The rubber industry has proposed a hefty increase in the subsidy on rubber production to Rs 1 lakh per hectare in the 12th Five-Year plan to boost output.

“We have proposed to the Government to provide a one-time subsidy of Rs 1 lakh/hectare to small farmers for a period of three years for planting rubber trees,” the Indian Rubber Dealers Federation President, Mr George Valy, told PTI.

The Government currently provides a subsidy of Rs 19,500 a hectare on rubber cultivation in the traditional areas (Kerala and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu) and Rs 30,000/hectare in non-traditional areas.

The proposal emerged during the recent consultative workshop on the rubber sector organised by the Commerce Ministry for taking the views of the domestic rubber industry for designing a rubber policy for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

Rubber producers said that a hefty subsidy would help increase rubber production in newer areas such as the northeastern states.

“In the traditional areas, there is limited space and so we have to look at the non-traditional areas. North-East is a good choice, but there are still few issues that need to be addressed,” Cochin Rubber Merchants Association ex-President, Mr N. Radhakrishnan, told PTI.

The old subsidy scheme needs more incentives so as to attract farmers to look toward rubber as a plantation crop, Mr Radhakrishnan added.

According to official data, the demand supply-gap in the 2010-11 fiscal was 87,255 tonnes, compared with 99,165 tonnes in the previous year.

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