AIRIA calls for diversified rubber sourcing, NE as second hub

An increase in national production does not automatically eliminate shortages of specific grades or ensure timely availability in every location, Gupta said. Building resilience requires more than just raising domestic output.

On tyre companies looking beyond Kerala for natural rubber, Gupta said the shift toward the Northeast could fundamentally alter India's rubber map. Under the INROAD project, rubber plantations were planned for 200,000 hectares across the Northeast and West Bengal. By the 2025 planting season, roughly 179,376 hectares had been planted, benefiting more than 207,000 growers, he said.

On renewed demands for a minimum support price or price-support mechanism, Gupta said growers need income stability. Natural rubber is a long-gestation crop, and tapping decisions are highly sensitive to prices, labour costs, and weather.

A conventional procurement-based MSP may not be suitable for natural rubber, which is traded in multiple grades and forms, Gupta said. Quality, moisture, contamination, and processing standards directly affect value.

AIRIA would instead favour a carefully designed price-deficiency or income-support mechanism. Under such a system, eligible small growers could receive the difference between a scientifically determined reference price and the prevailing market price, subject to quantity, quality, and traceability conditions, he said. Support should also be linked to replanting, productivity improvement, rain-guarding, disease management, scientific tapping, and farmer aggregation.

"India needs a balanced framework like remunerative returns for growers, predictable raw-material availability for manufacturers and internationally competitive input prices for exporters. Producer and user interests should not be treated as opposing interests; both are essential parts of the same rubber value chain," Gupta said.