Gone are the days when planters from Malabar and even Karnataka or Goa reached Pala on overnight buses and returned with rubber saplings in bulk volumes.
The planting materials churned out by the rubber heartland here appears not enough to meet even the local requirement these days.
At a time when the rebounding prices have brought a ray of hope to the natural rubber sector, the growers are now scrambling for adequate stocks of saplings to replant the crop. From a decade long fall in rubber prices to pandemic induced disruptions and a planting spree in the North East, a host of factors have been attributed to this trend.
Josekutty Antony, Secretary of the All Kerala Rubber Nursery Owners Association, said the country-wide lockdown last year and the consequent shortage in labour supply had a considerable impact over the replanting season last year.
“Everything came to a standstill, from the plywood units to the saw mills while a majority of the workers had returned to their native places. The nurseries suffered a huge loss as they had to dispose majority of the stocks raised for the season that typically lasts four months from June,” he noted.
By the time the country reopened, the replanting season was delayed by at least five months and in view of a persisting uncertainty over the next replanting season, the nurseries cut down their production next season by almost 50%.
“While the falling rubber prices since 2012 caused over 50% of the nurseries to wind up operations over the last decade, the loss due to lockdown aggravated the supply chain stress. About half of those who had survived the decade long decline ceased operation over the last one year,” he added.
The price of rubber saplings, which fell from ₹250 per plant to a record low of ₹60 last year, has once again touched ₹100.
Aby Ipe, District General Secretary of the Karshaka Congress sought to attribute the shortage of planting materials, to a Rubber Board-led expansion of rubber plantations in the North Eastern states.
“The Board has sourced over five lakh saplings from the private nurseries since July this year while the nurseries functioning under the agency have already stopped receiving new orders. This has left the local farmers in dire straits,” he alleged.
The Rubber Board sources, however, dismissed the allegation and pointed out that it had sourced the planting materials through advance bookings, leaving the nurseries with adequate time to prepare for the local growers.
“The ratio of replanting had been coming down across Kerala over the past decade when this sudden hike in prices hit the market. It has naturally spurred the demand for replanting while it will take some time for the supply of planting materials to pick up,” explained a Board official.
