Karnataka should announce MSP for rubber plantation farmers: Campco
The Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd has asked the government of Karnataka to set and announce a minimum support price (MSP) for rubber plantation farmers in the state.
In a letter to the Karnataka government, the President of Campco Ltd, A Kishore Kumar Kodgi, said that the Rubber Board had set the cost of producing rubber at ₹172/kg in 2016. He said that making rubber now costs ₹250/kg more than it used to. At the moment, a kilogram of rubber costs about ₹160.
When asked about the future of rubber production, he said that conditions are good for good rubber production in Kerala this year, which is a big rubber producer in the country. He said that experts told him that if rubber production went up, the price of the commodity might go down.
In this case, the government should move quickly to set a minimum support price (MSP) for rubber to help growers who depend on it. Also Read | Thailand rubber plantation ‘leaf fall disease’ worries Indian growers.
He said that as part of integrated farming, Campco has been encouraging farmers to grow rubber and that it also buys the product from its grower members.
Apprehensions
Farmers in coastal Karnataka and the Malnad region of the state are also growing rubber and areca nuts. He said that the drop in the price of rubber has made many people worried about the future of the commodity.
He said that natural rubber has a customs duty of 25% and that compound rubber has a customs duty of 10%. He was talking about the duty structure for imported rubber. He said that some people pay a 10% customs duty to bring natural rubber into the country as compound rubber.
This has hurt the rubber farmers because the market price of rubber is less than what it costs for production. Also Read | MP’s claim on Areca nut ‘shocking’, misleading Areca farmers – CAMPCO.
He asked the Karnataka government to talk to the Central government about putting a uniform customs duty on both natural rubber and rubber that has been mixed with other materials.
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