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Call for census of area under rubber cultivation

KOCHI: Tharian George, Joint Director, Agriculture Economics, Rubber Research Institute of India, has said that a census of the area under rubber cultivation is required to devise strategies for improving productivity.

He was speaking on ‘Indian rubber scenario: identifying issues in the era of globalisation’ at a meeting organised here on Saturday by Harrisons Malayalam, the plantation company of the RPG Group. The rate of growth in productivity had declined in the post-reform period. There was a perennial uncertainty in the pricing of rubber. Futures trade was playing a significant role in deciding the prices.

The players in futures trade were interested in quick and short-term gains, he pointed out. Raising fruit trees as an inter-crop in plantations is a new model of farming being adopted by Harrisons Malayalam, said Pankaj Kapoor, Managing Director. He said the new strategy would suit farms in Kerala. The company, having 90 per cent of its plantations in Kerala, was taking up replantation in the rubber estates in a bid to improve productivity, he said.

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