Nationwide census on rubber to prepare comprehensive database

Last Updated16/08/2021

The Rubber Board started a nation-wide census on rubber to prepare a comprehensive data base on rubber plantations and rubber growers.
The Indian rubber plantation sector is dominated by smallholders who account for 92 per cent of the production and 91 per cent of the planted area in the country.
Kerala is leading rubber plantation state in India.

The Census has launched at Pala in Kottayam district which comes under the service area of Thodanal Rubber Producers’ Society.
The objective of the census is to gather details of the rubber area including total planted area, immature area, mature area, tapping area, the number of trees, year of planting, clones, tapping system, and the rain guarding status of the holdings.
The census will also collect details of the tappers and the crop processing methods.
The census is being carried out by a mobile application, ‘RUBAC’.
RUBAC has been developed by the Rubber Board in association with the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, with the active participation of rubber producer’s societies.

The British established the first rubber plantation in India in 1902 on the banks of the river Periyar in Kerala.
India is currently the sixth largest producer of NR in the world with one of the highest productivity.
Natural rubber is cultivated in 16 states in India.
With over 600,000 hectares, Kerala tops rubber cultivation, followed by Tripura with over 85,038 hectares under plantation.
Other major natural rubber producers are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam and other northeastern states.

The Rubber Board is a statutory body constituted by the Government of India, under the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country.

To promote by such measures as it thinks fit the development of the rubber industry.
Undertaking, assisting or encouraging scientific, technological or economic research.
To supply of technical advice to rubber growers
To improve the marketing of rubber.
To advise the Central Government on all matters relating to the development of the rubber industry, including the import and export of rubber.