Project Report on Rubber Plantation

Rubber is traditionally grown in India in the hinterlands of the South West Coast comprising of the state of Kerala and adjoining Kanyakumari District of Tamilnadu. This tract is, however, now reaching a level of saturation for rubber cultivation and the scope of  further expansion of the crop is very much limited. Considering this fact, the expansion of rubber cultivation, which is of prime importance for setting up rubber production, has to take place mainly in non-traditional areas. Non-traditional areas so far identified as almost fully or marginally suitable for rubber cultivation are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, lower reaches of  hills of Meghalaya, Mizoram,  Nagaland and Tripura excluding  the other state of India. Although the  North  Eastern Region lies far outside the traditional rubber growing zone, the agro-climatic conditions obtained here are unique in as much  as near tropical features are experienced in most parts owing to low elevations, exposure to monsoons and other moderating influences. The  positive results obtained from trial plantations  undertaken in  early  1960s  in  the  then  undivided  Assam  and Tripura, commercial scale plantations were raised by Government Forest and Soil Conservation Departments. Public Sector Corporations set  up later joined rubber planting endeavours on extensive scales. Thus while in Assam  and Tripura,  Public  Sector  Corporations are leading  in the rubber plantation sector, in Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram  and Arunachal Pradesh the role has played by the State Forest and Soil Conservation Departments. Individual growers are also  contributing to fast growth of rubber cultivation in this region.