Rubber Plantation in Jharkhand: The state may be moving toward a fresh rubber production zone. This follows cloning work by the Rubber Board at Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi. The goal is to find rubber types that can be grown for business use.
India still has a wide mismatch between how much natural rubber it makes and how much it uses. Because of this, officials want cultivation to spread into areas that are not known for rubber.
Officials said the Rubber Board has teamed up with BAU. It has planted chosen rubber clones on about one acre inside the university for checks. The tests are meant to show which clones can fit Jharkhand’s weather and farm conditions.
Jharkhand is being looked at along with other states in the east and the center of India. Rubber Board officials pointed to Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh as places with scope.
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Rubber Cloning Tests at Birsa Agricultural University
The Rubber Board is working with Birsa Agricultural University to trial specific rubber clones in local conditions. The goal is not just to put trees in the ground. It is to check how each variety does in Jharkhand first, so the best options can be suggested to farmers.
“There is a lot of potential in states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh for rubber plantation. We enter into MoUs with local universities for testing of the varieties that we could recommend for a particular state. We have already signed an MoU with Birsa Agricuture University where plantation of few varieties has been done in one acre land. The gestation period for rubber plantation is seven years. So we still have to wait for 3-4 years to finalise which variety needs to be recommended for Jharkhand. Once that is done, it can be escalated for commercial plantation,” M Vasanthagesan, executive director, Rubber Board, said during an interaction with reporters at Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII), Kottayam on Tuesday.
BAU already has research support across farming, forestry, and biotechnology. The College of Biotechnology has labs and teams focused on plant tissue culture, genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. This gives a broader setup for studies linked to crops and plantations.
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When Will Large Scale Rubber Planting Start?
For now, commercial farming is not ready yet. The Rubber Board is using a step by step plan. The first step is to pick clones that do well in Jharkhand. Rubber trees also take time to grow before tapping starts. So the team must watch the plots for a number of years.
Officials noted that the clones planted at BAU must be tracked closely. Only after the monitoring work can a final call be made. If a clone shows steady results, then the planting material and the method could be expanded later for farmers.
India’s Natural Rubber Supply Gap
Rubber Board figures say India made 8.75 lakh tonnes of natural rubber in 2024-25. The number was 8.57 lakh tonnes in 2023-24. Even so, use inside the country is still far above what is grown. In 2023-24, Rubber Board data put natural rubber consumption at 14.16 lakh tonnes. That was the top level seen then.
Kerala leads the natural rubber scene in India. Tripura and other north eastern areas have also grown into key makers over time. Official figures list Kerala as the top rubber state. At the same time, Tripura is now a major producer in the Northeast.
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How Jharkhand Farmers Could Gain?
If the right rubber clones are found later, farmers could get another long-term cash crop. This could add choice to farm income plans.
“There is a deficit of around 35 per cent in demand and supply of natural rubber in the country. The rubber-based industry imports natural rubber to meet the gap. The two ways to bridge that gap indigenously is to either expand plantation or increase per hectare yield. The research institute has come up with high yielding varieties, but we also need to expand the crop growing area. It also helps the growers as this is an awarding cash crop. While Kerala has traditionally been growing rubber, Tripura and parts of other north east states have caught up and has now expanded to around 1.73 lakh hectares. Since most of the growers are marginal farmers, it is helping around 1.83 lakh growers in augmenting their income,” said Vasanthagesan.
Rubber Board officials noted that a farm with about one hectare may earn around ₹4 to ₹5 lakh each year. This would be from a mature plantation, if conditions fit well. They also cited roughly 370 to 450 plants per hectare.
In practice, earnings would vary. They would depend on output levels, rubber prices, labour expenses, how the plantation is run, and other local factors. The Board also stresses strong planting material. It points to better clones as a way to grow rubber in new regions with more confidence.
