Natural Rubber Latex

The Concerns & the

Remedies

Part
One A

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 The Natural Rubber Latex farmers / growers in India and south Asian countries are going
through a really difficult time.

The key issues are

o Shortfall in Production
o Increasing Manpower cost
o Scarcity of Manpower
o Decreasing Price in the Global Market
o Highly Labour oriented process

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 Here is an effort to find the
root causes
and the

possible remedies
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 The requirements of Natural Latex will be rising
sharply in the coming years

How are we going to cope up with this situation ?

The only way is to try and see how we could

increase the Natural Rubber latex yield.
A time has to come to think deeply into this aspect.

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 The Rubber latex Producers , In India as well as
The Southern Asia are going through a rough
situation.
The Latex yields are decreasing , the labor cost is
going up and the , over all Latex and Rubber
Market is down.
How to cope up with extremely difficult situation.
the only way is by, Increasing the Latex yield per
Tree.
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 In Kerala, tropical southern India, most rubber tree farms are very small—a
typical holding is less than 20 acres. These are not rubber plantations with
thousands of acres of land. Kerala-based Cocolatex, which supplies natural
Dunlop latex for Savvy Rest organic mattresses, is a small company, privately
owned and operated.
The rubber tree, or hevea brasiliensis, grows at higher elevations with good
drainage, and does not lend itself to mass cultivation. The farmers take great
care in planting the trees to ensure their health. In more open areas, pineapple
trees are inter-planted among the rubber trees. In hilly regions, companion
shrubs are added to shade the soil and maximize the water available to the
trees’ roots.

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 Rubber trees have three “skins” that are somewhat delicate. When tapping a
tree by hand, it’s easy to cut too deeply. The idea, which involves much
practice and skill, is to create a long, slanted opening in the bark at just the
right angle. Although the farmers are kind to visitors and may even allow one
to try the knife, one can sense their collective sigh when an amateur injures the
bark. Fortunately, an experienced farmer will swiftly reshape the cut so the
serum will run properly. The cuts heal over in about an hour.

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 Farmers start their day around 5 a.m. because rubber sap runs most freely in
the early morning. Walking from tree to tree in the shade, they finish the daily
collection around noon. At its peak, each tree yields just one to two cups of
serum per day. Older trees produce less, and the latex runs more slowly toward
the end of the tree’s annual cycle. Years ago and in some locations still,
farmers use halved coconut hulls to collect the serum. They combine the output
from many trees one at a time into steel buckets, then pour the contents into
drums that are sealed before being moved to the factory.

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 Farmers regularly replant their holdings, setting in new seedlings. They treat
the trees with great respect and care. For the first seven years, young trees are
left to grow robust and remain untapped. A tree can produce usable latex for
up to 20 years, then it is cut and sent to a mill to be made into furniture.
Rubber wood is one of the most sustainable woods, and is growing in
popularity in the United States. It is also widely used in local economies, such
as in making office desks for Cocolatex.

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 The Cocolatex facility employs 80 skilled workers in various roles whose
livelihoods depend on the remarkable utility of the rubber tree. They produce
foam rubber on a daily basis—emptying the drums into giant mixers or
centrifuges, testing and correcting the liquid mixture, filling molds, steam-
baking and washing the finished layers, and inspecting their final quality once
they have dried. The finished sheets are stacked, then double-wrapped in
plastic and a puncture-proof material.

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 From the factory the latex is delivered to a loading facility where more
workers load the giant stacks into shipping containers. After a five-week
passage the ship arrives at the destination port – for Savvy Rest, the port is
nearby Norfolk, Virginia. A commercial transporter then picks up the cargo
and delivers it to our Central Virginia facility.
Just as the renewable serum yielded by tapping a tree is transformed into
many kinds of important products, the rubber industry itself provides
livelihood and comfort for many individuals and their families.

