A Comparative Anaysis of Trends in Area, Production and Productivity of Areca Nut

Areca nut or betelnut is the seed of areca palm (Areca catechu), grown in most of the humid countries. Areca nut is produced in many countries of the world. Amongst these, India is the largest producer of areca nut in the world followed by other Asian countries. The other producers are Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Kenya and Maldives. Commercial cultivation of areca nut is done only in India, Bangladesh and Srilanka. However, it is grown as a stray crop in Indonesia and in some of the Pacific Ocean Island. The objective of the paper is to make comparative analysis of trends in area, production and productivity of areca nut in the world and in India. This study is based on secondary data. Compound annual growth rates for area, production and productivity of areca nut were estimated with log linear exponential function. It has been found from the study that the growth of area of areca nut is significantly high in the world compared to India, growth of production of areca nut is significantly high in the world compared to India and growth of productivity of areca nut is significantly high in India compared to the world.