Trade with Commodities: Rubber replantation gets a Budget boost

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Rubber replantation gets a Budget boost

The Rs 19-Cr Special Purpose Fund Will Help Meet Rising Domestic Demand

Ratna Ganguli KOLKATA

    THE finance minister’s announcement of creating a special purpose fund for rubber with an initial kitty of Rs 19.41 crore in 2008-09 is expected to give a further momentum to replantation of old rubber plants.
    The money will be available to rubber growers in addition to a sum of Rs 300 crore, which the government has already approved for replantation and rejuvenation of rubber plantations during the 11th Plan period.
    A Rubber Board official said the special purpose fund for rubber is likely to be modelled on the special purpose tea fund, which is a mix of loan and subsidy.
    As in the case of Tea Board, Rubber Board will be the nodal agency for subsidy disbursement from the special purpose fund. Here too, the provision for special subsidy will be linked to bank finance.
    The 2008-09 budget proposal for offering crop insurance facility to rubber will also encourage the planters to move out of the present monoculture regime and experiment with using new highyielding clonal varieties, such as RRII 414 and 430, he said. However, the crop insurance facility is to be available to them from 2009-10 as per the budget announcement.
    Recognising the need of replantation of age-old rubber trees, which are concentrated in Kerala and Karnataka, the government has already approved Rs 300 crore for rubber replantation during the 11th Plan period.
    A large chunk of the fund has been earmarked for providing 20% subsidy for replantation. The Rubber Board has identified some 34,000 hectares for replantation in traditional rubber growing areas.
    Due to prevalence of ageold trees in large tracts of rubber plantation in Kerala, the average productivity of rubber in the state is confined to the one-tonne mark.
    But there are possibilities of doubling the rate if those old plants are being replaced with the new-age high yielding rubber clonal trees, he said.
    The government is stressing on rubber replantation to meet the growing demand for natural rubber for the domestic tyre industry.
FIELD YIELD
The money allocated will be available to rubber growers over and above the Rs 300 crore approved for replantation and rejuvenation of rubber plants
The special purpose fund for rubber is likely to be modelled on the special purpose tea fund, which is a mix of loan and subsidy
The Rubber Board has identified around 34,000 hectares for replantation in traditional rubber growing areas