Agartala: To double the area under natural rubber production in the north eastern region by the end of the 12th plan period, the central government has decided to apply Geospatial technology for mapping and monitoring land use patterns, a report said.
The technology would help estimate the spatial extent of the existing rubber plantation in the region and locate cultivable wastelands, degraded lands and other denuded forest lands where fresh cultivation of natural rubber could be extended without causing deforestation and conversion of crop lands, the report said.
The report jointly prepared by Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII), Rubber Board and Regional Remote Sensing Centre was yesterday released by Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.
“There is limited area available to expand rubber cultivation in the traditional rubber growing regions of the country which include Kerala and Tamilnadu (Kanyakumari district)”, the report said.
So, the Rubber Board was focussing on expanding rubber cultivation to non traditional areas such as North-East, the Konkon, parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and northern West Bengal, the report said.
Next to the traditional regions, the report said the northeastern region of the country had a very good potential to grow rubber, the report said.
According to an earlier assessment of the Rubber Board 4,50,000 hectare may be available in N-E, but the exact location of these lands was never identified”, the report said.
According to the Rubber Board data, 59285 hectare of land is under rubber cultivation in Tripura and the Board has a target of bringing one lakh hectare of land under rubber bcultivation in the state.
Analysis of satellite data showed that no low lying land was being used for cultivation of rubber, indicating land use for growing rice had not been converted into rubber plantation so far. (PTI)