MSc

Rubber industry which is one of the most important enterprises in the agriculture sector receiving great attention by the Central as well as the State Governments through numerous development schemes implemented by the Indian Rubber Board. Kottayam taluk, a potential rubber growing area is receiving a considerable amount for the development of rubber plantation. However, systematic studies to assess the impact of the various schemes launched by the Rubber Board is very meagre. Under this circumstances, efforts were made to explicit the usefulness of the various incentive provided by the Rubber Board to the rubber growers of Kottayam taluk. One hundred small growers consisting of those who have availed and unavailed the various subsidy schemes of the Rubber Board were selected at random for the study. The impact of the schemes were assessed by collecting the relevant details by personal interview with the farmers by using a pretested questionnaire. The salient results emanated from the investigation are summarized below:
A unique feature observed during the survey was that irrespective of the size of the holding or receipt of the subsidy, majority of the farmers have used RRII 105 as the planting material. Those farmers who availed subsidy have used polybagged plants as well as budded stumps in equal proportion, whereas, in the case of those who have not availed the subsidy, majority (75%) of them resorted to budded stumps.
With regard to the fertilizer application, the subsidy availed growers had a discriminatory approach where as the others have followed only general recommendation. Since majority of the units were planted with RRII 105, spraying against abnormal leaf fall was not found to be followed in a judicious manner both by the subsidy availed and not availed groups.
In the case of farmers those who have adopted irrigation (during the immature period) motivated by the relevant subsidy scheme, profound increase in the girth of the plants could be observed and the increment being 10 cm during fourth year. Leguminous cover was well established in 50 per cent of the subsidy availed units and in the remaining 50 per cent units cover crop was established in patches only. However, in the case of subsidy not availed units majority of the holdings were not cover cropped.
Construction of edakayyalas as a means of soil and moisture conservation was done in most of the holdings irrespective of subsidy availed or not availed cases. However, mulching was not found to be followed in any of the rubber holdings surveyed. The soil conservation structures either edakayyalas, terraces or silt pits were maintained satisfactorily in the subsidy availed holdings. But in the case of growers who did not avail the subsidy, the extent of maintenance was only average or poor.
Regarding the retention of other trees in rubber plantation, in majority (75%) of the subsidy availed units, the stand was normal and in 25 per cent of the cases it was even below the actual limit prescribed by the Board. On the contrary, in the case of holdings without subsidy the presence of other trees was above the limit prescribed.
Intercropping was done by all growers who have not availed subsidy but in the case of those who have availed subsidy 25 per cent of the units were not intercropped. Tapioca, a soil depleting crop was found to be the dominant intercrop in the units without subsidy but in the plantations raised availing subsidy, banana was observed to be the major intercrop (40%).
Majority of the growers (53%) who are having rubber roller under the subsidy scheme, utilized the same for their own use alone while the remaining 47 per cent have rented out also fetching a considerable amount annually. However, in the case of those who have no roller, additional amount was spent on account of rent as well as additional labour for sheeting outside.
The results of the study also revealed that the presence of a smoke house can definitely improve the quality of the sheet thereby the income of the farmer substantially. The subsidy scheme, in general, has helped in augmenting the production of quality rubber sheets in Kottayam taluk.
With regard to the growth of plants measured in terms of girth, irrespective of the age, all the plants under the subsidy availed units registered a higher girth compared to those in the subsidy not availed units. The percentage increase in girth ranged from 25 to 34 cm during tenth year and 14th year, respectively.
As in the case of plant growth, the same trend was observed with regard to the production also. The extent of increase in production in the subsidy availed units was 88 per cent during tenth year which steadily increased and reached 115 per cent during 14th year.
The major constraint expressed by the growers was the insufficient financial support for the purchase of roller and for the construction of smoke house. Regarding the crop production aspects no serious constraints could be recorded.
Farmers response to the various development schemes implemented by the Rubber Board was found to be encouraging. The schemes in general have been instrumental in registering big heights in production and productivity of rubber in surveyed area.
The highly innovative nature of the rubber growers coupled with cent per cent literacy have also played a dominant role in accelerating the phase of adoption of improved technologies in Kottayam taluk.