KOCHI: Two decades after taking voluntary retirement from The Rubber Board, K K Ramachandran Pillai continues to advise farmers. A life dedicated to the expansion of rubber farming, Pillai worked to promote the RRII-105 variety across the country. Now, he writes columns in various publications and answers farmers queries through the numerous phone calls he receives every day. Until recently, he was also holding sessions on rubber farming.
Apart from working in Kerala, Ramachandran was also stationed in the North East and the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, organising awareness classes in villages and propagating rubber farming through media. “I started in rubber extension and training department back in 1980. I would travel to villages all over the country and create awareness among the farmers about RRII-105 and various aspects of natural rubber production and processing. Along with P K Narayanan, I led the Sastra Darshan programme under which we brought farmers from far and wide to the Rubber Research Institute of India in Kottayam.
As part of the programme, I authored over 54 articles about the specific variety in various dailies. This proved beneficial when the only medium of communication was newspapers. Finding a rubber variety is not enough. We have to ensure that farmers are aware of it,” said Pillai. Pillai has also been part of various documentaries and has assisted in script writing. During his 32 years of service, Pillai has also been part of two key studies of the Rubber Board. His study on ‘Cooperative societies as the nodal point of dissemination of scientific information- A study of their effectiveness’ was presented at the Symposium on Plantation Crops held in Kochi in 1988. He was also involved in training on rubber culture, processing, manufacturing, product testing and many other sectors.