KOCHI: The politics over rubber in Kerala will be keenly watched during the visit of Narendra Modi with the leaders of the new political party formed by a section from Kerala Congress seeking an appointment with the Prime Minister during his Kerala visit on Monday.
While the chances of hiking the price of rubber to Rs 300 per kg, as demanded by some Church leaders, are unlikely, other long-term decisions to help rubber farmers, directly and indirectly, cannot be ruled out. One such step is getting carbon credit for rubber plantations under voluntary carbon markets and imposing a carbon tax on synthetic rubber. The leaders are also demanding bringing rubber under the ‘agri-commodity’ tag from ‘commercial commodity’ which they said would help farmers get various benefits, including farm loans at low-interest rates.
“Rubber has not even been declared as an agricultural product. The farming sector in the state is passing through a tough time. Our new political outfit will have a national perspective for raising the voice of farmers, said Johnny Nellore, who quit the Kerala Congress. The new party will be announced on Saturday.
Mathew Stephen, who quit Kerala Congress on Thursday, said: “We are trying for an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Thiruvananthapuram (Tuesday). If it happens we would raise the issues including those faced by rubber farmers.”
But, experts have a different perspective. K N Raghavan, who retired as executive director of Rubber Board recently, said rubber plantations sequester carbon by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. “This makes rubber plantations a source for bringing down atmospheric carbon as opposed to polluting industries that emit carbon. But efforts to get benefits of carbon credit to rubber plantations under clean development mechanism failed,” he said.
However, Raghavan said there is a possibility of getting carbon credit for rubber plantations under voluntary carbon markets. “Rubber Board has called for expression of interest from firms willing to work with Board for getting and monetising carbon credit to rubber plantations under development in the northeast as a trial case. This is still under the works,” he told TNIE.
According to Dr James Jacob, former director, Rubber Research Institute of India, there’s a lot of hype surrounding carbon credits in the plantation sector. “Voluntary carbon credit is a preliminary thinking process,” he said, adding that the consultants selected by the Rubber Board should be paid only after getting the money from selling the carbon credits.
There’s however another possibility via taxing synthetic rubber makers. Consider this: One tonne of natural rubber has a carbon footprint of minus 15. In other words, it has absorbed 15 kg of carbon from the atmosphere at various times. In contrast, one tonne of synthetic rubber has a carbon footprint of plus10-15, said Dr Jacob.
Government can consider a carbon tax on synthetic rubber makers, which would encourage sustainable product makers, and indirectly benefit the rubber farmers, said Dr Jacob.