Wayanadവയനാട്
8.17 lakh people. Larger than Bhutan, Luxembourg, or Malta. Governed as one cell of one state.
- Population
- 8,17,420 (8.17 lakh)
- Area
- 2,132 km²
- Headquarters
- Kalpetta
- Established
- 1980
₹7,610 cr
of bankable business potential identified by the government in Wayanad.
Source: NABARD PLP 2023-24
Opportunities
What you can build here
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NABARD's plan for Wayanad · PLP 2023-24
₹7,610 crof bankable credit potential identified by the government
Crop production, maintenance & marketing
₹4,443 cr
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
₹1,123 cr
Term loans for agriculture & allied activities
₹1,049 cr
Housing
₹396 cr
NABARD's Potential Linked Credit Plan for Wayanad (2023-24) sizes the district's bankable opportunity at ₹7,610 crore. Agriculture dominates at ₹5,899 crore (77.5%), with MSME a distant second at ₹1,123 crore (14.8%) and the rest spread across housing (₹396 cr), education (₹135 cr), export credit (₹45 cr) and renewable energy (₹3.5 cr).
For an entrepreneur, three clusters stand out. First, plantation and spices: Wayanad is Kerala's cash-crop heartland — coffee (67,705 ha), pepper, cardamom, rubber and tea — and the plan earmarks ₹630 crore in plantation/horticulture term loans plus a huge ₹4,443 crore crop-finance line. Second, dairy and livestock: ₹178.80 crore in dairy term loans (cattle sheds, milking machines, fodder units) and ₹50 crore for goat/sheep/piggery, with room for a goat breeding farm. Third, food and agro-processing: ₹58 crore, building on 14 farmer producer companies including a milk plant, a green-tea factory at Karadippara, an organic rice mill at Thrissilery, and the BIOWIN organic-spices unit.
The PLP's own complaint: there is far too little cold storage, so vegetable and fruit growers dump produce locally at low prices; farm labour is acutely short; summer water scarcity hits Mullankolly, Poothadi and Pulpalli; pepper wilt and areca-nut Mahali disease run high; and long-term investment credit is just 12.63% of agri lending. It wants scientific storage, warehouse-receipt finance, custom-hiring centres and Agri Export Zones to close the gaps.
What the plan promotes
- Plantation & horticulture term loans (₹630.00 cr potential) anchored on Wayanad's coffee-based farming system (67,705 ha), pepper (10,307 ha), rubber (10,770 ha), coconut (9,741 ha), cardamom (4,103 ha) and tea (7,558 ha) — the state's major area for cash crops Coffee and Pepper.
- Crop production, maintenance & marketing — the largest single line at ₹4,443.30 cr (58% of the plan) across the district's organic-leaning cash-crop economy.
- Dairy development — term loans ₹178.80 cr plus ₹40.00 cr working capital, the prominent allied activity, via scientific cattle sheds, milking machines, chaff cutters, TMR units and hydroponics fodder.
- Food & agro processing (₹58.00 cr) building on 14 FPOs incl. BAAPCO's milk processing plant (Stand-up India), Green Tea Producer Company's Karadippara green tea factory (NABARD PODF), and TAPCO's organic rice mill at Thrissilery.
- MSME investment/term credit of ₹918.07 cr, with the PLP pushing SEZs, Agri Export Zones and Mega Food Parks for the export-oriented spices and plantation crops.
- Spices value chain via BIOWIN organic spices processing factory (UPNRM), enabling 2,000 more farmers to gain organic certification alongside 15,000 existing certified farmers.
Gaps the plan names
- Severe shortage of cold storage for perishable vegetables and fruit forces farmers to sell locally at low prices — PLP urges scientific storage/cold-storage units and warehouse-receipt financing.
- Acute farm-labour shortage (worsened by reduced movement of workers from Tamil Nadu) — PLP suggests labour banks / green army and custom-hiring centres in each panchayat.
- Water shortage in summer in Mullankolly, Poothadi and Pulpalli panchayats — needs water conservation, rainwater harvesting, water-body renovation, watershed development and micro-irrigation.
