There is a great potential for the expansion of rubber plantations in the country as the local production of the raw material is around 60 percent of the country’s requirement at present, Company Estate Reforms, Tea Estate Related Crops, Tea Factory Modernization and Tea Export Promotion State Minister Kanaka Herath has said.

The Minister made the observation during a field visit to monitor the progress of the Rubber Cultivation Expansion Programme being implemented in the Moneragala District.

With the mega scale investments in the rubber production sector including tyre manufacturing, the demand for local latex would increase day by day. It was proposed to commence operations in another large tyre manufacturing plant at the Hambantota industrial zone in the near future similar to the largest ever tyre manufacturing facility in South Asia, which commenced operations in Horana recently. Moreover there would be several other large scale private sector investments in the rubber sector in the country, the Sate Minister added.

He said that once operations commenced in those proposed factories there would be a huge scarcity in latex since only 60 per cent of local requirement of latex was produced in the country at present. This situation will result in increasing the price of rubber and latex.    

State Minister Herath said that with the emergence of those new industries, the demand for local latex production would be increasing rapidly and there was a great potential for the expansion of rubber cultivation and the rubber grower would be able to obtain very high prices.

Accordingly, the extent of rubber cultivation should be increased and the expansion of rubber cultivation in non-traditional areas has already commenced. Non-availability of lands is the major obstacles for expanding of rubber cultivation in the Kegalle, Kalutara and Ratnapura districts, which are the main rubber cultivation districts in the country. Due to this reason, rubber plantations are being expanded beyond the traditional rubber plantations of rubber triangular.

He further pointed out that there was a great potential to expand rubber cultivation in the Monaragala District and the surrounding areas due to climatic and soil factors as well as a large number of cultivable lands in the District.

A number of measures had also been taken to encourage rubber growers and, accordingly, the subsidy per acre for new rubber plantations had been increased from Rs. 500,000 to Rs. 750,000. Besides, Rs. 250,000 per acre would be offered for drip-irrigation.

Another Rs. 250,000 each would be provided to a grower for the construction of irrigation wells or tube wells to overcome the scarcity of water. In addition, various assistance, including cultivation advice, fertilizer subsidy and technical assistance were provided to rubber growers by the Ministry. the State Minister said.