KOTTAYAM: Rubber saplings kept inside grow bags adorn either sides of the highway for kilometres at a stretch as one moves towards Goalpara district in Assam. Upon nearing the place, it is tough to shake off that feeling of familiarity. The entire place, located on the banks of the river Brahmaputra, resembles a Central Travancore village. In fact, many rubber nurseries dotting the place are owned by Keralites.
With the fall in natural rubber prices hitting Kerala’s plantation sector hard, Malayali nursery owners are migrating to northeastern (NE) states eyeing the new opportunity opened up by the Indian Natural Rubber Organisation for Assisted Development (INROAD) project, a joint initiative of the Rubber Board of India and Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) to develop rubber plantations on 2 lakh hectares of land across seven NE states as well as West Bengal.
Formerly the North East Mission of Tyre Industry for Rubber Augmentation (NE MITRA), the INROAD project was launched in 2021 with a five-year deadline. It created a huge demand for rubber saplings in Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
By the time the third planting season got over in September, around 3 crore saplings were planted on 66,450 hectares. Now, nearly twice as many saplings are required to complete the project in the remaining 1,30,000 hectares in the next two years.
In the first two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23), Rubber Board procured saplings from nurseries in Kerala and brought them to the NE via trains. However, taking the transportation expenses and high damage rate into account, the board is now urging suppliers to develop saplings in northeastern states for the remaining two seasons. This prompted the exodus of rubber nursery owners from Kerala.
“We decided to purchase saplings from local nurseries to avoid transportation shock. Saplings got damaged even when we brought them in air-conditioned trucks this season,” said a Rubber Board official. Starting nurseries in the NE is highly profitable for nursery owners too considering the transportation costs.
In all, 22 nurseries from Kerala have submitted applications before the board to supply rubber planting materials for the next season in the NE, compared to 36 nurseries this season. A few Kerala nurseries that applied in the previous season withdrew after the board insisted on getting saplings from the northeastern states.
The board purchases saplings for `80-`116 depending on the delivery address. “Renting an AC truck to transport 20,000 saplings from Kottayam to Guwahati costs around Rs 3.2 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh. Add to it packaging charges and carton box expenses and the total transportation expense is Rs 23.50 per plant,” said Josekutty Antony of Thulumpanmakkal rubber nursery at Lakkattoor in Kottayam. He has taken 12 acres of land in Goalpara on lease to start a rubber nursery.
Raju V Jose of Vadakkel Rubber Nursery in Pala has already set up a nursery on around 50 acres of land at Matia in Goalpara to supply the maximum number of saplings in the upcoming season.
“I brought 2 lakh saplings from Kerala this season. The Rubber Board is planning cultivation on 60,000 hectares in the upcoming season which would require around 2.7 crore saplings. I hope to get a supply order of nearly 25 lakh saplings,” Raju said.
As per reports, Kerala had around 1,500 rubber nurseries in 2012-13, when the rubber sheet price touched `243 per kg. However, 90% of them shut shop over the years. Rubber Board sources said Kerala now has just 120 nurseries. Of them, 93 have the board’s certification, while the rest are trying to get the certification to move to the NE.
“The price of rubber in Kerala at present is not at all profitable. Hence, farmers have either left their plantation idle without replanting or taken up other agricultural practices,” Josekutty said. However, a few new nurseries have now come up, thanks to the INROAD project.