- High disease incidence — quick wilt of pepper and Mahali of areca nut, plus drought and scarce disease-resistant planting material, with inadequate in-district processing and value-addition facilities.
- Inadequate post-harvest infrastructure for fisheries and weak common agri-infrastructure at panchayat level — addressed via PMMSY, FIDF and PACS/Government-built storage.
See the plan's recommendations
What the plan promotes
- Plantation & horticulture term loans (₹630.00 cr potential) anchored on Wayanad's coffee-based farming system (67,705 ha), pepper (10,307 ha), rubber (10,770 ha), coconut (9,741 ha), cardamom (4,103 ha) and tea (7,558 ha) — the state's major area for cash crops Coffee and Pepper.
- Crop production, maintenance & marketing — the largest single line at ₹4,443.30 cr (58% of the plan) across the district's organic-leaning cash-crop economy.
- Dairy development — term loans ₹178.80 cr plus ₹40.00 cr working capital, the prominent allied activity, via scientific cattle sheds, milking machines, chaff cutters, TMR units and hydroponics fodder.
- Food & agro processing (₹58.00 cr) building on 14 FPOs incl. BAAPCO's milk processing plant (Stand-up India), Green Tea Producer Company's Karadippara green tea factory (NABARD PODF), and TAPCO's organic rice mill at Thrissilery.
- MSME investment/term credit of ₹918.07 cr, with the PLP pushing SEZs, Agri Export Zones and Mega Food Parks for the export-oriented spices and plantation crops.
- Spices value chain via BIOWIN organic spices processing factory (UPNRM), enabling 2,000 more farmers to gain organic certification alongside 15,000 existing certified farmers.
Gaps the plan names
- Severe shortage of cold storage for perishable vegetables and fruit forces farmers to sell locally at low prices — PLP urges scientific storage/cold-storage units and warehouse-receipt financing.
- Acute farm-labour shortage (worsened by reduced movement of workers from Tamil Nadu) — PLP suggests labour banks / green army and custom-hiring centres in each panchayat.
- Water shortage in summer in Mullankolly, Poothadi and Pulpalli panchayats — needs water conservation, rainwater harvesting, water-body renovation, watershed development and micro-irrigation.
- High disease incidence — quick wilt of pepper and Mahali of areca nut, plus drought and scarce disease-resistant planting material, with inadequate in-district processing and value-addition facilities.
- Inadequate post-harvest infrastructure for fisheries and weak common agri-infrastructure at panchayat level — addressed via PMMSY, FIDF and PACS/Government-built storage.
Value-chain gaps
Money this district loses today
Raw output sold cheap, value added elsewhere — each gap below is an opening for a local business.
Resources
What this district has
Tap a category to see the facts and figures underneath. Numbers marked unverified are AI-extracted and need a sourcing pass.
About Wayanad
Wayanad district, or Wynad, is a district in the north-east of the Indian state of Kerala, with its administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is set high in the Western Ghats with altitudes ranging from 700 to 2,100 meters and some areas resemble to Eastern Ghats including Kolagapara, Kurumbalakotta and some parts of Vadakkanad and Chekadi. Vellari Mala, a 2,240 m (7,349 ft) high peak situated on the trijunction of Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts, is the highest point in Wayanad district. The district was formed on 1 November 1980 as the 12th district in Kerala, by carving out areas from Kozhikode and Kannur districts. An area of 885.92 km2 in the district is forested. Wayanad has three municipal towns—Kalpetta, Mananthavady and Sulthan Bathery. There are many indigenous tribes in this area. The Kabini River, a tributary of the Kaveri River, originates at Wayanad. Wayanad district, along with the Chaliyar valley in the neighbouring Nilambur in Malappuram district, is known for natural gold fields, which are also seen in other parts of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The Chaliyar river, which is the fourth longest river of Kerala, originates on the Wayanad plateau. The historically important Edakkal Caves are located in Wayanad district.
Source: Wikipedia — Wayanad district
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