Betel nut export plans need action

Editorial

LAST year a proposed plan to export betel nuts to Saudi Arabia was announced.
The idea behind the exporting of the popular green nuts to countries is to create an avenue for growers to sell their nuts and gradually stop the sale in Port Moresby.
It is common knowledge that the income from betel nut is lucrative and one retail seller can collect close to K500 a day.
So instead of traveling into Port Moresby to sell, the plan was to buy the nuts from the Mekeo, Kairuku, in Central, and Kerema, in Gulf, and export to countries in the Middle East.
Interestingly, an economist from the World Bank had said the hike in the price of betel nut affected inflation.
The World Bank report said there was a 34 per cent increase in betel nut price between June 2016 and June last year, which amounts to 3.7 per cent of the overall headline 5.8 per cent inflation rate.
That would be right as the price of betel nut has gone up due to the short supply of nuts getting into the city following the ban imposed by the NCD governor in his effort to keep the city clean.
For the regular chewer, on a bad day, he or she can spend up to K3 a nut or, in a remote town, K5, and where it is plentiful, K1.
Also known as areca nut, betel nut is chewed here in other countries in Asia, Middle East and Micronesia.
In Asian countries, it is a popular cultural activity to chew areca nuts for its stimulant properties and also it is used as an offering for many rituals and spiritual activities in the Hindu religion.
The seeds have high percentage of alkaloids in them that prove beneficial for health if consumed to a limited extent.
Areca nut is one of the most important commercial crops in Southeast Asia.
The nut is cultivated in palm plantations and the tree and the nut have a never-ending list of uses like for chewing purposes, as vegetable, as medicine, as stimulant, timber, fuel wood, clothing, wrapping, lubricant, tannin etc.
The areca nut is produced in two varieties – white variety and red variety.
The first variety is prepared by harvesting the fully ripe nuts and drying them in the sun for about two months. The latter one is produced by harvesting the green areca nuts, boiling them and then peeling off the outer husk.
Production wise, India tops the list of major betel nut producing countries followed by China and Myanmar.
India also leads the major betel nut consuming countries’ list with almost all of the list comprising of the countries from the Asian continent.
Recently labelled as Asia’s deadly secret, the betel nut is consumed by a tenth of the world and is said to give people a buzz on par with six cups of coffee.
If the idea of exporting can be harnessed together with how other exports are done, betel nut trading can generate millions of kina for the country and the growers.
This plan needs to be actioned, otherwise it will be just another one of “those” plans.