About
Arecanut or betel nut is a cultivated tropical palm. It is erect, tall stemmed and growing to varied height depending on environmental conditions. This nut palm belongs to Arecaceae family. The economic produce is the fruit called betel nut or supari and an essential ingredient of gutka or pan masala. It is consumed as raw/ripe nut, dried ripe nut, and as semi-mature, cut and processed nuts. Arecanut is very much linked with religious practices.
Arecanut is perennial crop and propagated mainly by seeds. The palm grows well in well drained soils with well distributed annual rainfall between 750 to 4500mm.
The nut bearing starts after 5 years of planting. The number of harvesting may vary from 3 to 6 per year depending on place of cultivation and season.