A three-member team from the Rubber Board of India (RBI) met officials of Land Resources Department (LRD) Nagaland led by secretary LRD, Y. Kikheto Sema IAS, on Wednesday in Kohima during which the team clarified to queries pertaining to rubber plantation in the state.
During the meeting, joint commissioner, RBI, Rajan informed that the Board was working on sensitizing the rubber growers in reducing cost of labour component by tapping the latex once in a week or once in three days instead of alternate days.
According to Rajan, there wasn’t much difference in yield between alternate days tapping or once in a week. He pointed out that alternate days tapping involves huge labour cost which reduces the profit margin.
Rajan advised rubber growers to apply stimulants once or twice in a year for producing better quality rubber.
On the issue of low price of rubber in Nagaland, the RBI official stated that high transportation costs due to distance between the state and rubber consuming areas reduces the price.
Rajan also said that the RBI was in the process of identifying crops or plants for intercropping with rubber which would contribute to value addition for rubber growers. Deputy commissioner of RBI, Dinesh, said that the Board was planning to start a branch of Rubber Board and Rubber Producers’ Society adjacent to Dimapur so that rubber could be collected from that point and any available schemes could also be availed from there.
He advised technical officials to arrange poly bag rubber stems in nurseries by placing not more than two poly bags in each row that would compromise healthy sprouting for the stems placed in between.
Dinesh also spoke on the need for grading of rubber quality and also emphasized the need for field office in every rubber growing district. However, he spoke of fund constraints with RBI and disclosed that a maintenance bill of Rs 2 crore was still pending in Dimapur office claimed by rubber growers but that the RBI has not be able to pay owing to shortage of budget provision.
He informed that rubber growers could seek suggestions or post any queries at kuthomas@rubberboard.org.in regarding rubber plantation.
Secretary, LRD, Y. Kikheto Sema IAS thanked the RBI officials for their visit while expressing surprise as to why such meeting could not be held for the last three years.
He opined that rubber plantation has been taken up on a large scale in the state, therefore, such coordination meeting should be held at regular intervals.
Quoting department figure, Kikheto said that there were 66 lakh standing rubber plants assisted by the department out of which 6 lakh trees were being tapped and could generate more than Rs 50 crore annually.
“Most rubber growers are stated to be jhum cultivators earlier and the farmers shifting to eco-friendly rubber plantation is encouraging since they now earn better and create employment opportunities especially in the rural areas,” he said.
Kikheto also said that an amount of more than Rs 500 crore could be generated annually once all the 66 lakh standing rubber plants start producing latex.
Highlighting that rubber plantation has not covered even 5 % of total cultivable area, Kikheto cautioned officers that rubber should not be planted in areas like paddy fields and other cultivable land for fruits and vegetables.
He also cautioned the district officers not to allow farmers to buy rubber stems from unauthorised nurseries which may have negative impact on the production.
Earlier, director LRD, Mhathung Yanthan highlighted on the rubber plantation in the state while a power point presentation on rubber plantation was presented by deputy director.