Rubber Board Launches Campaign to Reform Rubber Producer Societies

The Rubber Board has launched a campaign titled "Reformation of Rubber Producer Societies (RPSs) through Youth Involvement" intending to bring dynamic changes to the activities of RPSs.

The mass contact programmes in traditional rubber-growing areas and the North-Eastern regions are scheduled to run until February 28, 2023. During this time, the Board expects to contact 20,000 farmers through 1,000 meetings held nationwide. Kerala SC families benefit significantly from Biofloc fish farming.

Participation of youths in RPS activities, modernization of rubber farming, e-trading, and other topics will be discussed at campaign meetings. The Board believes that involving youths in RPS leadership can result in dynamic changes in the RPSs' activities.

According to KN Raghavan, Executive Director of the Rubber Board, RPSs are the vehicles used by the Rubber Board to coordinate activities at the level of rubber growers. Though RPSs have provided excellent service to the sector over the last three decades, there is a need to evolve. This includes using IT tools and electronic means of conducting business, a proactive approach to bringing untapped plantations into production, organizing tappers, and ensuring proper and timely payments.

There is also an opportunity to increase grower income by capitalizing on climate change challenges and related issues such as carbon credits and sustainability certification, which Rubber Board has begun to address. This will also be accomplished through the use of RPS.

To achieve all of these goals, more young people must enter the field of rubber farming and RPS administration. The campaign's goal is to raise awareness of this issue among farmers and encourage young people to participate in RPS activities, he added.