Chapter 1
Introduction
As per 1991 census, Scheduled Tribes constitute 1.10% of the total population of Kerala State. Though 70.4 per cent of Scheduled Tribes possessed land, 30 per cent of them do not have own resources for land development or for creation of agriculture assets. Alienation of land was reported in areas wherever lands of tribals are kept fallow. The number of Scheduled Tribe cultivators in the State has been progressively declining due to land alienation. The Scheduled Tribes have been impoverished over the years primarily due to loss of their land resources to outsiders. The scope for developing rubber plantations in lands owned by tribal families in Kerala was discussed at length between Rubber Board and Scheduled Tribes Development Department in 1988. This paved the way for the introduction of two rubber cultivation schemes viz., Tribal Development Rubber Plantation Programme (TDRPP) in 1988-89 and All Kerala Tribal Development Rubber Plantation Programme (AKTDRPP) in 1995-96.
Tribal Development Rubber Plantation Programme (TDRPP)
Scheduled Tribe Development Department in collaboration with Rubber Board initiated two projects under TDRPP in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam in 1988-89. The twin objectives of the programme are lifting the economic status of the tribals and raising natural rubber production . The project took into account the effectiveness of similar programmes in the rehabilitation of tribals in other parts of the country. Plantation activity being labour intensive and having long economic life span would provide continuous income for about two and a half decades and ensure economic rehabilitation of tribals.The scheme envisaged development of rubber plantations in 200 hectares of land (100 ha each in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts). Each beneficiary under the scheme should have 0.80 hectares of land, out of which a minimum of 0.60 hectares developed under rubber plantations. Pathanapuram taluk in Kollam district and Nedumangad taluk in Thiruvananthapuram district were identified as ideal locations for the implementation of the scheme. In Thiruvananthapuram district rubber has been planted in the S.T. settlements of Kuttappara (1989*), Manalayam (1989), Njaraneeli (1990), Chettiampara (1991), Mylamood (1992), Mettottam and Theviarkunnu (1992). In Kollam district, the rubber plantations are located in Achencoil (1988), Villumala (1989) and Cherukara (1989) S.T. settlements.
As the S.T. beneficiaries are poor and live much below poverty line, beneficiary contribution even by way of labour is very difficult . They are not even capable of raising plantations of their own availing various facilities offered by the Rubber Board. Conventional approach of the Rubber Board, therefore, in terms of providing incentives and make the tribal beneficiaries to plant rubber is not effective. Hence it was decided to pool resources to raise plantations with their active involvement under the technical supervision of the Rubber Board and to parcel out them to the beneficiaries once the trees mature for tapping. Rubber Board deployed technical staff at the rate of one Field Officer and one Field Assistant per 100 ha of plantations to carry out planting and maintenance operation for a period of eight years. Tribal beneficiaries who had been employed for various operations were paid wages at the rate of Rs 25/- per day.Cultivation of rubber was initiated as a pilot activity in 32 hectares of land at Achencoil during 1988-89. It was expected that the plantations would come to production stage after 6 years of immaturity period. The Rubber Board gave eight-week training in tapping for the tribal beneficiaries. Plantations would be left at the full control of the Rubber Board for a period of ten years. By that time all plantations would be ready to generate substantive income to the individual owners, and the Rubber Board would hand over plantations to the individual beneficiaries. The year-wise coverage of the scheme over the years is given Table-1.
Table 1
Coverage of Plantations (1988-92)
(Area: ha)
Source: Project Report on TDRPP
As against the conventional practice of planting budded stumps, it was proposed to plant Polly bagged bud-grafted plants of clone RRII-105. The Polly bagged nurseries would be set up in 1988-89 to meet the requirement. There would be facilities developed for the processing of the latex produced in these plantations. For this, three smokehouses would be established in each district to produce good quality sheets. Rubber Board would manage these smokehouses and once these plantations are handed over to the beneficiaries, Rubber Board would promote formation of Rubber Growers Co-operative Societies of the Tribals and would hand over these smoke houses to them. The rubber being very remunerative cash crop will provide steady income to the tribal beneficiaries and will generate employment opportunities. By the year 1994-95, the rubber plantations would start giving income in Kollam district and by the year 1995-96 in Thiruvananthapuram district. It was expected that from the year 1998-99 onwards no inflow of fund would be required from the Government. At the peak time, the project will generate an income of Rs 50 lakhs per annum. It was expected that there would be about 250 beneficiaries and each one of them earns an average of Rs 20000/- per annum. The project would also generate sufficient employment opportunities for the beneficiary tribals during the immaturity period of plantations. In all during the 6 years of immaturity of plants, the project would generate an employment of 158000 man-days and they would be paid on a daily/weekly basis at the rate of Rs 25/- for each full day's work. Additional employment would also be generated at the stage of tapping and processing.The estimated cost of planting and maintenance of rubber per ha during the immaturity period had been worked out at Rs 27300/- per ha for a total period of 6 years by the Rubber Board. The cost of planting materials for S.T. beneficiaries would be given as subsidy and not been included in calculating the cost of production. Item-wise subsidy component is given below:
Cost of planting materials 100% Cash subsidy on other cost Rs 5000 /- per ha (Rs 2500/- in the first year and Rs 500/- in each of the remaining five years) Input subsidy for the fertilizer 50%
Development cost of the rubber plantations in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts (for 100 ha over a period of 10 years) is given below:
Subsidy component from Kollam Thiruvananthapuram Total Rubber Board ST Development Department Total expenditure The year- wise requirement of funds from S.T. Development Department projected by the Rubber Board is given in Table-2.
