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Rubber growers, don’t panic; Indian clinic for other rubber nations (Text and images Kurian Pampadi)

Published on 08 June, 2014
Rubber growers, don’t panic; Indian clinic for other rubber nations (Text and images  Kurian Pampadi)
Rubber growers in India of whom 92 per cent are in Kerala will have to wait patiently for consumption to resume at the old peak, says Datuk Dr. Abdul Aziz b S.A. Kadir, secretary general of IRRDB—International Rubber Research and Development Board based in Malaysia.

“For various reasons there is a slump in world’s largest consumer China that uses vast quantities of natural rubber for tyre and other rubber based products,” Dr. Aziz told E-Malayalee in the sidelines of international workshops on ICT in agriculture, international rubber clinic and multinational clone exchange at the RRII—Rubber Research Institute of India at Kottayam.

He said there were many reasons for the dip in price all over the world. There is dip in productivity due to climatic changes, dip in consumption due to many other factors. For long, India reigned top in productivity but it slipped. Total production of natural rubber went up in China and Vietnam pushing India to the 5th rank.

When told that Kerala which had the largest number of small growers of natural rubbers at 1.1 m was bearing the brunt of price dip the most while the state of Kerala remained the most buying of cars in India, Dr. Aziz said: “I know I am no stranger to the situation in your state. I have been frequenting your charming state for many years now.”

Dr. Aziz was all smiles when drawn to Kerala’s peculiar situation.  “I know, I know. Didn’t we meet in Kuala Lumpur last year ?”. Yes, I agreed. When I told him of meeting one  Raghubir Singh, a Malaysian Punjabi Sikh, who ran his 50-acre estate between palm trees and rubber at Gemas,  he seemed quite interested Because of the shortage of labour, the Sikh planter never makes sheet rubber processing by acid and rubber roller. He leaves the latex to coagulate naturally and send them direct the factory for manufacturing.

Increase in productivity by introducing high-yielding clones is one way to save the situation.  India is a pioneer in it. In addition to newly introduced closes, there are  200 clones in the pipeline. There is also plan to exchange RRII clones with clones developed by other rubber growing countries.

The online clinic developed by the RRII has been in operation for the last four years. Any planter can visit the site for free consultation. He could send in images of the diseased leaves or trunk, the scientists at the RRII will immediately look into them and convey remedial measures immediately.

“Common diseases like phytothora and corynespora denoting dropping of leaves are immediately addressed to. For some new kind of phenomenon they will have to be looked into closely. No question is unanswered,” says Dr. Jacob Mathew, a plant pathologist and Dy Director of the RRII. .

“How many visits you have been able to generate since the last four years?”

“We get some thirty visits every day,” was the answer. Considering the million plus growers involved, is this not a drop in an ocean?”

‘Yes, we are going at a steady pace” “When the other producing countries in the world are replicating the idea, don’t you think they will have to convert the English site into local language like Malay, Mandarin, Thai,  Bahasa or Portuguese?”

“Of course, they will have to render it into the local dialects in order to get the maximum benefit”

“What about Malayalam?”. The answer t\was that Malayalam was high on the agenda of the web-setters.

Dr. Jacob Mathew, among others in the RRII, is meanwhile busy selling ideas the Institute evolved to other rubber growing countries. The latest is he along with an engineer is visiting Nigeria in a week to install an anaerobic digester that will process rubber waste water.

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