The intense cold wave sweeping across North India over the past weeks have destroyed the betel vine cultivation in Uttar Pradesh with the loss estimated at Rs 100 crore.
Last year too, the crop was destroyed due to cold, causing loss of about Rs 70 crore to the cultivators. In this backdrop, the state government scheme worth Rs 1crore to support betel cultivation and insulate farmers from the loss is grossly insufficient.
The cold and dew factor has wrecked havoc on the betel vineyards. The betel vines and leaves have all dried up, significantly affecting the prospects of better harvest next season as well since vines are planted for fresh crop.
Betel vineyards are spread across Unnao, Rae Bareli, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Azamgarh, Hardoi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Amethi, Allahabad, Sitapur, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra districts.
The acreage has been dwindling over the years from 6,000 acres to 1,000 acres at present.
“The state government support to betel farmers should at least be worth Rs 15 crore to bring some sense of relief,” Rashtriya Pan Kisan Union general secretary Chhotelal Chaurasiya told Business Standard here.
Under the scheme, the state would provide 50 per cent subsidy to select betel vineyards spread over 1,500 sq mt each. About 125 such units would be set up in this manner across 21 districts. Each vineyard is estimated to cost Rs 1.51 lakh, of which the half would be incurred by the government.
A state level betel research and farmers’ training centre is situated in Mahoba district.
“Earlier, betel leaf was exported to other states from UP, but now it is imported from West Bengal and Odisha,” he added.
Chaurasiya further claimed pan-India also the betel cultivation had taken a hit due to cold and pegged the consolidated loss at several hundred crores.
Betel farming is prevalent in UP, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
Betel farmers have been demanding framing of a national policy for them to provide easy availability of loans, fertiliser and farm inputs.
