Rubber industrial body moots skill development for North-East growers to boost output
The All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) emphasized the need to provide training and skills development to farmers and loggers in the Near East region to increase natural materials. eraser production.
Ramesh Kejriwal, President of AIRIA, said the lack of region-specific rubber development strategies with appropriate linkages, backed by institutional systems, undermines the sustainable growth of the rubber sector in the Near East region.
He pointed out the need to reinvent policies and programs within the framework of innovation to reap the benefits resulting from the region’s integration with the global market, and to facilitate the diversification and sustainable growth of the sector.
The development of the rubber sector in the Near East in recent decades has been the result of government import substitution initiatives. Hence, there is a need to provide more training and skills development that would be a major component of new NR cultivation in the Near East countries, he said.
Output is at its highest level in 10 years
After a 10-year gap, he said the country’s natural rubber production surpassed 800,000 tons in FY23 to 839,000 tons, just below the revised target of 840,000 tons versus 775,000 tons a year earlier.
However, consumption also grew by 9 percent to 13.5 thousand tons, and was moving at a faster pace than production, especially as Covid risks diminished. He said that as per prevailing trends, NR production in India will not be sufficient to meet consumer industry demand, with consumption expected to reach 1,500,000 tonnes by 2025-26.
The Kerala government has announced a rubber subsidy of Rs 600 crore, which is expected to give a much needed boost to the rubber sector. Separate pilot projects in Tripura should be prepared for financing under various self-employment programmes, and support through the state incentive scheme under the Tripura Industries Investment Promotion Incentive Scheme. Similarly, the central budget for the rubber sector will focus on special allocations for new plantations and replanting.
Asked about the growing adoption of elastomers, he said that SR serves as a substitute for NR in many cases, especially when improved material properties are required. But NR is better than SR, with higher tensile strength, tear resistance and lower odor.