Rubber

Rubber Plantation:

The Rubber Board has taken up spectacular achievements in extension development schemes, took the rubber concept out of estate sector and went on domesticating the crop for the rural mass. Today the vast majority of the rubber plantations in Tripura pertain to very small to marginal growers. By now, Tripura has emerged as the second largest rubber growing state of the country, next to Kerala.

The Rubber Block Plantation Scheme has made dramatic changes in the socio-economic development of the rural sector. The scheme had been visualizing a 5- pronged strategy.

• To rehabilitate the Jhumia families who had been destroying the forest wealth on massive scale by adopting a cultural practice called Jhuming.

• Afforestation of denuded areas with a long term economic crop.

• Livelihood development of rural tribal communities with a crop of sustainable income.

• Provide employment to rural youth in general & to the tribal community in particular.

• Organising and empowering the rural farmers under the banner of Rubber Producers Society and thereby developing vibrant marketing channel.

The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning has estimated that approximately one lakh hectare is available for rubber cultivation in the State. Rubber Board has already chalked out various development schemes so as to bring the entire area under rubber cultivation. The other agencies involved in the promotion of Rubber Plantation industry in the state are TFDPC, TRPC, TTAADC, and State Government Departments like Tribal Welfare Dept.

District-wise Area under Rubber (in ha) in Tripura (Revised), 2018-19:

Source: Economic Review of Tripura, 2018-19

Rubber Area (in ha) and Production (in MT) in Tripura, 2004 to 2018:

Note: Part of 2011 planted area & planting from 2012 onwards has been included under immature area.

Source: Economic Review of Tripura, 2018-19

Year wise extension in area of rubber plantation in Tripura, 1976-77 to 2015-16:

Source: Economic Survey of Tripura 2015-16

District wise (un-divided) area and production in the State during 2014-15 and 2015-16:

Source: Economic Survey of Tripura 2014-15 and 2015-16

Activities and social commitments of Rubber Board in Tripura:

Extension and Development: The Rubber Board is promoting rubber cultivation in Tripura by extending technical as well as financial assistance to the small and marginal farmers. Under north-eastern package; Rubber Board offers multifaceted assistances to its farmers. Many of these schemes are very unique, suiting to the location specific obligations. In addition to free technical support rubber board is extending financial assistance to growers as detailed below:

• New Planting & Replanting Assistance at the tune of Rs. 30,000/ha,

• Boundary Protection Assistance to an extend of Rs. 6000/ha

• Reimbursement of cost of planting materials @ Rs 5000/ha.

• Generation and supply Quality Planting Material.

• Welfare Schemes for Labourers.

Human Resource Development: Rubber Board has been playing a pivotal role in familiarizing very alien rubber culture with the resource and intellect poor growers through its training modules. A Regional Rubber Training Centre was instituted in 2000 at Agartala, for enlightening the stakeholders of rubber, where training programmes on Estate Management, Crop Harvesting, Apiculture, etc have been offered to the growers.

In addition, on farm practical training programmes on tapping and processing and regular village level meetings and promotional campaigns also contributed for the improvement of proficiency and adoption of innovative technology by the growers.

Community Development: Another endeavour of Rubber Board which gathered acclamation from all over the state is the empowerment of rubber producers through group formation under the umbrella of Rubber Producers' Societies (RPSs). Now the total number of registered Rubber Producers' Societies is 176.

As most of the growers are small and marginal producers, it is necessary to make them self-reliant in managing their plantations starting from planting and maintenance to harvesting, processing and marketing. RPSs can also ensure better prices for their crop through collective bargain. These societies have developed a vibrant rubber market in Tripura by monitoring the market trends and updating the market intelligence. The services rendered by the Rubber Board could also be transmitted to the individual growers through these RPSs. The RPSs can also mediate between Rubber Board and growers as technology transfer centers.

At present, all the RPSs in Tripura are rendering commendable service to the rubber growing community of the state.

Processing and Quality up-gradation: Processing of rubber in to marketable form of rubber is very complex requiring infusion of much capital, which is often unaffordable to small growers. Moreover it is difficult to maintain Quality of the produce during domestic processing.

In order to overcome these problems Rubber Board promoted community processing centres by RPS's. Rubber Board contributed 50% subsidy limited to Rs.18,00,000 to RPSs for setting up of community processing centres. At present there are 95 community processing centres (50 group and 45 block) in the state which are set up with financial assistance from Rubber Board.

Rubber Board also offers financial assistance to individual growers for purchasing sheeting rollers @ Rs.15000 per unit and for construction of smoke houses @ Rs.20000 per unit.

Generation of Quality Planting Material: Rubber Board is maintaining its own Nurseries to produce and distribute Quality Planting Materials and genuine budwood materials. The regional Nursery under NRETC Agartala at Tulakona produced and distributed around 21630 Budded stumps and 10000M of bud wood during 2015-16.

