The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd has requested the Karnataka government to implement a Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme for rubber growers in the state on the lines of the scheme extended to rubber growers in Kerala.
In a letter to the Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, the President of Campco, Kishore Kumar Kodgi, said rubber growers have been affected in Karnataka due to the steep fall in prices of the commodity.
Nearly 60,000 growers in the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu, Shivamogga, Chikmagaluru, Hassan and Mysuru have taken up cultivation of rubber on around 55,000 hectares of land in the Karnataka. Karnataka produces around 40,000 tonnes of natural rubber, he said.
Stating that the price of natural rubber has come down from ₹242 a kg in 2011 to ₹140 a kg in 2023, he requested the Karnataka government to support rubber growers in the state to tide over this situation.
On lines of Kerala scheme
“It is requested that the Government of Karnataka extend MSP for the rubber growers of the state on the lines of the scheme extended to the rubber growers in the neighbouring state of Kerala,” he said in the letter.
Under the ‘Rubber Production Incentive Scheme’ of the Kerala government, ₹170 a kg is ensured as the minimum for RSS IV and RSS V grades of rubber. The difference between the support price and the daily reference price approved by the Rubber Board will be credited to the bank account of the farmer directly on the basis of purchase bills furnished by the rubber producers’ societies and duly certified by the field officers of the Rubber Board. This scheme is, interalia, expected to improve the market price of rubber, Kodgi said.
“Hence, we request your good offices to extend the minimum support price to the rubber growers of Karnataka on the lines of the scheme extended by the Government of Kerala and protect the interest of the rubber growers in the state of Karnataka,” he said in the letter.