✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Tropical palm · Masticatory nut

Areca Nut

Areca catechu · Palmae

Areca Nut is a warm-temperate tree that grows best in the 16–33°C range with 1500–3000 mm of rain, cropping over a 240–365-day season. Today it is grown mostly in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Optimal temp
16–33 °C
Annual rain
1500–3000 mm
Max altitude
1,000 m
Cold limit
7°C
Growing cycle
240–365 d
Climate-fit land
26 % world

How it grows

🌳 On a tree

Areca Nut grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

What it’s worth to grow

$1.37 / kg at the farm gate
$$$$$
High-value
pricier than 72% of all crops · #6 of 9 nuts
Ranked against similar crops — Nuts
Pistachio$6.02/kg
Almond$3.03/kg
Walnut$2.78/kg
Hazelnut$2.57/kg
Chestnut$2.05/kg
Areca Nut ◀$1.37/kg
Cashew$0.79/kg
Coconut$0.50/kg
Brazil Nut$0.44/kg

Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 15 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.

Where Earth's climate suits areca nut

Global climatic suitability map for Areca Nut
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
26% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production · FAOSTAT 2024
World harvest 2.4M t/yr
India1.41M t
Bangladesh356k t
Myanmar263k t
China, Taiwan Province of89k t
Indonesia75k t
Sri Lanka71k t
Thailand38k t
Nepal15k t
Latest reported year. Source: FAO FAOSTAT.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
Brazil
United States of America
Dem. Rep. Congo
China
Indonesia
India
Colombia
Venezuela
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

The climate where it grows

India🌧 189% rain · wet
24°C · 1748 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Bangladesh🌧 169% rain · wet
25°C · 2224 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Myanmar🌧 137% rain · wet
23°C · 2200 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Indonesia🌧 124% rain · wet
25°C · 2804 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND

— mean monthly temperature   ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 16–33°C · tolerates 7–39°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 1500–3000 mm · tolerates 750–5000 mm
0 mm5000 mm
Soil pHoptimum 4.5–6.8 · tolerates 4.5–6.8
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±22° · soil pH 4.5–6.8.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 240–365 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Wet & disease. A thirsty crop that needs abundant rain; in the wettest climates, humidity brings fungal disease pressure.

Related crops