With GI armour, Authoor betel leaf growers eye foreign markets

The famous betel leaf of Authoor in Thoothukudi district, known for its additional alkali taste and digestive properties due to soil conditions, water quality and humidity in Authoor region, has bagged Geographic Indication (GI) tag.

The famous betel leaf of Authoor in the district, known for its additional alkali taste and digestive properties due to soil conditions, water quality and humidity in the region, has bagged Geographic Indication (GI) tag. As the GI tag is given to products which are either produced or cultivated in a particular area, this recognition gives an identity and credibility to these products in new markets, especially in foreign markets.

The application for GI for Authoor betel leaf was made in 2020. Even though the Authoor betel leaf has got consumers across Tamil Nadu and other States, the area of cultivation in Authoor region has come down from 900 acres to 350 acres in the last 15 years.

“The area under betel cultivation in the region is shrinking sharply due to high cost of agricultural inputs, shortage of farmhands and other reasons. When we cultivated betel on 900 acres here, we harvested 15 tonnes of leaf every day, which has come down to just two tonnes now,” says Authoor Area Betel Farmers’ Association president A.P. Sathish Kumar.

Though the farmers of Authoor cultivate ‘Chakkai’, ‘Mathu’, ‘Rasi’ and ‘Sanna Ragam’ betel leaf varieties, ‘Chakkai’ and ‘Mathu’ varieties enjoy excellent markets in Indore, Jaipur, Bhopal, Delhi, Mumbai, Agra, Bengaluru, Nellore and Thiruvananthapuram. Another major reason for consumers and traders preferring the betel leaf is its 10-day shelf life.

“Since the medicinal properties of betel are a widely known, we started drinking the water boiled with betel every day during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, loss of lives in Authoor region was very less, we believe,” Mr. Kumar said.

Having got the GI tag, Authoor betel growers have now set their eyes on bagging orders from foreign markets. “Now, export of Authoor betel leaf will become easier. When the demand goes up, we’ve to increase the area of cultivation for which we can get assistance from the banks and insurance benefits easily,” Mr. Sathish said, adding efforts were on for value-addition of Authoor betel leaf by preparing ‘betel juice’ for export.