The Indian rubber farmers in Kerala are concerned over the consistent fall of the price in natural rubber. Natural rubber accounts for more than 94 percent of the country’s total production. The slowdown in demand from India’s tyre industry which consumes more than 50 percent of the total natural rubber production is adding pressure on prices, state rubber experts.
Prices are not being compensated for due to the rise in cost of production and are mainly due to high wages of tappers and the increasing cost of fertilizers.Kerala state government’s scheme of obtaining rubber at a higher rate than the daily marker price did not occur as they had envisioned. This has pushed farmers into more misfortune, state experts. It has also been noted that price would not drop any further as off-season for rubber production will begin in February.
Rubber price is ruled around Rs 220 per kg in January of 2011 has reached a low of Rs 123 per kg in India’s domestic market due to the lower demand of this commodity. Rising concern among the tyre industry surrounds the dropping price of rubber and that growers may be discouraged to cultivate trees causing a shortfall in supply on a long enough time-scale.
The total area utilized for rubber cultivation in Kerala is 5.45lakh hectares. It is also a means of support to as many as 11.50lakh farmers and many are small time growers owning less than 1.5 hectares in rubber alone. The total rubber production in India’s Kerala for the year 2012 -2013 amounted to 8,000 per metric ton.