The Hindu Business Line : East Godavari takes up rubber cultivation

New Delhi, Nov. 17 In a predominantly tribal area, where Naxalite activity is on the high, a unique rubber cultivation scheme at Rampachodavaram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh has been launched by the Minister of State for Commerce & Power, Mr Jairam Ramesh, recently.

Sharing the components of the new project with Business Line here, Mr Ramesh said the scheme was designed to provide livelihood and income security to aboriginal tribal families. Over the next six years, 31,000 acres of area in seven mandals of the Rampachodavaram integrated tribal development authority would be brought under rubber cultivation to benefit some 13,000 tribal families and give them an assured annual income of at least Rs 45,000-50,000 a hectare. The total cost of the project is Rs 242 crore, of which about 14 per cent will come from the State Government, about 27 per cent from the Rubber Board and the balance 59 per cent will be met through National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

After launching the scheme in East Godavri district on November 15, Mr Ramesh said while the Rampachodavaram initiative will make no significant impact on India’s total production of natural rubber, it has great social significance and demonstrates the welfare impact of institutions like the Rubber Board in popularising rubber cultivation in non-traditional areas.

ORGANIC COFFEE

Earlier this year, he said a similar intervention had been made at his prompting by the Coffee Board in another Naxalite-prone tribal region of Paderu in Vishakapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh where over a lakh tribal families will get livelihood and income security by the cultivation of certified, organic coffee. About 300 tonnes of certified, organic coffee from this region is expected to be sold in European markets under the brand “Araku Valley Organic Coffee” shortly, he added.

Officials in the Department of Commerce said while Kerala accounts for almost 95 per cent of India’s production of natural rubber, the Rubber Board has taken up projects in the North-east to bring new areas under rubber since expansion in Kerala is not feasible. Already, about 31,000 hectares have been brought under rubber in Tripura and this is to double in the next six years. The total potential for rubber cultivation in the North-east has been estimated at around 0.45 million hectares, of which roughly 0.25 million hectares is in Assam and another 0.1 million hectares is in Tripura.

While yields in the North-east are lower than in Kerala, rubber cultivation in Tripura has transformed lives for thousands of tribal families in areas that had been the scene of internecine violence in the 1980s.

Downstream industries have also been set up to make use of the rubber cultivated in Tripura. Mr Ramesh lauded the the Rubber Board, particularly the Rubber Research Laboratory for the pioneering and pivotal role it has played in making India the world’s number one in productivity and expressed the hope that new varieties would be released for different regions at regular intervals. This would help in reviving the fortunes of traditional plantation crops such as rubber and improving the lot of the tribal population, Mr Ramesh noted.

More Stories on : Rubber | Cultivation | Andhra Pradesh

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