The Rubber Board of India is contemplating setting up of an excise office in Tripura, the second largest rubber growing state in the country, to prevent sheets being smuggled to Bangladesh.
"Tripura is encircled by Bangladesh on three sides and rubber sheets are being frequently smuggled to that country. As a result, we are losing revenue. We are contemplating to set up an office of rubber excise to check the menace," Rubber Board Chairperson Sheela Thomas told reporters here today.
Explaining low productivity, she said it was due to lack of skilled tappers, deficiency in fertilisers and problems in introducing high-yielding varieties of the plant.
While the national average of natural rubber productivity stood at 1,841 kgs per hectare, it was 1,141 kgs per hectare in Tripura. In Kerala, the average productivity was about 4,000 kgs per hectare.
"Substantial number of trees are very old and need to be replanted immediately to increase productivity," she said.
Tripura grows rubber in 61,082 hectares and the Rubber Board has targeted bringing one lakh hectares under cultivation.
The state produces 37,399 tonnes of natural rubber annually and consumed 2,548 tonnes which could be substantially increased once a rubber park was fully operational.
