Eyes of Rubber Board glued to NE

Guwahati, Apr 22 (UNI) With the leading rubber producing state Kerela reaching a saturation point, the North East has emerged as the next destination of the Rubber Board, which has proposed an ambitious plantation scheme to be carried out during the 11th Five Year Plan.

Till recently, rubber cultivation in the country was traditionally confined to the hinterlands of the southwest coast, mainly Kerela and Tamil Nadu. Kerela tops the list with respect to total production, followed by Tripura.

Gauging the immense potential of Asom, the Rubber Board has identified around 2 lakh hectares of land in the state for rubber cultivation.

''There are vast tracts in districts like Goalpara, Kamrup, Kokrajhar, Udalguri, Nagaon, Morigaon, Silchar, Karbi Anglong and Hailakandi which could be used for rubber cultivation. An elaborate plan has been submitted to the Union Government for approval,'' Mr S C Bhowmik, Deputy Rubber Production Commissioner, Rubber Board, Guwahati, told UNI.

Significantly, Asom tops the list in terms of per hectare yield of the cash crop. The national average of per hectare yield is 1,800 kg. The yield in Asom is nearly 2,000 kg and sometimes it even reaches 3,000 kg.

According to official sources, the Rubber Board has proposed for three kinds of plantation schemes: individual planting, group planting and block planting. Different subsidies have been proposed for the sundry levels of planting.

The scheme seeks to rope in individual growers, self-help groups and private entrepreneurs.

Around 14,648 hectares of land in Asom is under rubber cultivation and the annual production in 2006 was 3,372 metric tonnes.

Mr Bhowmik said though the climate of the state is not congenial, yet the plant can resist its temperature and rainfall.

As the cultivation requires less manpower and the cost of production is less, it has attracted many small growers in the state, especially in the lower Asom district of Goalpara as well as Cachar.

The district of Goalpara, where around 2,000 hectares of land is under cultivation, has generated Rs 12 crore through the rubber business last year.

To increase the popularity of the cultivation, some NGOs are also organising rubber sheet competitions annually.

The Board is providing free technical advice, besides subsidies in plants, plantation material, fencing, smoker house, rubber roller and other assistance.

Mr Bhowmik informed that last year, the Board has granted subsidies amounting to Rs 1.39 crore in different pockets of the state.

The growing interest for rubber cultivation in Asom is evident from the fact that the Rubber Board has issued around 1,509 permits this year.

The North East Council (NEC) has assured all assistance to the Rubber Board in its endeavour. In its proposal for the 11th Plan, the Board has proposed as many as ten regional offices in the North East, of which three are in Tripura, four in Asom and one each in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Plantation target in the 10th Five Year Plan was about 10,000 hectares in the state and the target has already been achieved.

Asom is the third largest rubber producing state in the country, but the production is just less than one per cent of Kerela and just over 20 per cent of the total annual production of Tripura.

More than 36,000 articles ranging from giant truck tyres to small bushes are manufactured from rubber, which has emerged as one of the major cash crops of recent times. The tyre industry consumes nearly 85 per cent of the natural rubber produced in India and there is an ever-increasing demand for rubber.

UNI