THE INDIAN RUBBER BOARD initiates to double the existing natural rubber cultivation areas in northeastern India – an agro-climatically suitable area – during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) to boost the country’s rubber industry.
Based on current data, there are 113,685 hectares of natural rubber cultivation area in the northeastern region, including 61,000 hectares in Tripura and 36,000 hectares in Assam, producing about 48,000 tonnes of natural rubber in 2010 to 2011.
The Board’s chief, Sheela Thomas also said that 13 new NR clones are being developed to bolster the productivity in the said region. These clones will be recommended for mass cultivation after successful field trials, she said, adding that plantation of new trees to replace old trees as well as adequate training to the tappers, among other measures, could also help raise productivity.
Thomas said that local production and consumption of NR in the country is increasing, with 65% of the production of natural rubber being used by the tyre industries.
According to Thomas, India is now ranked first in rubber productivity (1,841 kg per hectare), second in consumption (971,000 tonnes per year), fourth in production (912,000 tonnes in 2012-2013) and sixth in terms of area (0.79 million hectares) of rubber cultivation in the world.
According to the Board’s data, total cultivation area would increase to 986,000 hectares and production and consumption would go up to 1,583,000 tonnes and 1,731,000 tonnes, respectively, by 2024-2025.
Rubber is traditionally grown mostly in Kerala, accounting for 550,000 hectares of cultivation area; Tripura has the second-largest rubber cultivation area with 61,000 hectare in the state producing about 37,399 tonne of NR in 2012-2013 and earning Rs.600 crore annually.
The non-traditional areas are in Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, along the foothills of the Western Ghats, and along the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.