In an order issued on December 31 last year, the Government of Kerala announced a revision of its land acquisition plan for the upcoming greenfield airport at Erumely. It proposed to take over 2,570 acres in Kanjirappally taluk, including one of the largest rubber plantations in Kerala - Cheruvally Estate.
The move triggered a flurry of discussion in all angles — from the legal perspective to the environmental aspects to economic feasibility. However, for the land of rubber, it also manifested an accelerated decline of a farming tradition, from which the region derived its wealth.
The dismantling of the vast plantation, according to sources, will impact over 2.7 lakh rubber trees and the count of trees will only increase when the additional 307 acres outside the property are taken into account. An average 1,400 kg per ha rubber yield comes from the estate where 80% of the trees are tappable.
And in the long run, it also poses a question over the livelihood of over 300 estate workers and their families.
Rubber industry insiders regard the development as going to have a domino effect on the already declining rubber production in central Travancore.
“More and more rubber trees are giving way to infrastructure development and other crops as rubber is no more a profitable option in the light of mean prices. With the younger generation more keen on migrating to foreign shores than to struggle with their small-scale plantations, the North-Eastern States may dislodge Kerala’s position over time,” says Babu Joseph, general secretary, National Consortium of Regional Federations of Rubber Producer Societies India.
As per estimates, over eight lakh farmers, along with 4.5 lakh workers, and their families depend on rubber cultivation in Kerala that contributes 2.5% GST to the State finances apart from the same quantum of GST to the Central government. Rubber is the only crop that pays tax in Kerala and is second only to coconut in terms of the area of cultivation.
The numbers notwithstanding, the State now stands well past its prime days of rubber-induced opulence. After a moderate post-pandemic revival, the prices are once again on a free fall and so have the local production and trade.
Faced with a sharp fall in their fortunes, growers are now facing the tough choice of holding onto the crop or abandoning their generations-old occupation altogether.
The central Travancore region has gone from being a highly competitive marketplace of rubber for generations to an area where too much of the crop is being produced. When the price of rubber is down, farmers bring down production to keep their losses at the minimum and when the price goes up, they tap more to capitalise.
The excess of rubber, however, has often matched up with a fall in domestic consumption as cheap import alternatives are chosen over the local produce. And if the glut is worldwide, the prices are driven down to the point the growers barely break even.
“The small rubber holdings are just vanishing from Kottayam, where the area under the crop once extended up to 1.25 lakh hectares. Over the past one decade, at least 30% of these holdings have ceased to operate and several rubber producing societies have become dormant,” says Mr. Joseph.
Having crashed to a 16-month low last year, the price of natural rubber (RSS grade 4) now stands below ₹145 in the Indian market. Latex, which soared during the pandemic period due to huge demand from glove-makers, has had a more severe drubbing with its prices sliding below ₹100. Recurring pleas by farmers to raise the floor price to at least ₹200 have fallen on deaf ears.
As the rubber prices continue to hover at a several-year low, rural Kerala now has plenty of anxious growers looking at various alternatives to the cash crop such as fruits.
Jossy Kochukudi, 54, a fourth-generation grower at Kaloor in Thodupuzha, had been involved completely in rubber cultivation for over three decades. Not anymore.
“The earnings from rubber have now hit the rock bottom of ₹40,000 per acre and at the current prices, it will grow only up to ₹70,000 even if I self-tap my trees,” he says. His advice to small-scale growers is blunt. “Just quit the crop if it is not worth the effort. It is a sad deal but that is the reality. I have already turned a portion of the plantation into a fruit orchard and am looking to take the entire area away from rubber over the next few years,’’ says Mr. Kochukudi.
The wave of distress that currently blows across the wide belt of rubber plantations has also caused a ballooning of rural debt. Cooperative banks, which for long served as keen financiers to rubber growers, are now finding their key client base struggling to service debts.
“The release of arbitration and execution circulars, which are served in case of loan defaults, has reported a sharp rise over the past few years. The majority of those against whom such action is being initiated are rubber growers who are not in a position to maintain their loans as they once were,’’ says Damodaran Pillai, president, Chirakkadavu Service Cooperative Bank Limited, Ponkunnam.
Rubber Board sources, while acknowledging a gradual replacement of rubber in traditional growing areas, says they also understood the local misgivings. “The disconnect between the current generation of rubber farmers and the crop is indeed widening as several growers from the current generation have turned into absentee landlords,’’ says a senior official.
A conventional estimate suggests that the underutilisation is as much as 30% of the existing tappable area, which happens because of the shortage of skilled tappers and the new generation’s scant interest in pursuing rubber cultivation as well as tapping. “The average age of a grower is above 50 years, which speaks volumes about the interest of the new generation in rubber tapping. This holds true for tappers as well,’’ he says.
The rise of unmanned plantations, on the other hand, has also handed greater bargaining power to the tappers, causing a considerable increase in the cost of production. “It is natural for any trade to migrate to a location where it enjoys a comparative cost advantage. The decline of rubber holdings in Kerala and simultaneous turning of attention to the North-East should be seen in this light,’’ says another official.
