DIMAPUR — Nagaland has a huge potential to generate more than INR 2000 crore annually through cash crop plantations like arecanut, coffee, and rubber if 10% of the potential area is brought under these crops, stated G Ikuto Zhimomi, Advisor of Land Resources on Monday.
During a visit to Razaphe Resource Centre, Chumoukedima, he said the agro–climatic conditions suitable for these crops, indicated as per the GIS-based survey by the department of Land Resources, is to the tune of 4,62,500 Ha covering all the foothills of the state, out of which only 0.23% has been developed and brought under these cash crops fetching an annual income of INR 70.75 crore as of 2021-22.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Being an eco-friendly crop, the plantation of arecanut on a commercial scale in the state will benefit the society in the context of challenging issues of climate change, he said, according to press statement.
Also read: World’s most prized morel mushroom plentiful in Himachal forests
It said the uses of arecanut are manifold; besides nuts, areca leaves can replace plastics.
Being a shallow-rooted crop, inter-cropping can be suitably done with coffee where farmers can have two harvests -- arecanut and coffee from a plot of land thereby fetching double income. The advisor visited the resource centre along with Commissioner Secretary, Land Resources; director of Land Resources, and a host of department officers to take stock of the centre and propose an upgrade to a learning center for the benefit of the farmers in particular and the state in general, it added.