The Rubber Board in India is urging local growers to put in all effort to maximise their plantation yield as the peak production period starts.
The Kerala government has also assured farmers that the Rubber Production Incentive Scheme will continue, guaranteeing a price of INR150/kg, so the temporary price fluctuations should not be a disincentive.
If rubber tapping in the coming months is discontinued or disrupted, at a time when yield from rubber shows an upward trend, will result in substantial income loss to farmers.
Steps to improve India’s natural rubber production and productivity in the recent months have also been taken by the Rubber Board. Production of natural rubber in the first four months of the current fiscal year has shown an increase of 4.47% on a year-on-year basis. This indicates that the efforts put in the field have yielded results.
The mass contact programme to popularise low frequency tapping (LFT) to improve profitability, conducted by the Rubber Board has also received a positive response from rubber growers.
About 5,000 growers have come forward to adopt weekly tapping. Rain guarding could still be done so that no tapping days are further lost during the northeast monsoon season.
A scheme for starting ‘Tapper Banks’ in Rubber Producers Societies has also been initiated.