PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF NATURAL RUBBER: A STUDY ON GROWTHTRENDS OF RUBBER PLANTATION IN TRIPURA

Production of natural rubber plays a most important role in the economic development of Tripura. The state is the second-largest contributor to the total production of natural rubber in India. Over the last two decades, there is a shift in cropping pattern towards the production of natural rubber in the state from food crops and from other commercial crops. The natural rubber is the second-largest crop in Tripura after rice and area under natural rubber has registered a phenomenal increase during this period. The rubber growers of Tripura suffer from problems like low productivity, poor quality of processing and weak marketing system. The study examines the present status of natural rubber in Tripura in respect of growing trend in the area, production and productivity. The result shows that increasing growth trend of both expansions of area and production of rubber. The elasticity of production of rubber w.r.t. the matured area of rubber plantation is 1.18, that means for a 1 % increase in matured area, there is a 1.18% increase in production of rubber i.e. it is elastic in nature. There is no statistically significant mean difference of productivity between Kerala and India but mean productivity of Tripura is lower than both at all India level as well as state level.