Important Plantation Crops

Oil Yielding Crops	Coconut, Oil Palm, Palmyrah
Masticatory	Arecanut, Betelvine
Beverage Crops	Tea, Coffee, Cocoa
Nut Crops	Cashewnut
Industrial Crop	Rubber

Status of plantation Crops in India

Area and Distribution

• Plantation crops have limited geographical distribution and in the world it is largely grown between 20 degree North and 20 degree South of equator.

Table 1 : Area and Production of Plantation Crops in India (2009-11)

States/Union Teritory	Total
	A (000 ha)	P (000 t)
Andaman and Nicobar	25.8	62.0
Andhra Pradesh	304.2	768.9
Assam	88.8	163.7
Chattisgarh	33.0	17.0
Goa	82.5	116.8
Gujrat	16.0	108.0
Karnataka	730.5	1777.0
Kerala	968.2	4176.5
Lakshwadeep	2.7	40.0
Maharasthra	198.2	321.6
Meghalaya	12.4	17.1
Mizoram	6.6	8.2
Nagaland	1.1	1.6
Orrisa	194.0	274.0
Pondichery	2.2	20.1
Tamil Nadu	537.4	3763.3
Tripura	10.2	16.4
West Bengal	51.0	276.2
Total	3264.6	11928.2

Table 2 : Crop Wise Area and Production of Plantation Crops in India (2009-11)

Crop	Area (000ha)	Production (000t)
Arecanut	923	613
Cocoa	400.1	478
Coconut	46.3	12.9
Coffee	1895.2	10824.3
Tea	388.2	308.0
Rubber	578	980.0
Oilpalm	171.7	--
Total	4402.5	13216.2

• Possible area expansion in traditional area is limited. Scope for expansion in non traditional regions is mainly in North and Eastern States.
• Area occupied by plantation crops in India = 4 million ha. =2.8% of total cropped area.
• Earnings from export of plantation crops is 27% of total agricultural . Commodities and 4.8% of total export.

1. Topographical situation of plantation crop area in India:
   
   • Plantation crops in India are mainly confined to the less populated remote hilly areas of South India, i.e. mainly Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
2. Commercialization of plantations:
   
   • Coconut and Arecanut-Being cultivated in India from time immemorial.
   • Cocoa-from 1960’s (Brazilians origin) : However, expansion gained momentum only after 1970’s
   • Oil palm-1970’s (African origin): Highest edible oil yielding crop ( 4- 6 tonnes oil per ha and some times even 8 t/ha)
   • Cashew- Introduced by Portuguese during 16th Century in malabar coast as Soil Conservation Crop (Brazilian origin). Now India ranks 1st in the world both in Area and production.
   • Rubber- Mainly in Kerala and Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. Now India occupy 4th position in the world. (4th position in and position in production )
3. Yield gap:
   • There is gap in yield obtained by the farmers and yield reported in Research Stations. Potential yield of crops is very high.