Sri Prakash Vidya Niketan,Tuni organized a field trip for the students of 9th standard to have a visit of betel plantations to Aratlakota, P.R Peta. Sri Nageswara Rao, the well experienced farmer of the betel field enlightened the students about the cultivation of Betel crop. Students learned enthusiastically that the produce of betel crop would be fetched for every 20 days and totally the harvesting would be for 14-15 fetching annually. He said it is not a mixed crop and can be grown throughout the year both in Rabi and Kharif seasons. Flax stems are used as support to grow betel plantation. He also shared with students that they invest capital of nearly 1 lakh and get income up to 1, 30,000 to 1, 50,000 annually with a profit of 30,000 to 50,000. Leaves stay fresh for 1 week in cold weather and up to 2-3 days in hot weathers. Bangla leaves are used in pan marketing. The betel crop gets attacked by Pests and they can be prone to diseases like leaf blight, leaf rot, leaf wilt etc. They also spray pesticides like chloropyripas, Nuvacron etc. It was exciting to hear that leaves are exported to other states like Maharastra, Chattisgarh etc. He said that this plantation is being cultivated since 1920 in our area. We showed our gratitude by presenting a memento and students got a wonderful and lively experience by visiting betel plantation.
