THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rubber farming has been the golden goose for farmers, especially in the high ranges, for the past 25 years. Anyone could easily earn a reasonable income if he/she had five acres of rubber plantation as the demand for natural rubber was growing exponentially till the last few years.
Not anymore. The latest data on rubber production show that the production had declined from 8.52 lakh tonnes in 2006-?07 to 8.46 lakh tonnes in 2013-?14. The import of natural rubber had gone up from 89,799 tonnes to 3.25 lakh tonnes during the same period.
The spike in imports has impacted rubber prices and many marginal farmers who own rubber farms below one acre have already decided against deploying workers to extract milk for the first time this year.
The national draft rubber policy has proposed to implement strategies to safeguard rubber producers from extreme price fluctuations and stem the decline in production. “The rubber sector comprises primary production of natural rubber that includes rubber sheets, block rubber and latex. There are others who manufacture synthetic rubber for auto tyres, tubes and numerous rubber-based products. The rubber sector contributes around 45% of agricultural domestic product with the involvement of over one million growers and half a million workers. Natural rubber is emerging as an important crop in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and others,” it notes.
K J Joseph, associate professor, Centre for development studies, who has presented several papers on the plantation sector, says innovative methods should be introduced to increase productivity.
The policy attributes the poor productivity record in the recent past to a host of factors including the ageing of plantations due to absence of timely replanting, climate change, labour shortage, extension of area under cultivation into sub-optimal lands and poor quality of planting material.
It says replanting efforts had suffered on account of low price for rubber wood. “There have also been concerns about the environment sustainability of the production systems. The plight of planters and labourers have also gone from bad to worse under globalization when the prices became highly volatile along with a sharp downward trend in the recent years,” it adds.
Association of planters of Kerala chairman Gilbert D’Souza said the Centre should favourably consider the problems being faced by rubber farmers. “It should pro-actively intervene in the matter and come up measures to boost both domestic production and sales,” he added.
– India Times
