The Rubber Board has signed an agreement with Navsari Agricultural University in Gujarat to assess the viability of rubber cultivation in the south Gujarat region. In the presence of KN Raghavan, Executive Director, Rubber Board, and ZP Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Navsari Agricultural University, the MoU was signed by Jessy, M.D., Director (Research), Rubber Board, and TR Ahlawat, Director of Research, Navsari Agricultural University.
One hectare of rubber plantation will be established on the university's Peria farm, and pilot trials will be launched in 13 university research farms for evaluation in the region's various agro-climatic conditions.
Rubber Board is working hard to expand the area under natural rubber in the country in order to increase production. Natural rubber (NR) is a critical industrial raw material with significant strategic significance, and it is used in the production of approximately 40,000 products that are critical to the nation's economic and commercial development.
Its consumption in the country has steadily increased over the last decade, and the growth of the NR consuming industry, particularly the tyre manufacturing sector, has created a significant gap between NR produced and consumed in India.
The shortfall caused by the gap between production and consumption is filled by NR imports worth Rs 7,500 crore in 2021-22.
Rubber is grown on 8.27 lakh hectares in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal, Goa, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh in India.
India is the world's second-largest consumer of natural rubber, with an annual consumption of around 1.2 million tonnes that is expected to rise in the coming years.
A special scheme called 'NE Mithra' is being implemented in North Eastern States to plant 2 lakh hectares of rubber in 5 years with financial assistance from the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA). A National Rubber Mission to expand rubber plantations in various other parts of the country is also in the works.
