Rubber Board to pilot 'INR Konnect', expects 20% jump in tapping of idle plantations

The Rubber Board will soon launch a digital platform, to be called ‘INR Konnect’, on a pilot basis to document the details of rubber plantations that are not being tapped regularly, its Executive Director M. Vasanthagesan has said.

Speaking at the annual conference of the United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) in Coonoor on Wednesday, September 23, he said many growers hold plantations in which rubber is not tapped consistently, for a number of reasons.

“The adopting agencies should know details about such plantations, and the plantation owners need to know the credible agencies that they can approach for tapping,” Mr. Vasanthagesan said. He told The Hindu that the platform has the potential to increase production by 20%, and that the pilot stage of the project is likely to be rolled out within a month.

The Rubber Board is a statutory body under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, headquartered in Kottayam, Kerala, and is responsible for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country. Kerala accounts for the bulk of India’s natural rubber production, though cultivation has spread over the past few decades to the North-East and to other States as well.

Smallholdings make up a large share of the area under rubber in India. Growers often suspend tapping when prices are weak, when tappers are hard to find, or when holdings are left in the care of relatives. Because a rubber tree yields only when it is tapped on a regular cycle, such neglected holdings represent capacity that is lying idle. The Board’s proposed platform appears aimed at creating a single record of these plantations and at connecting their owners with agencies that can take up tapping on their behalf.

Mr. Vasanthagesan did not spell out how the platform would be designed, who would be able to access it, or what conditions growers would have to meet to list their holdings. Those details are expected to emerge when the pilot is rolled out.

On a separate issue, he said that with rubber imports rising, the Board has taken up with the Bureau of Indian Standards the need to frame standards for compounded rubber. “There is no monitoring mechanism now for rubber imports. We need standards first to monitor the imports,” he said.

Compounded rubber is natural or synthetic rubber that has been mixed with additives such as fillers, plasticisers or curing agents. Officials have argued that the absence of clear domestic standards makes it difficult to classify and check such material when it enters the country. The Board’s position is that a standard must be in place before any effective monitoring of imports can begin. No timeline has been announced for the framing of these standards.

The two announcements come at a time when the plantation sector is dealing with volatile prices and competition from imported material. UPASI, a century-old body representing planters of tea, coffee and rubber across southern India, uses its annual conference to raise such concerns with policymakers and regulators.

The INR Konnect pilot, once under way, will be watched closely by growers, tapping agencies and cooperatives, since any measurable rise in output would depend on whether idle holdings can actually be brought back into regular tapping.