The government has increased the allocation for Sustainable and Inclusive Development of Natural Rubber Sector by 23% to Rs 708.7 crore for the next two financial years, a move that will help higher increase area under cultivation of the cash crop.
The scheme runs parallel with the tenure of the award of 15th finance commission and is run by the Rubber Board. It provides subsidies for new planting and replanting of old plantations. With the increase the five-year allocation for the scheme stands at Rs 999.86 crore.
Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Amardeep Singh Bhatia said that the funds will be used for supporting plantation of rubber, generation of planting material, productivity enhancement, formation of rubber producers societies, and rubber research and training.
The government wants to increase local production of rubber as the country has to rely heavily on imports to meet demand. Against the demand of 13.5 lakh tonne of natural rubber the local production is just 8.39 lakh tonnes.
To support the rubber industry, planting of rubber will be undertaken in 12,000 ha in traditional areas during 2024-25 and 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs 43.50 crore. For this, the rate of assistance has been increased to Rs. 40,000 per ha from the earlier Rs 25,000 per ha. Traditional areas for rubber crop are Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
This will help to cover the increased cost of production as well as provide additional incentive to growers for planting rubber. 3752 ha will be brought under rubber cultivation in non-traditional regions with an outlay of Rs 18.76 crore during the same period. NNon traditional areas for rubber are Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Northeast states.
Planting materials worth Rs 50,000 per ha will be supplied by the Rubber Board. This will be over and above the plantation being carried out under the INROAD project in the North East. Planting assistance at Rs 2,00,000 per ha will be provided for SC growers in non-traditional regions.
Sponsored nurseries will be promoted by the Board in non- traditional areas for generating good quality planting material (new component). Assistance will be provided at Rs 2,50,000 to 20 such nurseries.
Bhatia said an outlay of Rs 29 crore has been provided for the next two years for rubber research.
The scheme also promotes forums of smallholders of rubber through Rubber Producers Societies (RPS). In the next two years assistance will be provided for the formation of around 250 new RPSs. Formation of another 1450 farmer clusters will be supported in non-traditional and NE regions. Assistance will also be provided for equipment to producer organisations.
Establishment of three nodal centres of National Institute of Rubber training (NIRT) in NE region Agartala, Guwahati and Nagaland have been proposed with an outlay of Rs 5.25 crore in next two years.