Pala’s temper swings with rubber worth

Express News Service
Scaria Joseph, a retired headmaster, begins as early as 4am each day. A resident of Poovarani, simply 5 kilometres away from Pala, the hotbed of Kerala Congress politics, Scaria has set a goal to faucet at the least 150 of the five hundred rubber bushes he owns by 6.30-7am on a regular basis.Like Scaria, a majority of rubber farmers are actually engaged in self-tapping with the manufacturing price skyrocketing and rubber worth but to witness a major rise. “If you engage a person for tapping, he will charge Rs 2 per tree. As per the current market price, there won’t be any profit left after engaging other people. I have around 500 trees, and I tap once in three days. Still, the profit is minimal,” he stated.

Scaria resumed tapping rubber bushes solely in December 2020 after a spot of three years, after seeing a slight enchancment within the worth. The worth has been fluctuating continuously since early 2000, sometimes going above Rs 200 per kg after which crashing to Rs 60. It largely stays within the Rs 100-140 vary. “I had not taken the yield for nearly three years as the price was too low. It is better not to tap the trees than incur loss. In Pala, everything revolves around the rubber price. When it fetches a good price, people in the area have a swagger. To a certain extent, the rubber price will be a factor in the elections,” he stated.

The market worth of a kilogram of rubber sheet was Rs 158 in Pala final week and the value of latex was Rs 108. Sabu Thomas of Kendangoor in Kottayam cultivates rubber in a single acre. “From one acre, we can expect around 4-5kg of rubber thrice a week. The farmer would be getting around Rs 600 from an acre, of which Rs 200 has to be paid for tapping if we employ a person for it. With other expenses, the profit will be minimal. Due to the production cost, farmers prefer to sell latex than rubber sheets these days,” he stated.

Sabu stated although the state authorities mounted the minimal assist worth (MSP) of rubber at Rs 170 per kg, it won’t be adequate. “Those procuring rubber have not started giving Rs 170 till now. If they increase the MSP to Rs 200, there will be some profit for the farmers. Most of the farmers have stopped tapping rubber only because the profit is not enough for their survival. In 2013, the price had hit Rs 230-240 per kg, but it crashed to Rs 50-60 in 2014,” he stated.

Babu A G, who procures latex from farmers, stated manufacturing of rubber plummeted as a result of climatic modifications. “The increasing temperature has affected rubber production badly. Earlier, when a farmer used to get 10kg of rubber from an acre of land, the yield has now come down to 6kg,” he stated.A serious demand of farmers right here is eradicating pure rubber from the record of commercial crops and classify it as an agricultural merchandise resembling cotton, jute and tobacco. A request on this regard has been made by numerous farmer associations to the Central authorities.

The Meenachil Rubber Marketing and Processing Co-operative Society (MRMPCS) in Pala is without doubt one of the two main rubber procurement societies in Kottayam. In its prime, the society had two rubber manufacturing factories, two supermarkets, six Neethi shops, a Neethi optical store and a Neethi diagnostic centre. Started in 1960, the society had 70 depots to obtain rubber from over 12,000 farmers in Meenachil taluk which is estimated to supply round 15 per cent of rubber within the nation. However, since May 2015, the society has shut its operations. Over 35 of its staff have been working sans wage for practically 5 years. Attempts are being made to revive the society. In the final meeting bypoll, Mani C Kappan, who later grew to become the MLA, campaigned broadly for the revival of MRMPCS. 

“The price drop was one of the major reasons for the society’s closure. The society had investments from individuals (mostly farmers) and service cooperative banks in Meenachil taluk. As the rubber price came down, the depositors rushed in to withdraw their investments which affected the operations of our factories. Currently, the society owes around Rs 60 crore to service cooperative banks, depositors and farmers who had sold rubber to the society,” stated Shaji Ok G, MD of the society.Efforts are on now to revive the society.

“A steering committee has been formed for the purpose. We are all set to restart our rubber crumb production factory. Later, we will open our latex factory. The society’s revival will be benefit farmers as it procures latex at a fair price,” he stated.