Rubber farmers in Kerala are optimistic that rubber price will cross the ₹200 mark with reports coming in of a shortage in global production and rise in demand in the domestic market. If the trend continues, production during the current financial year may cross last year’s level, said Babu Joseph, general secretary of National Confederation of Rubber Producer Societies, on Thursday.
According to the Rubber Board data, RSS-4 grade sold for ₹200 a kg in the Kottayam market on Thursday. Provisional data for 2024-25 period so far shows that the average price of RSS-4 has been rising from April when the price stood at ₹182 a kg. The price rose slightly to ₹183 a kg in May and in June it went up to ₹200 a kg. The price continued to rise in August when it touched ₹237 a kg. Since then it has fallen to ₹229 a kg in September and by November the price plunged to ₹184 a kg.
Meanwhile, there is considerable worry among ryots about the distribution of subsidies for rubber farmers for both planting and rain guarding operations. With hardly two weeks left for the current financial year to end, farmers worry that the money distribution may remain incomplete.
Anomalies in distribution
Mr. Joseph said that the subsidy distributed for planting had been a cause for confusion and there are some anomalies in the fund distributed to the farmers. Correcting the anomalies and redistributing the subsidies will be a time-consuming process.
Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony had raised the issue of delay in subsidy payments to farmers in the Lok Sabha recently. He had said that the subsidies should be distributed immediately to relieve the farmers of their financial burden. He had also called for higher subsidy for rubber replantation in Kerala from the ₹40,000 per hectare. He claimed that farmers in the North East of India are getting up to ₹1.5 lakh per hectare for rubber plantations.
Published – March 20, 2025 06:50 pm IST