Identification of Plantation Crops

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:

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

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