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The financial assistance for the rubber sector under the 'Sustainable and Inclusive Development of Natural Rubber Sector' has been increased by 23 per cent from Rs 576.41 crore to Rs 708.69 crore for the next two financial years - 2024-25 and 2025-26, an official release from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Monday.
India is among the world's largest producers of rubber and the third-largest consumer of the commodity. Kerala accounts for nearly 70 per cent of India's natural rubber output. 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. "This will help to cover the increased cost of production as well as provide additional incentive to growers for planting rubber," the ministry said. Also, 3,752 hectares will be brought under rubber cultivation in non-traditional regions with an outlay of Rs 18.76 crore during the same period. Planting materials worth Rs 50,000 per hectare 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 to generate good-quality planting material. Assistance will be provided at Rs 2,50,000 to 20 such nurseries. The government is planning a slew of measures aimed at enhancing the productivity of rubber produced. Towards this, support shall be provided for rain guarding in 67,000 hectares (60,000 in traditional, 5,000 in non-traditional and 2000 in Northeast) area and plant protection (spraying) in 22,000 hectares (20,000 in traditional and 2000 in non-traditional). An amount of Rs 35.60 crore is envisaged to be provided for this in the next two years. To fund rubber research, an outlay of Rs 29.00 crore has been provided for the next two years. This will aim at developing rubber clones suitable for different agro-climatic regions of the country to expand rubber cultivation to new areas to meet the rising demand in the country. It involves the conservation of germplasm, plant breeding and extensive multi-locational field trials to evaluate the growth, productivity and disease tolerance of hundreds of hybrid seedlings every year. To improve service delivery to rubber growers, the Rubber Board will intensify its digitization efforts and provide fast and instant services through its mobile-based apps as well as, use drones for geo-tagging, etc. An amount of Rs 8.91 crore has been provided for overall digitization of Rubber Board. The 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, primarily to promote MSMEs in this region by imparting training in product manufacture and quality control. During 2024-25 and 2025-26, a total of 712 training programmes are planned across the country which will benefit 10,700 individuals including 3,800 in northeast region. (ANI)
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