Role of Plantation Crops in Agriculture Development

Plantation crops have been traditional export earners but their importance declined when industrial and engineering goods become major export products. Interest in them was revived through new technology and marketing methods. Plantation crop development is another way of containing the environmental deterioration caused by the modern agro-systems. Plantation and forestry could go hand in hand and could develop what is called a forestry-plantation system: Plantation development if it is in wasteland, could propagate mixed crop species along with soil conservation and linkage with other sectors thus improving the role of plantation crops. Thous coconut and arecanut are classified as palms, an attempt is made in this study to include them and study some other plantation crops like cashewnut to the development of agricultural and the rural sector in the particular region. The study is divided into two parts- Part I comprising coconut-arecanut and Part II Cashewnut.