The betel (Piper betel) is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. Betel leaf is mostly consumed in Asia. The Piperaceae, also known as the pepper family, are a large family of flowering plants. The betel leaf is cultivated mostly in South and Southeast Asia, Major betel leaves growing countries are Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Bangladesh. In our state West Bengal , South 24 Pargana , Purba Medinipur district are leading in betle leaf cultivation . In South 24 Pargana of our state the betel leaf cultivated through a proper process. Suppose from 8000 Square feet area we will get around 40 gocha ( gocha is local measurement unit of betel leaf ) betel leaf in a month. In 1 gocha there are around 200-220 piece of betel leaf . So In 1 month we will get 8000 to 10000 betel leaf from 8000 sq.feet area . In normal time we will get around 60000 per month from this quantity of betel leaf . But this quantity and everything is in normal conditions without any natural disaster. At first time when we will start this business we have to plant atleast 1000 of betel leaf plant . The price of one betel leaf plant
is about Rs. 100 /- so the price of 100 leaf plant is Rs 10000 /- . And normally after three month we will collect the leaf . Per month for pampering the plants we will have to provide some vitamins , pesticides, soil etc. So approximately in a year we have to spend around Rs 50000 /- in pesticides , labour and other pampering ingredients.
Betel leaf is a great source of antioxidant that fights oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals. Thus, betel leaf helps in lowering high blood glucose levels and aids in the management of diabetes mellitus. Many types of medicine cosmetics are made with betel leaf and also the research work is going on it . In our state the South 24 Pargana dist area is Very stormy and ful of nature disaster . So every year the betel leaf farmers are to be damaged . Many betel leaves are totally being wasted for sale . So the farmers economical situation become worst . So now with some modern techniques we can utilise the 15 days old dry betel leaf . From 1 kg betel leaf we can extract about 1.8 to 2 ml betel leaf oil .Now a days the price of 100 ml betel leaf oil is 6 to 10 thousands rupees depends on the quality . There is a very simple and effective way to extract the oil . Even the whole setup is Very cheap of cost. IIT Kharagpur developed a process which helps the farmers to extract the oil at home .For 10 litre setup the cost is around 10000 and 20 litre setup the cost is around 20000.In this process according to Prof Guha “It is a distillation unit with special modifications for recycling evaporated water which carries the vapors of essential oil from the distillation flask to the condensation unit. It has also a special device to minimize the formation of emulsion for increasing the recovery of essential oil.” Also for industrial purpose we can use autoclave . So as an agriculture student we have to aware farmers about this oil extraction process . Thus they reduce the wastage of dried betel leaves and earn some profits. We have to tell them about the marketing of betel leaf oil . Betel leaf oil is very essential elements of verious medicine so the research on it is going on .
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_farming
- https://agritech.tnau.ac.in
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRitfplng9U&t=252s
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