ITANAGAR: Rubber is a cash crop having the potential to transform the rural economy of Arunachal Pradesh, Rubber Board of India (RBI) joint commissioner (rubber production) Sunny Varghese said here.
Addressing farmers at the Maj Rubber Nursery and Plantation (MRNP) in Tarajuli, near here recently, he explained the secret of rubber. “Rubber plant produces latex in six to seven years which is similar to cow milk for its colloid content. This white gold turns into money after being processed,” he said, adding that 500 plants cultivated in one hectare of land at a cost of Rs 2.4 lakh could generate Rs 2.5 lakh annually.
“Take up as much land you have and expand slowly as its income would be sustainable with ready global market waiting for the produce. Rubber consumption is linked to the development of any nation,” he said. “Grade III and IV rubbers have huge demands for their requirement in the tyre industry. Its present rate per kg is around Rs 170 but once it went up to Rs 250 because of its demand”, he said, while announcing that foothill areas of the state with suitable height and ago-climatic condition are highly suitable for rubber cultivation.
Impressed by the demonstration plantation spread in 200 acres that gave him a first-hand experience of rubber, urban development minister Rajesh Tacho reiterated the state government’s commitment to facilitate rubber and tea cultivation on a mission mode to solve unemployment problem as has been announced by chief minister Nabam Tuki.
“If fisheries is helping people earn handsomely, the hard working Arunachalees hopefully would realize the fertility and value of land soon to make them productive by taking up rubber and other cash crop cultivation,” he said.
Source: India Times
