Rubber Board wants to shift its focus from increasing rubber cultivation to producing quality rubber sheets to ensure maximum value addition to the states raw rubber, according to official.
Natural rubber production in Tripura has increased from 46,815 MT in 2014-15 to 65,330 MT in 2017-18 although the area under rubber cultivation has not been expanded in the same pace during the period.
Around 4,000 hectares have been brought under rubber cultivation during the past four years.
“Now, we want to switch the focus from expansion ofrubber plantation to quality production of rubber sheets. If it is ensured, then rubber growers will be benefited, said DK Das, Deputy Commissioner of Rubber Board, Regional Office, Agartala. ‘
In some areas, Rubber Board has been able to meet its targets like quality improvement and value addition to scrap rubber or latex by imparting training to rubber growers and tappers.
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Earlier, only 20 per cent scarp rubber was sent outside the state and now it has gone up substantially due to value addition. he pointed out.
Das said the state has been producing quality rubber sheets like RSS-5/4 and efforts are on to produce graded rubber sheets in order to get better price.
We have set a target of producing 60 per cent rubber sheets of the total production by next 2-3 years. This will have a good impact on the rubber growers, he said.
Das further said that instead of opting for big sized rubber based industries, small scale industrial units could be a game changer in Tripuras economy.
Setting up tyre manufacturing industry may not be economically viable here because it requires only 20 per cent raw rubber while the remaining ingredients, mostly chemicals, will have to be brought from outside the state, he said.
