Betel leaf is traditionally known to be useful for the treatment of various diseases like bad breath, boils and abscesses, conjunctivitis, constipation, headache, hysteria, itches, mastitis,mastoiditis, leucorrhoea, otorrhoea, ringworm, swelling of gum, rheumatism, abrasion, cuts and injuries etc as folk medicine while the root is known for it’s female contraceptive effects the essential oil contained in the leaves possesses antibacterial, anti protozoan and anti fungal properties. Therefore, the oil kills or inhibits growth of dreadful bacteria causing typhoid,cholera, tuberculosis etc.
The leaves are also in great demand in several other countries of the world where it is either not grown at all or the demand exceeds the local supply. Consequently, leaves worth about Rs 30-40 million are exported to the countries like Bahrain, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Italy, Kuwait, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arab and many other European countries. This clearly indicates the foreign exchange earning potentiality of the crop. If merely transportation and marketing facilities including the export channels were developed adequately then the revenue generated by this leafy crop would easily exceed that generated by any major crop of the country even with the present level of traditional agronomic practices. In fact, the revenue generated by the crop may be further magnified by many folds if the agronomic practices are scientifically explored .
Betel leaf is one of the most promising commercial crops capable of attracting substantial amount of foreign exchange to the country.
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