“1 Plant, 100 Uses” explores the many ways familiar Indian plants, leaves, fruits and trees have been part of everyday life — from food and farming to homes, traditions and natural remedies. Each story takes one plant and uncovers the surprising ways people have found it useful, often across generations.
Most people know the areca palm for the small nut hidden inside its orange fruit. But on farms across India, the palm has much more to offer.
Once the nuts are harvested, its fallen leaf sheaths and other parts of the plant can still find a second life. They can be turned into plates, used as livestock feed, and even put back to work on the farm.
In Mizoram, Karnataka and Kerala, researchers and farmers have found several ways to make better use of this familiar plantation crop.
Here are some of the lesser-known ways the areca palm can be useful.
A fallen leaf can become a plate
One of the most interesting uses of the areca palm comes from something that would otherwise lie on the ground.
But on farms across India, the palm has much more to offer. Photograph: (Image generated by AI)
In Mizoram, women farmers collect naturally fallen areca palm leaf sheaths and turn them into biodegradable plates. According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), two community groups in Kolasib and Mamit districts were supported with semi-automatic machines to make the plates.
The process is fairly simple. The fallen sheaths are collected, sorted, and graded before being dried in the sun for at least a week. Suitable sheaths are then shaped into plates using dies measuring 20 cm and 30 cm in diameter.
The initiative has also created an additional source of income for tribal women. Between 2019-20 and 2021-22, the two groups together produced more than 1.6 million plates, according to ICAR.
What was once farm residue became a product that could be sold.
Farmers can feed it to cattle too
The story does not end with plates.
In parts of coastal Karnataka, where dry fodder can be in short supply, researchers at the ICAR National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology studied whether dried areca sheath could be used as animal feed.
Their findings led to a technology in which processed areca sheath is mixed with concentrate to make a total mixed ration for dairy animals. ICAR reported that trials involving dairy cattle and sheep found no adverse effects from feeding the processed sheath.
The ICAR report on the technology notes that the work was particularly relevant to areas where farmers faced a shortage of conventional dry fodder.
So a fallen sheath can have another job on the same farm, this time helping feed livestock.
It can even shield another palm
There is another surprisingly practical use for the old sheath.
The Kerala Agricultural University recommends using areca sheath to protect the trunks of palms from sun scorch. The sheath can be wrapped around exposed portions of the stem to protect them from the southwest sun.
Once the nuts are harvested, its fallen leaf sheaths and other parts of the plant can still find a second life. Photograph: (Amazon.in)
The university’s Package of Practices Recommendations also recommends growing tall, quick-growing trees along the southern and western sides of the garden as another way of protecting the palms.
It is an easy example of a farm using one part of the crop to protect another.
Even the husk has a purpose
After the arecanuts are harvested, the husk left behind can still be useful.
Researchers have looked at ways to turn this agricultural residue into materials that can be used on the farm, rather than allowing it to pile up as waste. ICAR has documented work on using arecanut husk for purposes such as mulching, moisture conservation, and protecting soil from erosion.
This is particularly useful in plantations, where keeping the soil covered can help retain moisture and reduce the impact of rain on exposed soil.
In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ICAR has also highlighted the use of arecanut husk mat structures for weed management and soil conservation. The approach gives a common plantation residue another role, this time helping farmers care for the land on which the crop grows.
There is more growing beneath the palms
An areca plantation can also support other crops.
Areca-based mixed farming systems can combine the palms with crops and livestock, allowing farmers to use the same land for more than one source of livelihood.
ICAR has documented integrated farming systems in Mizoram in which areca nut is grown alongside other crops and livestock. In one such model, farm resources were recycled within the system, with manure being converted into compost and vermicompost while horticultural residues were used as animal feed. The ICAR report describes the approach as a way of reducing dependence on outside inputs.
Earlier ICAR research has also recorded areca-based mixed farming involving dairy animals, showing how the plantation can form part of a wider farm rather than functioning as a single crop.
From one palm, many possibilities
The areca palm is best known for the nut it produces. But look closer, and there is a much longer story.
In Mizoram, women farmers collect naturally fallen areca palm leaf sheaths and turn them into biodegradable plates. Photograph: (Ecoware)
Its fallen leaf sheath can become a plate. The same material can be processed into livestock feed or used to protect palms from harsh sunlight. Areca-based farming systems can bring crops and animals together, while agricultural residues can be recycled instead of simply discarded.
In Mizoram, the repurposing of fallen sheaths into plates has even created an additional livelihood for rural women.
That is perhaps what makes the areca palm worth a closer look. Its usefulness does not stop when the main crop is harvested. For farmers who find ways to use what is left behind, the palm can keep giving long after its nuts have left the plantation.
