CPI(M)’s farmer wing All India Kisan Sabha on Sunday urged the Centre to control the import of natural and synthetic rubber, citing the huge fall of price in domestic rubber that has hard hit the economy of rubber growing South Indian States.
“The All India Kisan Sabha strongly protest against the import of natural rubber that causes fall in rubber prices and brought havoc in the life of around ten lakh rubber producer households especially in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa and North Eastern States. The average price of natural rubber in 2010-11 was `240 per Kilogram. In the last three years it has come down heavily and now stands at `110 per kilogram and small farmers are selling for `95 per kilogram. The experts predict that by December 2014, the price may further go down by around another `25 per kilogram.
“The current prices are the lowest in five years. As per the current prices, the farmers are not getting even the cost of production. The low prices are causing farmers to stop tapping. This affects the economy of many regions of rubber growing States. But the Government are not extending any helping hand,” said Kisan Sabha leaders Hannan Mollah and Amra Ram in a statement.