Kerala demands regulation of rubber imports

Kerala government today asked Centre to regulate import of natural rubber and hike excise duty to check its falling prices in domestic market.
In response to a calling attention motion, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said unregulated rubber import had contributed to the fall in prices.
The state would also seek help from the Agriculture Price Stabilisation Fund, Chandy said adding that further fall in price would not only adversely affect farmers, but also the state's economy.
With plunging rubber prices, Kerala government had recently introduced a support scheme whereby small-scale rubber farmers would get an assured price of Rs 150 per kg.

State government's total commitment towards this scheme would come to around Rs 300 crore in the current fiscal and it would go up to Rs 500 crore next year, he said.
As part of the scheme, the small-scale rubber growers with two hectares of land or less get an assured price of Rs 150 per kg, Chandy said.

The persistent fall in the prices in the past two years had caused concern among rubber farmers in Kerala, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the commodity's total production in the country.
The total area under rubber cultivation in the state is 5.45 lakh hectares. Over 11. 50 lakh farmers are engaged in cultivation of the commodity.

Last year, India had imported over 3 lakh tonnes of rubber and this year, it is expected to touch about 4 lakh tonnes.