Commercial cultivation of natural rubber was introduced in India by the British, although the experimental efforts to grow rubber on a commercial scale in India were initiated as early as 1873 at the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. The first commercial Hevea plantations in India were established at Thattekadu in 1902. The importance of rubber production in India from strategic and security reasons had been realized by the government during the Second World War period. The rubber growers in India were encouraged to produce the maximum rubber required for the use during war. After the war, there were growing demands from the growers for setting up a permanent organisation to look after the interests of the industry. Thereupon the government set up an ad-hoc committee in 1945 to study the situation and to make appropriate recommendation. On the recommendation of this ad-hoc committee, the government passed the Rubber (Production and Marketing) Act, 1947, on 18th April 1947, and the "Indian Rubber Board" was constituted forthwith. The Rubber Production and Marketing (Amendment) Act, 1954, amended the name of the Board as "The Rubber Board".
Rubber Board of India:
The Rubber Board is a statutory body constituted by the Government of India, under the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country. It is located in Kottayam. Website: rubberboard.org.in
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In India, Kerala accounts for 80 per cent of country's total output.
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In production of natural rubber, India comes after Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia and in consumption also it ranks fourth after China, USA and Japan.
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The coverage of under rubber crop in Kerala in 2008-09 was 5.17 lakh hectares, which was higher by 5430 hectares over the previous year.
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The state produced 783,000 tonnes of rubber during the year, marking an increase of 4.03 per cent.
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Rubber Productivity of Kerala has increased from 1,190 Kg per hectare in 1998-99 to 1,514 Kg per hectare in 2008-09.
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RSS-4 & RSS-3 are important varieties of rubber in India.
Please note that : In case of Rubber, the Production, Consumption has been almost equal in India.
