Speech

ADDRESS OF PROF. K. V. THOMAS, MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE, CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE ANRPC ANNUAL RUBBER CONFERENCE 2010,
6 OCTOBER, KOCHI, INDIA


Mr. Le Quang Thung, Acting Chairman, Vietnam Rubber Group & Chairman of ANRPC,

Prof. Djoko S. Damardjati, Secretary-General, ANRPC

Mr Sajen Peter IAS, Chairman, Rubber Board,

Member Government Representatives of ANRPC countries,

Members of Rubber Board,

Distinguished Delegates and

Ladies & Gentlemen,

As the proud representative of Kochi in Parliament, I am happy to see the city playing host to yet another international conference. Kochi has been a bustling centre of commercial activities for centuries, with more than 2000 years old trade links with world markets. The city is one of the finest natural harbours and is located scenically between the Arabian Sea and backwaters. Muziris in the neighbourhood of Kochi, a famous and prosperous seaport in ancient times, was the centre of world spices trade for centuries.
Like other natural rubber producing countries, cultivation of rubber began in India also only a century ago. India is a vast country and the area under major plantation crops accounts only for one per cent of the gross cropped area. However, the share of contribution of the plantation sector to national agricultural GDP is almost two per cent, reflecting the relatively high extent of value of output. Among the plantation crops, rubber accounts for 38 per cent of the planted area. However, India has only a narrow belt of regions suitable for rubber cultivation and the agroclimatic conditions even in these regions are sub-optimal. However, the sector has achieved substantial progress over the decades in production and productivity. From 2006 India has been recording the highest productivity in rubber in the world. This has been made possible by decades of concerted efforts at research and extension fronts and with the benefit of having a highly receptive and enterprising farming community.
Natural rubber has emerged as an important industrial raw material in terms of its essentiality in critical products, versatility in commercial use and potential for value addition. Though the main use of rubber is in the tyre sector, it is being used in manufacturing around 50,000 products most of which are indispensable in modern life, ranging from erasers to aircraft tyres. Currently, NR accounts for 44 per cent of elastomer consumption in the world. NR is also an eco-friendly product and rubber plantations have a green image. Processed timber obtained from rubber plantations while replanting substantially contributes to the conservation of tropical forests.
The share of Asia in world NR production remained above 90 per cent ever since the dominance of plantation rubber though the relative shares of Asian countries in world NR production have changed considerably during the recent decades. The relative share of Asia in consumption of rubber increased steeply from 19 per cent in 1960 to 75 per cent in 2009 at the cost of North America and Western Europe. This has been on account of spectacular growth in consumption in China and India. The share of China in world NR consumption was as high as 37 per cent in 2009. Of late, China has ousted the US and emerged as the world’s largest vehicle market with sales touching 13.5 million units. Consumption of NR in other rubber producing countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam also has improved in the recent decades.
I understand that the eleven member countries of the ANRPC together account for 92 per cent of the world production of NR. In the present globalised world, competition is the watchword of all economic activities. Yet, the overwhelming role of competition has not undermined the importance of cooperation among countries in commodity sectors. During the last four decades, the ANRPC has contributed substantially to the development of NR industry in the member countries. There has been commendable progress in research and extension activities in NR sector, resulting in significant improvements in productivity and acceleration in NR production leading to improvement in the living standards of rubber growers. Our achievements in the NR sector owe to a great extent to the foresight and dedicated efforts of our predecessors among policy makers, scientists, extension workers and growers.
The Annual Rubber Conference of ANRPC provides a unique opportunity for all rubber industry stakeholders around the world to come together to listen to industry experts and officials from ANRPC member countries. I am happy to note the universal relevance of the theme of today’s Conference. Planning starts with an awareness of where we stand. Information on the current status of rubber industry is thus an essential prerequisite for exploring where we want to go and also understanding the constraints on the road ahead. A progressive planner takes every constraint as a challenge. It is the strategy adopted that transforms a challenge into an opportunity. Deliberations on challenges, opportunities and strategies for development of NR industry in the next decade shall contribute to devise appropriate strategies.
Most of the plantations in South and Southeast Asian countries were developed extensively during the first half of the last century, mainly in the estate sector. During the second half of the last century the share of small growers in the plantations increased on account of the operational divisibility of some crops, changes in the political context and proactive interventions of developmental agencies. Currently, NR is predominantly a smallholder’s crop in all the major producing countries. The challenges being faced by small growers are distinct irrespective of the crop. It is important that the strategies for development of rubber industry are small grower friendly. The research and extension components of the strategies shall be mainly oriented towards the issues in the smallholding sector.
Another important challenge confronting the NR sector is the growing shortage of labour. This has to be addressed by exploring possibilities of developing labour saving cultural and harvesting practices and mechanisation.
There is a growing concern on climate change and its impact on crop production. Global warming, weather instability and occurrence of unusual and extreme weather events are the major physical dimensions of climate change. Research in rubber plantation sector shall focus on the impact of climate change on rubber cultivation and strategies to mitigate the possible adverse impact.
I would like to re-emphasise the eco-friendliness of NR. People all over the world are becoming more and more aware of environmental issues, and this gets reflected in increasing demand for environment-friendly products even at premium prices. The plans for the next decade should therefore cover strategies to capitalise on the environment-friendliness of NR too. There shall be collective efforts among the NR producing countries to take advantage of Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol to UNFCCC.
Equally important is value addition for rubber in the producing countries themselves. I understand that the share of Asia and major producing countries in NR consumption has increased over time, especially since mid-1980s. There shall be earnest efforts to enhance NR consumption in producing countries in the coming years.
The success of a Conference is determined mainly by the content of the presentations and the extent of participation. From the brochure, it is obvious that it is a tightly scheduled programme covering all ANRPC member countries and presentations on special topics by invited speakers. And I am pleased to observe the wide and diverse participation of rubber industry stakeholders from different parts of the world. Wishing the deliberations in the Conference every success, I declare the ‘ANRPC Annual Conference 2010’ open.
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