Market support: In fact, compared to any other commodity in the state, Rubber is the only crop which enjoys a farm gate price above 95%. This is attributed to the network of dealers distributed through out the state coupled with the bargaining power of the RPSs and market intervention of Rubber Board through its companies like M/S Manimalayar Rubbers (P) Ltd and Tripura Latex Pvt Ltd.

M/S Manimalayar Rubbers (P) Ltd, a company registered under companies act with Head office at Kottayam in Kerala, which is a joint venture of Rubber Board and Rubber Producers Societies. The company has been incorporated with the sole objective of strengthening of the RPS sector by acting as an apex body of RPS's and assisting them in marketing of their crop ensuring better price. The company is also involved in the distribution of almost all estate inputs required by growers at reasonable price. The total rubber traded by this company during 2015-16 is 4410.72 MT.

With the objective of further strengthening of this sector, a new company namely M/S Tripura Latex (P) Ltd has been established exclusively with 17 Rubber Producers Society of Tripura and two Rubber Boards companies. with registered office at Agartala since 2008. Now the company is actively involved in generating quality planting material and marketing of field latex. During 2015-16 the company produced & distributed 2,40,695 nos budded stumps & 2,24,929 nos of polybag plants. They also have traded latex equivalent to 1697.91 Metric Ton dry rubber during 2015-16.

Rubber Research: In order to evolve location specific rubber clones suitable for Tripura and to develop appropriate agro-management practices, scientific research is highly essential. With these objectives, Rubber Board has established a Regional Research Station (RRS) at Agartala for investigations on various aspects of rubber cultivation specific for this region. Research on crop improvement and field trials for the development of clones suitable for Tripura, other income sources like intercropping in Rubber Plantation to tide over the uneconomic period of rubber cultivation etc are also being undertaken by the research station.

Licensing: The NRETC is equipped with a licensing Department with the posting of Excise Duty Inspector started functioning with effect from 1st May 2015, to cater the needs of Dealers , processors and Manufacturers. Earlier the function of this department was operated from Rubber Board Sub Office, Kolkata. At present there are about 530 registered rubber dealers who are actively doing rubber businesses. There are also 5 nos. of ISNR processing units , 3 nos of CENEX processing units and 3 nos. of rubber goods manufacturing units in the State. As rubber production in the state is going up the prospective applicants for dealership and processing & manufacturing licenses are also gradually increasing.

Marketing: Considering the long pending demand from various stakeholders in Rubber sector in the north eastern region, Rubber Board has started an office of Marketing Division with the posting of Asst. Marketing Officer in this region. The main objective of opening of an office related to Marketing which is now attached to the NRETC, is for collection and dissemination of the price of different grades of Natural Rubber in the north east. lt is a new attempt in this region since so far rubber prices have been collected and disseminated based on the Kottayam and Kochi markets which are the two terminal markets for rubber in India. Since Tripura is the second largest rubber producing state in the nation, it has been decided by the Board to collect and disseminate the rubber price in Tripura state also.

Labour Welfare: Rubber Board is implementing various schemes for the welfare of Tappers and plantation workers. .Education stipend scheme, Housing subsidy scheme, Medical attendance scheme, Group insurance cum deposit scheme are the major schemes.

Rehabilitation Programme for tribals: Apart from its commercial value, rubber has been playing a vital role in the rehabilitation projects for shifting cultivators (Jhumias) for their social and economic uplift and for the forestation of denuded forest lands.

Keeping this in mind, Rubber Board has been implementing Block Plantation Scheme since 1992. The plantations are raised in compact land possessed by tribals under the direct technical supervision of the Board with financial support from the state government and Rubber Board. During the immaturity period the beneficiaries earn wages for the work rendered by them in their own plantations. On attaining tappability, the beneficiaries are empowered to undertake harvesting, processing and marketing of the produce by forming Rubber Producers' Societies.

This scheme has so far adopted 3546 jhumia families by raising 3774.75 ha rubber plantation in 59 villages and ensured permanent settlement for the nomadic community. The social change and economic uplift brought about by this scheme has helped in wiping out social evils to some extent. The extent of plantations raised from 1992 to 2015 is as follows:

Liaison work: NRETC also facilitate liaison between the Rubber Board and various stakeholders of rubber plantation industry. The Jt. Rubber Production Commissioner, Agartala represents Rubber Board in the Development committees and Director Board of state Government agencies like TFDPC, TRPC, Rubber Park, etc.

Rubber Industries in Tripura: As Rubber is a vital raw material for more than 50000 products, there is ample scope for Rubber based industries in the state, which can generate much needed employment opportunities.

Rubber Park: India's second Rubber Park has been set up in Tripura at Bodhjungnager, which is jointly promoted by Tripura Industrial Development Corporation and Rubber Board. The Rs.230 million Rubber Park will provide state of the art plug and play infrastructure facilities with centralized quality control and product development Laboratory, Latex and carbon black master batch etc. The park is expected to house 20 medium and small scale industries.