the purpose of chewing pan masala, gutkha and medicine. India is one of the major producers and consumer country and its rank first in terms of both area (55 per cent) and production (45 per cent) of arecanut cultivation in the world. Arecanut is the major plantation crop of coastal and southern districts of the country under assured irrigation facility. Production of arecanut in India is mainly concentrated in six states, namely Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The Karnataka and Kerala are predominant states in the production of arecanut. Karnataka stands first place in terms both area (48 per cent) and production (56 per cent) and Kerala stands second place in terms of area (21 per cent) and production (18 per cent). In Karnataka, six districts produce the arecanut crop, out of which, Shivamogga stands first place and Uttara Kannada stands last place in terms of area occupied for arecanut cultivation and Shivamogga stands first place and Uttara Kannada stands last place in production of arecanut. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is used to analyse the data.