NEW DELHI: After the success of rubber plantation in Tripura, another Northeastern state has seen potential in the cash crop. Rubber cultivation has started in a big way in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills region where it was introduced by a Catholic nun from Kerala in 1987. However, some rubber cultivators in Garo Hills say they require more assistance from the State Government for large-scale plantation as the crop can play a pivotal role in empowering them. The growers say they have to work “very hard and have to wait for five to six years for the rubber to get finally ready to be sold in the market”. The Meghalaya Commercial Crops Development Board (MCCDB) has taken up one scheme in collaboration with the Rubber Board of India under which small and marginal growers in the State are to be brought under a single umbrella, namely the rubber producer’s society.
According to a NEDFi some areas in the North East region like Garo hills have been identified as non-traditional areas suitable for rubber cultivation. Though rubber is a tropical tree, it grows well in some parts of the region.
