Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao writes to Shivraj Singh Chouhan on MSP for rubber

Mangaluru: District in Charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has written to Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the need for minimum support price (MSP) for rubber.

In a letter to the Union Minister, Dinesh Gundu Rao said MSP for rubber may be kindly be given due gravity and it may be recognised that the farmers are toiling in hard conditions to grow a crop.

He said growers are not producing an industrial product. The MSP should be about the process of producing rather than the end use. Hence it is implored that the subject needs to be viewed in the interest of the farmers and recommendation from Agriculture Ministry may kindly be forwarded to the Ministry for Commerce and Industry to include it in the list of mandated agricultural crops.

Thousands of people grow rubber and their families depend on it for livelihood. He also urged the minister to speak to Members of Parliament from Karnataka in this regard and to learn the facts of the case.

Farmers from Dakshina Kannada district are engaged in rubber cultivation and due to the instability in the market they are on the verge of penury. As such Natural Rubber has been kept out of the list of agriculture crops for which Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices recommends the MSP hence there is no MSP for rubber in India even though commercial crops like jute and copra are included.

In a reply in the Lok Sabha on July 30, 2024, the minister had stated that Natural Rubber cannot be treated as an agricultural product since it is exclusively used as a raw material for industrial purpose. This has resulted in the farmers being dependent only on the market and any slight fluctuations result in grave adverse financial effects and distress to the Karnataka Farmers. As such the National Rubber Policy in effect since March 2019 has also not yielded desired results and does not support for growers due to shortcomings in marketing, external trade, cheaper imports, lack of research etc. As the provisions of the Rubber Act 1947, mandate the Rubber Board of India to operate under the absolute administrative control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, only the Union Government could address this issue of MSP and not the states, he said.

Dinesh Gundu Rao also stated that he had written to Piyush Goyal Minister for Commerce and Industry to take immediate steps to include Natural Rubber to the list of mandated agricultural crops and MSP or FRP should be fixed. However, Minister's reply is in the negative with regards to MSP for rubber.

Piyush Goyal in his reply to Dinesh Gundu Rao had stated that presently the Government of India, fixes MSP for 22 mandated agricultural crops on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & prices (CACP) after considering the views of State Governments and Central Ministries/Departments concerned. Currently, the Natural rubber is not included in the 22 mandated agricultural crops for MSP. The Government of India through Rubber Board is implementing the scheme "Sustainable and Inclusive Development of Natural Rubber Sector" for the benefit of natural rubber sector in the country Under the scheme, Rubber Board provides financial / technical assistance for inter alia planting / replanting of natural rubber, rain guarding, promotion of good agricultural practices undertakes research to develop high yielding varieties and prevention of diseases in order to improve the productivity and production of natural rubber. The outlay for the scheme was increased by 23% from Rs 576.41 crore to Rs 708.69 crore for the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, Goyal added.