Betelvine cultivation and the consumption of betel leaves is a very traditional and widespread practice in India and in many other countries of South-east Asia. It is a traditional cash crop of rural India and the betel leaves have become a part of life in most tropical and sub-tropical countries where betel chewing is an ancient habit of the Asian people. It is now widely cultivated in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Mayanmar, Maldwip, Indonesia, Philippines etc. under tropical and sub-tropical humid low light intensity. The crop has also a great deal of medicinal value which is attributed to the leaves since Vedic era. It is an antiseptic, carminative, curing cough and cold, pains and sores in throat and chest. It is digestive, cures indigestion, stomach ache, diarrhoea, cholera and tuberculosis, scales and burns, swelling, bruises, respiratory disorders, constipation, boils and gum sores, etc. Surprisingly it can now cure leukaemia or kill blood cancer cells. The marginal and small farmers generally cultivate betelvine on their small holdings which provide them a means of alternative cash earning and enable them to meet their day to day livelihood needs. This cash crop is neither dependent on exports or on urban consumption only and can yet be easily marketed. Publication of this book will help people working for and with betelvine growers to understand its diverse cultivation methods as practiced throughout India. The author has deeply dealt with pre-history and ancient literature, export value and national income, important varieties, breeding programme, medicinal properties and recent advances for curing leukaemia, cultivation technology, scope of intercropping and crop rotation as traditionally practiced, plant protection measures for insect pests and diseases, cost of cultivation and income, prospects of exports to different countries, problems and recommendations, etc. of betelvine cultivation in India.
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