The proposed national policy on rubber should reflect the real concerns of all stakeholders in the sector and protect the livelihoods of rubber growers in the country, urged the United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI). If the present price fall continues, a majority of the growers will be forced to quit cultivation, warned the association, an apex body of planters in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The association was responding to the Central government move of setting up a panel to review the crisis in the sector, make recommendations and submit the draft policy within six months. The committee was appointed on June 18 by the Union commerce ministry and is headed by Rajani Ranjan Rashmi, additional secretary (plantations). In a statement issued on June 19, Peter Mathias, president of UPASI, pointed out that there are more than a million natural rubber growers, 6,000 small and medium rubber manufacturing units and a few big tyre manufactures in the country. The sector has been reeling under crisis for the past three years, forcing a large number of rubber growers to abandon cultivation.

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