The Rubber Board has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Navsari Agricultural University, Gujarat, to evaluate the feasibility of cultivating rubber in south Gujarat region.
The MoU was signed by Jessy, M.D., Director (Research), Rubber Board, and TR Ahlawat, Director of Research, Navsari Agricultural University, in the presence of KN Raghavan, Executive Director, Rubber Board, and ZP Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Navsari Agricultural University.
One hectare of rubber plantation will be established on the Peria farm of the university and pilot trials will be initiated in 13 research farms of the university for evaluation in the different agro-climatic conditions of the region.
Rubber Board is making a concerted effort to increase the area under natural rubber in the country to increase the production. Natural rubber(NR) is a critical industrial raw material with substantial strategic significance and it finds application in the manufacturing of about 40,000 products, which are indispensable to economic and commercial development of the nation.
Offtake rising steadily
Its consumption has been steadily increasing in the country during the past decade and the growth of NR consuming industry, especially the tyre manufacturing sector has created a big gap between NR produced and consumed in India. The shortfall caused by the gap between production and consumption is bridged by imports of NR which was valued at ₹7,500 crore during 2021-22.
In India, 8.27 lakh hectares is under rubber in Kerala, parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal, Goa, Maharashtra, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
India is the second largest consumer of natural rubber globally with a current consumption of around 1.2 million tonnes annually, which is expected to increase over the years. A special scheme ‘NE Mithra’ to plant 2 lakh hectares with rubber within 5 years in North Eastern States with the financial assistance from Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) is under implementation. A National Rubber Mission to extend rubber plantations in further 5 lakh hectares in various other parts of the country is also on the anvil.
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