Nagaland has potential to alleviate India’s rubber production deficit: RB

June 9, 2024 15 Views No Comment

Rubber Board aims at training tappers, building supply chain

Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 9

India’s annual natural rubber production is estimated to be around 8.5 lakh metric tonnes (MT). The production, however, is well short of the country’s demand which is said to have exceeded 14 lakh MT at present.

It presents Nagaland, a state with a cumulative estimate of 17,000 hectares of rubber plantation untapped, a promising opportunity to help alleviate the country’s production deficit, according to the M Vasanthagesan, Executive Director, Rubber Board of India.

Vasanthagesan was in the state on June 8, inaugurating a rubber tapping training programme at Ikishe village, Chümoukedima. The training programme is a joint initiative between the Rubber Board, Toka Multipurpose Cooperative Society (MPCS) and Government of Nagaland.

While the Rubber Board has been in the northeastern region for a long time, he noted that Nagaland has yet to make major inroads in the rubber market despite possessing extensive grown rubber trees. Meanwhile, Tripura and Assam has made great strides in this respect.

Attributing it to unprofessional tapping practices, he said that the Rubber Board is targeting the tapping of the existing production potential in collaboration with local partners and the state government.

Tapping the state’s rubber potential requires giving impetus to training of the local workforce in tapping rubber, which translates into jobs, he said.

The existing rubber plantations in Nagaland is said to possess some 30 to 80 million grown trees, ready for tapping.

Besides, tapping the existing trees, Vasanthagesan said that the idea is to expand the area of cultivation. While disclosing that the Board has an ongoing partnership with the tyre industry in this regard, he said that Nagaland is also included in this partnership with an allocation of 5000 hectares.

He added that the focus should be on building the supply chain— from growing and tapping to processing and market linkage.
According to one of the trainers, the Dimapur area alone produces over 7000 MT per annum. He however could not provide the actual production of the state.

Toka MPCS is the local private partner in the training programme, providing the training facilities, while the trainers are from the Rubber Board. Managing Director & Secretary of the MPCS, K Kathi Chishi thanked the Government of Nagaland for identifying and sending trainees to the programme.

“Knowledge and expertise will come from the Rubber Board, and in due course, we should be able to train master trainers from Nagaland itself, so that they train the locals. That is the future plan,” said Vasanthagesan.