|
Year
|
Kollam
|
Thiruvananthapuram
|
Total
|
|
1988-89
|
2.03
|
1.65
|
3.68
|
|
1989-90
|
4.85
|
3.15
|
8.00
|
|
1990-91
|
5.36
|
4.40
|
9.76
|
|
1991-92
|
4.79
|
4.85
|
9.64
|
|
1992-93
|
3.60
|
3.67
|
7.27
|
|
1993-94
|
3.01
|
3.02
|
6.03
|
|
1994-95
|
4.01
|
2.71
|
6.72
|
|
1995-96
|
3.10
|
3.10
|
6.20
|
|
1996-97
|
1.08
|
2.60
|
3.68
|
|
1997-98
|
0.65
|
0.65
|
1.30
|
|
Total
|
32.48
|
29.80
|
62.28
|
Source: Project Report on TDRPP
The S.T Development Department incurred the cost of the Projects out of the SCA funds. An amount of Rs 8.18 lakhs was released to Rubber Board in 1988-89. The expenditure during 1988-89 was Rs 8.46 lakhs.
The programme was extended to cover an additional area of 200 ha in Idukki district and 100 ha in Thiruvananthapuram district during 1992. It was suggested that labour for planting operations have to be provided by the beneficiaries and they would be paid on a daily/weekly basis at the rate of Rs 30/- for each full day's work. Facilities would be developed for the processing of the crop by providing two and four smokehouses in Thiruvananthapuram and Idukki district respectively to produce good quality sheets. The Rubber Board continued to provide technical guidance and administrative supervision for a period of 7 years from 1992-93 for which 20% of direct cultivation costs are to be recovered from S.T. Development Department. The S.T. Settlements identified in Idukki district are Poochapra (1992), Peringassery (1994), Chelakkadu (1995), Uppukunnu (1995), and Parayamala (1995). It was proposed to cover 50 ha each in Thiruvananthapuram district during 1992-93 and 1993-94 and 50 ha each in Idukki district during 1992-93 to 1995-96. It was envisaged that poly-bagged plants of clone RRIM-600, RRII-105 etc. will be used for planting.
The total cost of establishing 100 and 200 hectares of rubber plantations in Thiruvananthapuram district was estimated at Rs 52.60 lakhs and Rs 105.80 lakhs respectively (Table-3). The eligible growers would be reimbursed full cost of planting materials. In addition to the above, cash subsidy at the rate of Rs 5000/- per ha in 6 annual instalments (Rs 1500/- in the year of planting, Rs 1000/- in the second year, Rs 500/- each in the subsequent 3 years and Rs 1000/- in the 6th year) would be paid and fertilizers required during immature period would be supplied at 50% cost.
Table 3
Project Cost of the Scheme
Thiruvananthapuram Cash subsidy from Rubber Board
Input subsidy for fertilizer
Poly bag subsidy/cost of raising nursery
Funds from Tribal Welfare Department
3.25
5.00
39.35
6.49
9.60
79.71
Planting material cost
Development cost
Fencing
Processing facilities
Supervision charges
5.0
34.60
2.50
3.50
7.0
9.60
69.20
5.00
7.00
15.00
The project was expected to generate income from 1998-99 onwards. The expenditure involved was proposed to be met by the Rubber Board and by the S.T. Development Department. The project has shown the benefit cost ratio of 1.09 and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 15.94 per cent. Hence it was economically viable and financially sound. It would help to generate opportunity for employment and better living standards to tribal beneficiaries.All Kerala Tribal Development Rubber Plantation Programme (AKTDRPP)
AKTDRPP was launched during 1995-96 by S.T. Development Department in collaboration with Rubber Board with the objective of raising the economic status of tribal beneficiaries through rubber cultivation. It was proposed to plant rubber in a phased programme for a period 5 years starting from 1995-96 over an area of 1200 ha at the rate of 240 ha per year. The Rubber Board would meet the entire cost of planting and maintenance. The Board would utilize the subsidy available under Rubber Plantation Development scheme and also chanalize additional funds for this project from the budgetary provision under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) from Scheduled Tribes Development Department.
