The Hindu Business Line : Upasi sets up task force to promote rubber wood

THE United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi) has constituted Indian Rubber Wood Task Force (IRWTF) for the promotion of rubber wood in the country. With the efforts of Rubber Board and IRWTF, the Bureau of Indian Standards has brought out specifications for preservative treated and seasoned sawn timber from rubber wood.

The Rubber Board has been promoting processing and value addition of rubber wood through creation of infrastructure and testing facilities. It has promoted two companies, Meenachil Rubber Wood Ltd and Rubber Wood India (P) Ltd for the processing of rubber wood.

Rubber Wood India serves as demonstration and training centre for the rubber processing industry. It has also the facility to convert the processed timber into various value-added products such as door frames and shutters, mouldings, laminated sections and S4S sections.

Rubber wood has emerged as an alternative source of timber. As it is obtained from sustainable managed plantations, it has high environmental acceptability both in domestic and international markets.

Processed rubber wood has a wide range of applications such as furniture, panelling, tabletop, flooring and household articles. During 2002-03, the projected total availability was 3.123 million cubic meters of which stem wood accounted for 60 per cent (1.82 million cubic meters).

The major sources of ancillary income in the mature phase of rubber plantations are the by-products, which include rubber seed, rubber honey, and rubber wood. Along with its various uses, the by-products also generate sufficient income.

The two major products processed from rubber seeds are rubber seed oil and rubber seed cake. The tree starts producing seeds prior to the commencement of tapping. The seeds collected from plantations are sold to local vendors who sell it to processing units.

The rubber seed oil processing industry is concentrated in Tamil Nadu particularly in Virudanagar. An estimated 45,000 tonnes of rubber seeds are produced every year. Around 10 per cent of the seeds are used in plantations for raising planting materials.

Rubber seed oil is mainly used in soap manufacturing industry. It can also be used as a substitute for linseed oil in the manufacture of paints.

Rubber seed cake is very rich in protein and it is a source for cattle and poultry feeds. The cattle and poultry manufacturing industries consume 50 per cent of the seed cake while the rest is used directly without any blending or mixing.

In India, commercial exploitation of honey from rubber plantations is a recent development.

In the domestic market, the major consuming industries of honey are the ayurvedic and allopathic pharmaceuticals, bakery, confectionery, dairy and tobacco manufacturing. The estimated production of honey from rubber plantations during 2002-2003 was 2,100 tonnes, which is 53 per cent lower than that of the preceding year mainly due to adverse climatic conditions. This constitutes only around 3 per cent of the potential production from rubber plantations.

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