Value addition and economics of Arecanut processing plant – A study from North-Eastern India

Abstract

The study analyzes the economic aspects of value addition of green arecanut harvests based on primary data collected from 28 processing plants of Dhubri and Goalpara districts of Assam. Both PRA and Survey methods were adopted to collect information. The study reveals that most of the processing plants were run by the owners of the land either as sole processor or in partnership. About 60.71% of plants remain under single ownership. The processing activity is done in two phases viz., early season from Mid-November to Mid-April for the preparation of Tipni, Rota and Sagar grades by using half matured or premature nuts and late season starting from Mid-April to Mid-June to produce Maza, Fali and Mala grades by using fully ripen nuts. The net profit earned from per qunital (output) processing of Tipni with fumigation is `5043.16 followed by Tipni without fumigation (`3826.28) with a benefit-cost ratio of 1.34:1 and 1.24:1, respectively while the net return per quintal fetched from preparation of Maza is `1750 followed by Mala (`1050.00) and Fali (`772.50) with the B/C ratio of 1.64:1, 1.31:1 and 1.24:1, respectively. The average net return of a standard processing plant with an average capacity of business with 575 qtls is `3,16,999.91 of which 62.40% contribution comes from early season processing and rest 37.60% from late season processing activity. Average annual employment generation of such plant found 778.5 mandays of which 36.87% is female. For establishing the said plant initial average fixed investment is `67,885.00. The processing of arecanut may be regarded as an income and employment generating enterprise that provides synergy between farm and non-farm sector of rural livelihood domain.