Speaking with media persons in a local hotel last night , K G Mohanan, additional rubber production commissioner of Rubber Board said, 'All over the world tea, coffee, spices and rubber are grown as mono crop which tells upon ecological balance and bio-diversity; so we are now trying to encourage intercropping in the rubber gardens'
He said that in plantations coconut trees remain in between rubber trees but pineapple, ginger, turmeric , vegetables, capsicum , mustard etc can be intercropped up to three years since the beginning of the plantations. 'Subsequently when rubber plants grow up medicinal plants which do not require much light for growth can be intercropped in plantations', said Mohanan, adding that this would help retain bio-diversity.
Regarding the expansion of rubber cultivation in Northeast region, Mohanan said that after the traditional rubber-growing areas of Kerala, Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu and southern Karnataka NE region except Sikkim is the 'most suitable' area for rubber cultivation . Tripura tops all other Northeastern states in terms of area coverage of cultivation and production of rubber and is currently the second largest rubber growing and producing state in India.
He said that the potential rubber growing area in Northeast was 450,000 hectares out of which only 1,13,685 hectares or 25.26 percent are currently under cultivation. 'Tripura is the largest rubber growing state in the region with an annual production of 25875 metric tons , followed by much larger Assam which has an average annual production of 8050 metric tons ; Arunachal Pradesh with an average annual production of only 167 metric tons is at the bottom' said Mohanan. He added that currently total annual production of rubber in Northeast is 41,200 metric tons. In Tripura 59.29 percent of the targeted area of 1 lakh hectares for cultivation has already been covered and the Rubber Board is now looking to help growth of 'Block or Cluster' plantations by bringing together a number of contiguous gardens for protecting bio-diversity.
Giving details on Tripura Mohanan said that rubber cultivation provides livelihood to 51,885 families in Tripura . 'In Tripura Rubber Board-aided rubber cultivation has significantly reduced 'Jhum' cultivation in the state and helped resettlement programmes for shifting cultivators.
“The board’s new scheme of block planting in 3725 hectares of land in 58 blocks will benefit 3423 indigenous families”, said Mohanan. He said that currently Northeast had a share of only 4.78 percent of rubber production in the country but 'optimum expansion' of rubber cultivation could change the face of Northeast because rubber has high potential for investment and export value.
He ruled out speculations about rubber being harmful to environment and said that the Board was planning to assist in intercropping of rubber in tea gardens of Tripura. 'Rubber and tea will go side by side and that will help in the gardens retaining their economic benefit, said Mohanan.
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