Rubber Board asks growers to submit rejuvenation plan
Rubber Board, which is ready to spend nearly Rs 10 crore for new plantation and re-plantation in the current year, has asked small growers to apply for the assistance immediately, which would be made available to them as subsidy for the twin purpo...
By Ratna Ganguli, TNN |
KOLKATA: Rubber Board, which is ready to spend nearly Rs 10 crore for new plantation and re-plantation in the current year, has asked small growers to apply for the assistance immediately, which would be made available to them as subsidy for the twin purpose.
All small growers who are intent of availing of the assistance have been asked by the Board to file applications on or before October this year, a Rubber Board official said.
Pending the finalisation of the recently announced Rs 500-crore special purpose rubber fund for taking up replantation in 50,000 hectares during the Eleventh Plan period, the board has decided to spend Rs 10 crore in the current year towards subsidy for expansion and replantation of rubber trees in the country, said the official.
In the current year, the board targets to introduce new plantation in about 3,000 hectares and replantation in some 5,000 hectares. As per its plan, it intends to introduce new plantation in 1,000 hectares in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and another 2,000 hectares in the N-E states.
Rubber growers, whose total area does not exceed five hectares in the current year, are eligible for the assistance for new planting/replanting up to two hectares of land. As the Centre is keen to expand rubber plantation in non-traditional areas, the eligibility limit for growers has been raised to 20 hectares.
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The assistance, which comes as subsidy in the form of grant, would be disbursed to growers in six installments during the year. The grant of Rs 20,000 per hectare is being provided to both for replanting in traditional areas and new planting in the North-East. As for new planting in traditional areas, the amount is fixed at Rs 12,000 per hectares. If the board succeeds in bringing about 5,000 hectares of land under replantation in ‘06-07, which is the terminal year of the Tenth Plan, altogether 22,000 hectares of land would be brought under this programme by end of the period, during which period the target was to cover 35,000 hectares under the programme.
The target could not be achieved as many farmers were reluctant to undertake replantation particularly in the last couple of years, when rubber plantation became very remunerative with its prices moving upward of Rs 80 per kg since then, the official said.
Given the age-old rubber trees in traditional areas, the commerce ministry has asked the Board to prepare schemes to spread replantation in another 50,000 hectares during the 11th Plan period. For this, a Special Purpose Rubber Fund of Rs 500 crore has been proposed to be created with assistance from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).
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