THE Rubber Board of India (RRI) is trying to promote a group approach in rubber production and marketing by enhancing productivity of rubber plantations through systematic replanting, accelerating new planting with focus on non-traditional rubber growing regions, intensifying research to evolve appropriate technologies for rubber cultivation and maximising net returns of rubber growers.
The board has initiated branding of natural rubber for export with 31 exporters having inked an agreement for this and more than 4,000 tonnes of the polymer exported. GM Trials, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, has granted permission for limited scale field trial of GM rubber plants (one acre each in the research farms of RRII in Kerala and Maharashtra, India) and the board has sought permission from the respective state governments for field planting.
Further, the RRI is in the process of identifying potential areas for expanding rubber cultivation with least pressure on forest and food crops cultivated lands.
The RRI is confident that India will continue to occupy the fourth position, registering 3.7% growth over 2009 at 851,000 tonnes. The 2011-12 production has been estimated at 902,000 tonnes against 862,000 tonnes in 2010-11.
RRI also says that consumption is expected to increase to 977,000 tonnes, compared with 948,000 tonnes last year. NR consumption in the tyre sector grew by 5.4% during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared to a decline of 5.4% in the non-tyre sector. (PRA)