The land units under the scheme were scattered in compact blocks of around 20 to 30 ha in about 40 sites. The total area that could be covered under the project was around 1200 ha. The basic unit was taken as 30 ha and the year-wise requirements of funds for raising rubber plantations are given in Table - 4.
Table 4
Year-wise Fund Requirements
Unit:30 ha
Amount: Rs lakhs
Year Total
2
3
4
5
6
2.37
1.95
1.74
1.32
1.20
0.70
0.65
0.65
0.65
0.65
3.07
2.60
2.39
1.97
1.85Total
(63.66)
(36.34)
(100)Source: Project Report on AKTDRPP
The total cost of the scheme was estimated at Rs 942.58 lakhs. The contribution of Rubber Board for the scheme has been estimated at Rs 600 lakhs and that of State Government Rs 342.58 lakhs towards the cost of planting and maintenance of rubber. The year-wise sharing of expenditure is given in Table-5.Table 5
Sharing of Expenditure
The Board would implement the project availing subsidy under Rubber Plantation Development scheme amounting to Rs 12000/- and also implementing 5 separate schemes utilising additional assistance for poly bagged plants, fertilizer application, plant protection, soil & water conservation and maintenance. The details are given in Table-6.Table 6
Additional Assistance for Planting 240 Hectares Per year from Rubber Board
(Rs lakhs)
Maintenance
Source: Project Report on AKTDRPP
The implementation of the project commenced on 1995-96. The entire planting of 1200 ha was proposed to be covered by 1999. The project will continue upto 2004 until the maturity period of the trees planted in 1999. The break-up of expenditure on planting and maintenance during the gestation period is given in Table -7.Table 7
Break-up of Cash Inflow of Expenditure on Planting and Maintenance per Hectare (Rs)
Source Total Subsidy from RPD scheme From TSP/SCP Beneficiary Contribution
Source: Project Report on AKTDRPP
Rubber cultivation under the scheme covers eight districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasargod. These eight districts falls under the jurisdiction of ITDP Wayanad, TDO Punalur, TDO Ranni, ITDP Idukki, TDO Moovattupuzha, ITDP Nilambur, ITDP Kannur and TDO Kasargod.
It was proposed to hand over the mature area to the beneficiaries at the end of the 6th year after opening the trees and also providing adequate training to the beneficiaries and forming Rubber Producers' Co-operative Societies so that the beneficiaries themselves can process and market the produce. The marketing of rubber through Rubber Producers' Co-operative Societies would ensure that the small tribal farmers get better price and exclude the involvement of middlemen.Project Impact
Raising of 1200 ha of rubber plantations will generate an yield of about 2000 tones per year when the entire plantation comes to tapping phase valued at Rs 600 lakhs per year. As the entire planting and maintenance cost is subsidised the beneficiaries will have no encumbrance and with a modest estimate of 1.8 tones of yield at the peak yielding phase the net income possible from 1 ha would be around Rs 40000/- per year. Raising of 1200 ha of rubber plantation would generate 1.2 million mandays of work during the project period.
Rubber being one of the most versatile substance, which forms the raw material for a large number of products, can help establishing small scale industrial units in the remote tribal hamlets either on a cottage basis or individually.
Efforts will be made to harness various schemes so as to take up inter cropping with medicinal plants; for its use in multifarious activities ranging from construction to furniture; and to have 200 tones of honey per year from there plantations.
Rubber Board has been implementing two types of schemes viz TDRPP and AKTDRPP utilising funds from Government of Kerala under SCA to TSP and by channeling funds from the budgetary provisions of the Rubber Board. In the AKTDRPP, the administrative and infrastructure expenses are met by the S.T. Development Department and the planting and maintenance expenses by the Rubber Board. The details of funds allotted by S.T. Development Department to the Rubber Board for rubber cultivation from 1988-89 to 2000-01 are given in Table 8.
Table 8
Funds Allotted by S.T. Development Department to
Rubber Board for Rubber Cultivation
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
45.00
-
15.56
50.00
The TDRPP benefited 2123 families in an area of 706.48 hectares. The AKTDRPP benefited 3309 families in 1207.4 hectares of land. The plantations started from 1988 to 1996 are now lactating, and the rubber sheets produced are marketed through private traders.