Tripura started natural rubber export to Nepal
According to rubber board of india , North East region is emerging as the hub of natural rubber in the country. To tap this potential of the region the government is working to boost the capacity of the region in this regard . Recently Tripura, which is the second largest natural rubber producing state in the country after Kerala, has exported it to Nepal. Tripura has already exported natural rubber to Bangladesh . Now nepal is the second country to receive it from Tripura .
The rubber board has confirmed that 18 tonne rubber sheet produced in Tripura was imported by a shoe manufacturing company at Biratnagar in Nepal. At present, Tripura is cultivating natural rubber in 85,500 hectares and produces 62,000 tonne annually. More than 1.5 lakh families are directly and indirectly associated with rubber cultivation in the north-eastern state.
Status of natural rubber production in North East region :
Seven north-eastern states are cultivating rubber over 1,90,000 hectares annually and produced 1,11,700 tonne natural rubber. After Tripura, Assam is cultivating natural rubber in 58,000 hectare area and produces 31,000 tonne rubber annually, followed by Meghalaya with 17,000 hectares and producing 9,500 tonne, Nagaland's 15,000 hectares producing 6,100 tonne and Manipur's 4,200 hectares producing 2,000 tonne.
Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh also cultivate natural rubber in 4,070 hectare and 5,820 hectares and produce 1175 tonne and 880 tonne respectively.
The total area under natural rubber in the seven northeastern States is around 1.89 lakh hectares of which over 60,000 hectares are accounted for by Tripura, which was the first non-traditional area in the country to experiment with rubber cultivation. Around 85% of rubber production in the country is accounted for by Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu, which are considered as traditional areas of rubber cultivation.
The total production in northeastern States is around 1.12 lakh tonnes. According to the Rubber Board, India produced 7.12 lakh tonnes of natural rubber last year, down from a peak of over nine lakh tonnes in 2012-13.
The area under natural rubber in the northeastern States of Tripura and Assam is likely to grow around 20,000 hectares this year with support from the rubber industry, which will join hands with the Rubber Board in an unprecedented partnership that ultimately aims to bring around two lakh hectares under fresh cultivation.
