Identification of Plantation Crops

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 Identification Plantation crops

Plantation:

A estate or large continuous area in which a single crop raised either by direct sowing or transplanting. Plantations are in all sense an industry as much as they are production oriented and constitute an investment venture.

Plantation crop:

 In original sense the term plantation refers to a forest crop raised artificially either by direct sowing or planting.

In horticulture sense the term plantation crop refers to a woody perennial crop grown on a large continuous area, managed by an individual or a company, the produce of which is consumed only after processing.

Characteristics plantation crop:

  1. It should be a woody perennial (palm, tree, shrub or vine).
  2. It should be grown on a large continuous area (estate or plantation).
  3. It should be managed by an individual or company.
  4. The produce is suitable for consumption only after processing.
  5. These crops are restricted to the latitude of 20 degree North to 20 degree South.
  6. They are high value commercial crops.

Example: Areca nut, Cacao, cashew nut, coconut, coffee, oil palm, betel vine, rubber and tea are some of the plantation crops.

Importance of Plantation crops:

  1. They are export oriented. Ex: cashew nut, betel vine, tea comprise of 75% of total export earnings from the export of all agricultural produce.

  2. They provide gainful employment: Cashew cultivation employs 2 lakh people; processing industry employs 3 lakh people. Arecanut crop employs 6 million people. Coconut crop employs 10 million people. They occupy only 2% of total cultivated area, but generate 36,000 million rupees per annum.

  3. They support many ancillary industries.

  4. They conserve soil and eco system. Example: Tea and coffee are cultivated over hill slopes; cashew nut is cultivated on waste lands. They protect soil from erosion losses and provide additional income to the farmers in those areas.

Geographical distribution of plantation crops:

Almost all plantation crops are restricted geographical distribution to the tropics from 200N to 200S latitudes. Certain plantation crops are sun loving or heliophytes (coconut, cashew nut, rubber, oil palm, arecanut), others are shade loving or sciophytes (coca, tea, coffee, betelvine).

In general coconut and cashew nut are cultivated in coastal belt. The sun loving plantation crops should always be raised under mono culture as sole crop, while the shade loving plantation crops (coca, coffee) may be raised as inter crop in the inter spaces of grown up sun loving plantation crops (coconut, oil palm and arecanut) or grown along with shade or nurse trees (silver oak) to have either shade (coffee, tea) or support (betelvine) or both (betelvine).

 

SL
NO
COMMON
NAME
SCIENTIFIC
NAME
FAMILY ORIGIN CHROMOSOME
NO
COMMERCIAL METHOD
OF PROPAGATION
EDIBLE
PART
1 Coconut Cocos
nucifera
Palmae South east Asia 2n=2x=32 Seed Endosperm
2 Areca nut Areca
catechu
Palmae/ Arecaceae Malayan archipelago
and other east
Indian islands
2n=2x=32 Seed Kernel
3 Oil palm Elias
guineensis
Palmae Guinea coast
of West Africa
2n=2x=32 Seed Kernel
4 Palmyra
palm
Borosus
fleballifer
Palmae Africa 2n=2x=32 Seed Endosperm
and toddy
5 Date palm Phoenix
dactylifera
Palmae Iraq 2n=2x=36 Offshoot/
Sucker
fruit
6 Cashew nut Anacardium
occidentale
Anacardiaceae Brazil 2n=2x=42 Softwood
grafting
Cotyledon
7 Tea Camellia
sinensis
Camaliaceae/ Theaceae China 2n=2x=30 Softwood cutting/
leaf node cutting
Leaves
8 coffee
(Arabica)
Coffea
arabica
Rubiaceae Ethiopia/
Brazil
2n=2x=22 Seed Berry
9 coffee
(Robusta)
C. robusta/
C. ca
2n=4x=44
10 coffee
(Tree coffee)
C. liberica 2n=2x=22
11 Rubber Hevea
brasiliensis
Euphorbiaceae Brazil . Forket
budding
Latex
12 Cocao Theobroma
cocoa
Sterculiaceae Amazon basin 2n=2x=20 Seed Seed
13 Betel vine Piper betle Piperaceae Central and
eastern Malaysia
2n=6x=78 (frequently) Vine cuttings Leaves



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