Though a record 8.26 lakh hectares (lh) have been brought under natural rubber cultivation, growers’ lack of interest due to unremunerative returns from the industrial commodity has resulted in the yield per hectare languishing, according to government and industry officials.

In the 2021-22 fiscal, the area under rubber increased to 8.26 lh with the tappable area also rising to a record 7.18 lh. Yet, the yield per hectare was 1,472 kg against 1,442 kg in 2019-20 and a far cry from the nearly 1,900 kg witnessed between 2006 and 2007. 

Slackening pace

“The pace of new planting and replanting had come down drastically from 30,000 plus hectares in 2014-15 to less than 10,000 in 2020-21,” said KN Raghavan, Executive Director, Rubber Board.

Replanting in rubber estates has come down in Kerala due to prices declining and labour costs increasing, eroding the profitability of plantations, he said.  

“Growers are tapping less due to low prices. The yield in at least 30-35 per cent of the estates is low and replanting has not been done for nearly a decade. At the same time, production costs have gone up,” said N Radhakrishnan of Cochin Rubber Merchants Association.

According to him, labour wages and costs of crop inputs such as fertiliser and pesticides are high and growers are not able to make both ends meet. “Production costs are now around ₹200 a kg in Kerala. But prices of natural rubber are nowhere near it,” he said.

Lack of protective measures

Natural rubber prices have dropped from ₹182.79 a kg for RSS-4 (ribbed smoked sheet) in November 2021 at Kottyam, the main market, to ₹153.17 currently after having slipped to ₹143.90 last month. In the global market, prices of RSS-3, which is equivalent to India’s RSS-4,have dropped from ₹144.18 to ₹133.67 currently.

“For growers, tapping costs have gone up. It doesn’t matter what the yield is, the tapper has to be paid. Prices have not been remunerative since 2012,” said Radhakrishnan. 

“Growers did not adopt measures such as rain-guarding due to low prices,” said Sanjith Nair, Secretary, United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI). 

Senile plantations

India’s yield per hectare — which was the highest — is now lower than Vietnam, which has the best productivity globally, he said, adding that, however, production, which had dropped to 5.65 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2015-16 from a record 9.13 lt in 2012-13, recovered to a eight-year-high of 7.75 lt in 2021-22. 

Raghavan said the area under senile plantation had increased bringing down productivity. “But this has been made up in last three years by bringing untapped areas into tapping. We are giving subsidy for replanting also,” he said.

The Rubber Board offers ₹25,000 per hectare for new planting in traditional areas, the same as provided new planting, while it is ₹40,000 in the North-East and non-traditional areas. 

This has helped bring new areas under natural rubber, particularly in the North-East. “New planting has been done on 23,000 hectares in the North-East this year under a project support by tyre companies,” the Rubber Board Executive Director said.

In order to encourage growers in Tripura to go in for replanting to replace the first set of trees which are reaching the senile phase, efforts are on to set up more rubberwood processing factories. 

Tapping wood

Rubberwood is used for various purposes, mainly for furniture making in view of its sturdy character. For long, the Rubber Board has been promoting rubberwood as another source of income for growers so that they can replace senile trees with new ones. 

“There are many trees that have yielded for over 25 years now and are past their prime production level. They need to be replaced,” said Radhakrishnan. 

“The need of the hour is for the Rubber Board to introduce super clones whose yield will be double of the productivity of the trees now,” said Sanjith. 

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