Kerala seeks elephants' help to grow rubber

KOCHI: Punyalan Agarbatties, a Malayalam movie released last year, showed the struggle of a young entrepreneur to get his project off the ground making incense sticks from elephant dung.
The story struck a chord since the state has around 600 domesticated pachyderms and waste disposal is a problem. But thanks to the Rubber Research Institute of India ( RRII), those who own several elephants like the Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple, may not have to struggle to get rid of the daily heaps.

RRII has discovered that elephant dung can be effectively used as a potting medium for raising rubber root trainer plants. The containers help in the uniform growth of roots, thus aiding growth into a healthy tree. The method has become popular among rubber growers in the country.

Coir pith, currently used as a potting medium, requires lengthy pre-treatment to remove the phenolic content before it can be used. “Elephant dung mixed with an equal quantity of soil can be used as an alternative to coir pith, which has become costly,” said James Jacob, director of RRII.

Kerala, which accounts for 90% of the natural rubber produced in India, adds 5,000 hectares of new plants every year and nearly 12 lakh root trainer plants are required annually. It is estimated that the dung of about a tenth of the number of elephants in the state can be accounted for by the root trainers.

The Sri Krishna temple has 59 domesticated elephants.

They are used in festival parades at Guruvayur and other temples. The temple spends lakhs of rupees to dispose the dung (about 2 tonne is generated a day), which can make for an elephantine problem.

“We will apprise the managing committee which will take a decision on the possibility of selling dung to the prospective rubber growers,” said P Krishnankutty, deputy administrator of Guruvayur Devaswom, who was present at a function organised by the Rubber Board for the distribution of plants raised through the method.