Business

Rs.611-crore budget for Rubber Board

KOTTAYAM: The Centre has approved a budget of Rs.611.40 crore for the Rubber Board during the XIth Plan, chairman Sajan Peter has said.

Addressing the director board here on Friday, Mr. Peter said out of the total budgetary allocation, Rs.240.39 crore had been earmarked for rubber plantation expansion, research would get Rs.65.05 crore, and processing, quality enhancement and export promotion segments would get Rs.45 crore each.

The budget allocated Rs.42.91 crore for human resource development. It allocated Rs.173.05 crore for rubber development in the North-East, he said.

Rubber production during 2007-08 registered a drop of 3.2 per cent and reached 8,25,345 tonnes, he said. The core reason for the unprecedented fall in production was attributed to the extended monsoon and the outbreak of contagious diseases in the rubber plantation tracts of the State.

However, the projections for 2008-09 put rubber production at 8,75,000 tonnes denoting an increase of 6 per cent. Mr. Peter said 2008-09 was expected to register a deficit of 24,000 tonnes as consumption was projected to reach 8,99,000 tonnes denoting a growth of 4.4 per cent.

He said rubber consumption during 2007-08 registered a growth of five per cent and reached 8,61,455 tonnes. Referring to the global scenario, Mr. Peter said rubber production registered a marginal increase of 0.4 per cent during 2007-08. The global production had been put at 97.30 lakh tonnes against the consumption of 97.20 lakh tonnes. India, Thailand and Malaysia registered a drop in production during the period, though India continued to keep the top position in productivity with 1,767 kg per ha.

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