NATURAL
RUBBER - AGRICULTURE
News:
Kerala CM accuses Centre
of taking hostile stance towards rubber sector
What's
in the news?
●
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
lashed out at the BJP-ruled central government, accusing it of adopting a
'hostile approach' towards the rubber cultivation sector.
Rubber:
●
Rubber is a tropical tree.
●
It requires high temperatures throughout the year - ranging between 20°-35°C or
average monthly mean of 27°C.
●
Less than 20°C temperature is detrimental.
●
Rubber also requires heavy rainfall.
●
The annual average rainfall of not less
than 200 cm is optimum. Rubber trees thrive when the distribution of rainfall
is uniformly high all over the year.
●
Deep, friable, well-drained soils are
ideal as they promote root development, and acidic soils are also suitable.
Production:
●
Thailand
is the highest rubber producer in the world, which produced 31.29 per cent of
world production. Indonesia is the second largest producer.
●
In the world production of natural rubber,
India ranks Fourth.
●
Traditional rubber-growing states
comprising Kerala and Tamil Nadu
account for 81% of production.
Rubber
Growing Regions:
Traditional
Regions:
●
Rubber cultivation in India has been
traditionally confined to the hinterlands of the southwest coast, mainly in
Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Non-traditional
Regions:
●
These are hinterlands of coastal
Karnataka, Goa, Konkan Region of Maharashtra, hinterlands of coastal Andhra
Pradesh and Orissa, the northeastern states, Andaman and Nicobar Islands etc,
where rubber is now being grown.
Rubber
Board of India
●
The Rubber Board is a statutory body under
the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall
development of the rubber industry in the country.
●
It functions under the control of the Ministry of Commerce.
●
It is located in Kottayam.