Boosting rubber production in NE

The announcement by the Automotive Tyre Association of India about its plan to invest Rs 1100 crore to undertake rubber plantations in the Northeast is good news for the region. The region has huge potential for production of top-grade natural rubber which will generate employment for lakhs of families, if it can be tapped. Individual success stories of rubber growers in the region galore which has pushed the industry body to evince interest in the region. Out of total consumption 11.24 lakh metric tonnes natural rubber in India, automotive tyre manufacturers consume about 7.56 lakh metric tonnes. This speaks volume about the high demand for natural rubber for manufacturing tyres. Tripura is the second largest producer of natural rubber in India after Kerala but it has very few rubber-based industries. Of its total potential of one lakh hectares, the state has raised rubber plantations in over 85,000 hectares. Kerala, with about 6 lakh hectares under rubber, tops the list of rubber growing states in the country. Assam is the second largest rubber grower after Tripura in the region with about 60,000 hectares under plantation and about 26,500 hectares under tapping. Tripura earns Rs 600 crore annually from sale of rubber outside the state and the industry sustains about 1.5 lakh families, most of the growers belonging to tribal communities. The tyre manufacturers' association plans to undertake rubber plantations on additional two lakh hectares of land in the region over the next five years. A rubber tree matures in seven years and rubber can be tapped from the seventh year onwards. The tree stays productive for about 25 years. The rubber wood procured from the tree after it stops yielding also has high demand in furniture industry for its durability and attractive colour. Popularising use of rubber wood for home furnishing in India can check felling of trees in natural forests. India has 8.22 lakh hectares under rubber cultivation of which 6.63 lakh hectares are under tapping. The country produces 7.12 lakh metric tonnes against total consumption of 11.34 lakh metric tonnes. About 4.57 lakh metric tonnes are imported to meet the shortfall in domestic production. The demand-supply gap shows that boosting domestic production by raising plantations in North-eastern states is economically viable. Keeping the production cost at minimum by promoting tapping by growers and plantations raised through cooperative farming will protect the growers from price fluctuations to a great extent. A large number of growers with small holdings exited rubber production in Kerala when price fluctuated due to drastic drop in prices. Lowering of import duty on rubber led to industries import cheaper rubber from Thailand. Besides, yield from ageing trees in Kerala also dropped adding to the crisis triggered by price drop. The average yield in the country declined from 1796 kilograms/hectare in 2005-06 to 1459 kg/Ha in 2019-20. The price in the domestic market of natural rubber for every 100 kilograms increased from Rs 6,699 in 2005-06 to Rs. 20,805 in 2011-12 but declined to Rs 11,306 in 2015-16 and then increased and has been fluctuating around Rs. 13,000 after Thailand decided to reduce rubber growing areas in the country. The price of natural rubber also fluctuates with oil prices. When oil prices decline, price of natural rubber declines as synthetic rubber produced as a by-product of oil industry becomes cheaper. The lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the crisis of rubber growers in Kerala. These lessons from Kerala must be kept in mind while promoting natural rubber production in northeast region. The North-eastern states should initiate steps to attract rubber-based industries to set up their units in collaboration with the Rubber Board and the industry bodies. The region can showcase its enhanced export advantage following access to seaports in Bangladesh facilitated by transborder connectivity projects taken up by India. A bridge over river Feni in Tripura, which is due to be inaugurated shortly, will connect Sabroom, a border town in the state with Chittagong Port in Bangladesh which is just 75 km away from the bridge. Similarly, a multimodal logistics park, the work of which is on at Jogighopa in Assam will make it possible for exporters to reach trade destinations in Bangladesh in just three hours. Care must be taken to ensure that natural forest land or farmland under paddy and cereals are not replaced with rubber plantation to meet the target of rubber production in the region. The rubber trees are good carbon sequester, but the destruction of natural forest will have irreversible damage to the ecology and environment. The new plantations to be undertaken over the next five years will be ready for tapping in seven to 12 years of time which will give sufficient time for the states in the region to draw up an elaborate road map for tapping all benefits from the rubber plantations.