THRISSUR: Rubber farmers, hit by the plunge in the price of natural rubber, are increasingly turning to dairy farming. The trend is seen among the rubber farmers in the Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Wayanad and Kannur districts.
“They are starting cattle farming to get sustainable income. The fluctuation in the price of rubber is heavily affecting the rubber farmers,” said Dr T P Sethumadhavan, director of entrepreneurship in Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Mannuthy centre.
“The number of dairies is increasing,” he added. In Kerala, 12 lakh farmers are cultivating rubber and majority of them are small-scale farmers.
Harichandran Nair, a rubber farmer from Cherumala, Kottayam, said that he had an average income of Rs 2,000 per day from rubber, when the price was ranged near Rs 200 per kg. “Now I am getting nearly Rs 1,000 per day,” he added. He has 3.5-acre rubber plantation. He tried his luck in ‘slaughter tapping’ after taking rubber plantations on lease. But he suffered losses again. He runs a dairy farm with 20 cows. From these cows, he is getting an average revenue of Rs 3,000 per day. The feeding expense of the cows is around Rs 750-800 per day. He is selling milk to the local people for Rs 40 per litre as well as to Milma which gives Rs 35 per litre. Besides, cow dung is used as manure for rubber. After eight years of continuous surge in price of rubber, in January 2016, the price dipped into Rs 94 per kg.
“The life of rubber farmers is stuck in the crisis. Now the farmers are starting to rear goat and cattle due to decrease in revenue from the rubber farming,” said Doctor Jose E Philip,Veterinary poly clinic in Kanjirappally.
It is easy to start a small dairy and this attracts the rubber farmers to cattle rearing. When the price of the rubber increases they can sell the cattle.
“It is a tough job to rear cattle. The farmer’s will not get much time to do other business. Thus, the farmers will sell cattle off when the rubber price increases,” Dr Jose said. “The farmers are growing grass to feed the cattle. This helps the farmers to reduce the cost of cattle rearing. The price of fodder is very high,” said Jose.
Dr Sethumadavan said that the price of the fodder has been increased 250 times in last few years. The farmers are taking land on lease and cultivate the grass to feed the cattle.
According to Biju, another veterinary doctor form Kanjirappally, the experience of 1995-96 is helping the rubber farmers to balance their life.
He explained that this trend is a cycle and it was shown in 1995-96 when the rubber price fell.
“In that period farmers turned to cattle rearing and when price increases, majority of them sold the cattle. They only kept one or two cows in the shed,” Biju said.
‘’But this time they will not sell cattle if the rubber price increases. They learned a new lesson from this time’s experience,” he explains.