Arecanut growers in Karnataka and Kerala are facing the problems of tender green arecanuts falling from the trees in their plantations. Growers, who term it as ‘nut dropping’, say that this problem has been affecting them since the last two years.

Now they have sought the help of the experts and researchers to tide over this problem.

Mahesh Puchhappady, General Secretary, All-India Areca Growers’ Association, told BusinessLine that though arecanut plantations witness ‘nut dropping’ every year, the intensity of this problem has been increasing for the past two years.

He opined that the ‘nut dropping’ this year may lead to a production loss of around 30 per cent.

He said that the association had approached the Kasaragod-based Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) tostudy this problem.

A team of scientists from CPCRI visited the arecanut plantations affected by the ‘nut dropping’ problem in various parts of Dakshina Kannada district last week, he said, adding that the association is expecting a report from the CPCRI soon.

Quoting his personal experience, Shankaranarayana Bhat, a grower from Kasaragod district of Kerala, told BusinessLine that his plantation in Kerala is also facing the problems of ‘nut dropping’ this year.

He said he was spraying Bordeaux mixture in arecanut plantations before the onset of monsoon all these years, and he had not faced major problems with ‘nut dropping’ last year.

Due to some reasons, he could not spray the Bordeaux mixture on arecanut plants before the onset of monsoon this year. Instead, he took up the spraying operation after the onset of monsoon this year. He said only scientists can tell whether the delay in spraying played a role in the spread of ‘nut dropping’ phenomenon.

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