Area under arecanut in the country went up by 30.25% during the last five years. However, the production decreased by 8.22%, according to the Union government.
The area went up from 8.49 lakh hectares in 2021-22 to 11.06 lakh hectares in 2025-26 (second advance estimates), Ramnath Thakur, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
But the production came down from 16.66 lakh tonnes to 15.29 lakh tonnes (second advance estimates) during the same period. It is because the productivity decreased from 1.96 tonne per hectare to 1.38 tonne a hectare.
The Minister replied to an unstarred question by MP for Shivamogga B.R. Raghavendra.
Karnataka on top
Karnataka continues to be on top both in area and production of arecanut. The Minister said during the last five years, Karnataka accounted for 71.56% of the country’s total area and 75.47% of the country’s total production under arecanut.
The area in Karnataka grew by 32.42% while the production came down by 16.05%.
The Minister said that the area in the State went up from 6.03 lakh hectares to 7.98 lakh hectares while the production came down from 13.48 lakh tonnes to 11.32 lakh tonnes.
The productivity also declined from 2.24 tonne per hectare to 1.42 tonne per hectare.
Leaf Spot Disease management
Referring to community-based Leaf Spot Disease (LSD) management in arecanut plantations, the Minister said that the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development (DASD) has established a large-scale demonstration on community-based management of LSD in arecanut across 10 LSD-affected arecanut growing taluks in Karnataka from 2025-26 in the selected farmers’ fields of the affected area.
The programme covers 50 hectares, with five hectares in each taluk, aiming to popularise the recommended scientific management measures for control of the LSD. An amount of ₹6.32 crore has been sanctioned for the programme for a period of three years.
Disease prediction
He said a Temperature and Relative Humidity Controller Unit has been given to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, for studying the relationship between weather and the LSD of arecanut to help in disease prediction.
Value chain
The DASD in association with the ICAR-CPCRI, is conducting a pilot study on value chain of arecanut to understand the existing value chains in the sector and to analyse the consumption patterns and distribution channels of arecanut and its products.
Published - August 05, 2026 08:36 pm IST