Land scarcity hampers expansion of rubber acreage

Scarcity of land and low productivity in northeastern states are the main hindrances in expanding area under rubber cultivation, industry experts said on Wednesday.

Though the Rubber Board has identified 450,000 hectare in the northeast, it has been unable to make much progress as the area comes under Forest Protection Act, they said.

Difficulty in getting suitable land may hinder plans to raise share of rubber output in non-traditional areas by 10-15 per cent in next 10 years, they said.

Under India's forest protection laws, rubber is not a forest tree and hence cannot be cultivated in land identified as forest area, a board official said.

Since most of the land identified by the Rubber Board in the northeast comes under forest area, the board has not made much progress.

The environment and forests ministry is unlikely to grant permission on concerns of destruction of forests and encroachment on forestland, he said.

Kerala, considered as a traditional area for rubber cultivation, accounts for 83 per cent of area under cultivation and 92 per cent of the country's rubber output.

However, Kerala has reached saturation point in terms of arable land and hence the need to look for other areas.

To circumvent restrictions imposed by forest laws, the board is exploring the possibility of planting rubber as a shade tree in tea gardens of Assam.

"Trees are planted for shade in tea gardens and we are having discussions with the Tea Board to see whether rubber could be used as a shade tree," said N M Mathew of the Rubber Research Institute.

Demand-supply: Growth in natural rubber consumption is making it imperative to increase area under rubber cultivation.

At least, 10-15 per cent of natural rubber output should come from non-traditional areas in the next 10 years, said Jairam Ramesh, Commerce and Industries Minister.

The country is likely to become the world's second largest rubber consumer in the next 5-7 years, he said during a meeting with the Rubber Board recently.

The country is the world's fourth largest rubber producer and consumer.

Expanding cultivation to non-traditional area is the only way to meet the growing consumption, he said.

London-based International Rubber Study Group expects global demand to grow 4.5 per cent in next 15 years, while supply growth is seen at 1.6 per cent.

In 2005-06, India's production at 803,000 tonne was slightly higher than consumption of 801,00 tonne. But this is unlikely to repeat in coming years.

"Favorable climate and high prices helped to register record production last year. It was more of an exception than a trend," said N Radhakrishnan, president, Cochin Rubber Merchants' Association.

Non-traditional areas: Lower productivity in northeastern states""because of climatic, soil and other factors-may also work as disincentive for expanding rubber cultivation in these areas.

Productivity in northeast, main non-traditional area under rubber, is 970 kg per hectare, compared with 1,796 kg in Kerala.

However, labour costs in the northeast is 50 per cent of that in Kerala, which makes rubber an economically viable cultivation.

Of 55,000 hectare under rubber cultivation in the northeast, 31,000 hectare are in Tripura.

The board had identified Konkan in Maharashtra and some parts of Orissa as areas with potential for rubber cultivation.

However, these places would require irrigation facilities, as they are drought prone, a rubber grower said.