The Union Ministry of Rural Development, by accepting a Rubber Board proposal, has allowed small, private rubber farmers to use the labour force under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme.

Rubber Board Chairperson Sheela Thomas told Business Line that the Rural Development Ministry, by bringing the labour-intensive rubber cultivation under the MGNREG scheme, sanctioned a pilot project to plant rubber on 500 acres in Kerala and Assam.

Depending on the outcome of the pilot project, the scheme would be extended to other States, especially in the North-East, where rubber plantations are coming up in a big way, Sheela Thomas said.

Kerala produces around 90 per cent of natural rubber, while Assam is fast emerging as a rubber-friendly State. Tripura, with around 60,000 hectares under rubber, is now the second-largest producer. But the area under cultivation has almost saturated in the North-East State.

Registered private small-holders in the pilot project area could make use of the MGNREG workers for free.

Panchayats will pay the wages, and the Rubber Board will offer technical advice to the farmer and monitor the work.

Sheela said the free labour service under the MGNREG would be available only to private cultivators for raising plantations and not for tapping.

The domestic demand for natural rubber has been rising and last year’s production topped nine lakh tonnes.

The board has been aggressively pushing rubber cultivation in the North-East over the past decade, as Kerala does not have much scope for expansion.

The new scheme will help expand cultivation in the North-East and other emerging States such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

However, international prices of rubber have come down drastically in the recent past, following the global economic slowdown.

This has affected domestic price, too, which is now below Rs 160 a kg (for RSS-4 grade).

basheer.kpm@thehindu.co.in

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