Apart from all the challenges, the domestic natural rubber (NR) sector shows positive growth in production and consumption compared to the previous year, which is a good sign of a resurgence of the Indian plantation sector, said Dr. Sawar Dhanania, Chairman of the Rubber Board. He was presiding the 185th meeting of the Rubber Board at Kottayam. The efforts of the Rubber Board and the timely interference in disease control, adoption of rubber holdings for harvesting, formation of Rubber Tapper Groups (RTGs), etc., have resulted in the augmentation of NR production in the country. But, many challenges, including volatilities in rubber prices, climate change, market issues, labour shortage, etc., continue in the rubber sector. We need to find suitable solutions at the grassroots level to make the plantation sector more sustainable and profitable. In the present scenario, Rubber Producers' Societies (RPSs) need further improvement in their governance and activities to face the various challenges in the rubber plantation sector. RPSs should become self-sufficient in their activities. The concept of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in the RPS sector is a viable suggestion to experiment with in the coming days, Dr. Dhanania said.
M Vasanthagesan IRS, Executive Director of the Rubber Board, presented the status of the Indian NR sector. Natural Rubber (NR) production in the country during 2022-23 was 839,000 tonnes, registering 8.3% growth. He detailed that the average yield, measured in terms of production per hectare of tapped area, increased to 1,482 kg/ha in 2022-23 from 1,472 kg/ha in the previous year.
The Executive Director also said that the domestic NR consumption reached the ever-time peak in 2022-23 at 1,350,000 tonnes, up 9.0% from the quantity of 1238,000 tonnes consumed during 2021-22. The auto tyre sector registered a positive growth of 4.8% during 2022-23. The general rubber goods sector recorded 20.4% growth during 2022-23 compared to 5.6% during 2021-22. Auto-tyre manufacturing sector accounted for 70.3% of NR consumed in the country during 2022-23. NR production and consumption for 2023-24 are projected at 875,000 tonnes and 1400,000 tonnes respectively, he added.
The Board thanked the Union Government under the leadership of honorable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to increase the import duty on compounded rubber at par with NR. The Committee also suggested that the Rubber Board should ensure the benefit of Rubber Production Incentive Scheme of the State Government reaches to all small growers. The Rubber Board had three meetings including Staff Affairs Committee, meeting for Strengthening of RPSs and Research & Development Committee.
KA Unnikrishnan (Vice-Chairman), N Hari, Prasenjith Biswas IFS (Retd.), K Viswanathan, P Raveendran, CS Soman Pillai, Korah C George, G Anilkumar, Kallol Dey and G Krishnakumar are the members attended in the Rubber Board meeting. The members of the Rubber Board re-elected KA Unnikrishnan as the Vice-Chairman of the Board for the next year.