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 These include:
Owners of small farms
Farmworkers in rubber holdings
Skilled workers at several factories
Dockworkers, merchant sailors, shipping personnel
Savvy Rest local staff
Business owners and employees who sell Savvy Rest
Savvy Rest’s customers
Furniture makers
While the deep interdependence of humans and trees often goes unremarked,
the stately rubber tree is one of the most durable, renewable and dependable
resources for human manufacturing.

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 ‘Global warming affecting rubber output’
Aravindan: Updated on January 24, 2018
Research report says the trend is worrying

A study conducted by Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) has found out
that extreme temperatures are becoming more frequent in recent years in
Kottayam, Kerala’s major rubber growing area.
An analysis of the data of daily maximum and minimum temperatures from
1970 to 2010, conducted by the Climate Change and Ecosystem Studies
Division of RRII showed clear indications of the warming trend.

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 Yield to be affected
The production of latex in rubber trees is closely related to the ambient
temperature. The productivity of the crop decreases as the temperature goes up
beyond a threshold level.
Earlier studies clearly showed that the increase in atmospheric temperature
would affect rubber production in India’s traditional rubber growing regions.
Thus the impact of changing climate in this region may seriously affect rubber
cultivation, if the present warming trend continues.

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 Temperature stress
Since the socio-economic sustainability of the region is highly dependent
on rubber cultivation, proper precautions and climate resilient measures
may have to be adopted by the farmers to overcome the adverse effects of
temperature stress.
The diurnal temperature range (difference between monthly mean
maximum and minimum temperatures) increased from 7.800 C during
1970s to 9.20 C in recent years. Frequency of occurrence of warming
days (with temperature above 32 C) also increased at a rate of 0.56 per
cent a year.
The number of days with minimum temperature decreased significantly,
indicating the warming nights are becoming more in Kottayam during
recent years.

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 The monthly highest temperature showed an increase of 0.0380 C per
year during 1970 to 2010.
Persistence of high temperature consecutively for six days or more
represents a warm spell. The number of such warm spells increased and
the gaps between warm spells became shorter in recent years.
The impact of such phenomenon in the production and productivity of
agricultural crops in South East Asia and Europe have already been
reported.
Extreme temperature events in the form of heat wave and cold wave in the
northern states of India impacts severely on crop production and quality
of grains leading to serious socio-economic consequences.
The results of the study by RRII were presented in the recent Kerala
Environment Congress-2015 held at Kottayam during May 2015.

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 KOCHI: Rising temperature levels are likely to affect the natural rubber
yield in Kottayam, the major rubber growing district in Kerala, according
to a study conducted by Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII).

Kerala accounts for almost 90 per cent of total rubber production in

India. The natural rubber production in the country was down by over 15
per cent in 2014-15 at 6,55,000 tonnes.
An analysis of the data of daily maximum and minimum temperatures
from 1970 to 2010,

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 The number of days with minimum temperature decreased significantly,
indicating the warming nights are becoming more in Kottayam during
recent years. The monthly highest temperature showed an increase of
0.0380C per year during 1970 to 2010. Persistence of high temperature
consecutively for six days or more represents a warm spell. The number
of such warm spells increased and the gaps between warm spells became
shorter in recent years. The frequent occurrence of such high temperature
events is

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 Kerala rains hurt rubber production
By PK Krishnakumar
KOCHI: The supply crunch in the domestic market may push imports of natural
rubber this year to a new high despite a steep fall in rupee. Tyre makers, who
account for the bulk of consumers in India, have no choice but to go for more
imports as rubber output in Kerala, the largest producer, has been hit by rains
since May.
Production for April-July 2018 is down 14per cent from a year ago at 1,72,000
tonnes, Rubber Board data showed. Against this, consumption climbed 15per
cent to 4,08,50 ..

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 Rubber Tree Plant Problems
Pest and Disease Control
How to Take Care of a Rubber Tree

Rubber tree plants (Ficus elastica) are named for their original use and not because
they are pliable. Their milky sap was formerly used as a source of rubber, although it
is no longer a commercial resource. Rubber trees are perennial in U.S. Department
of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 through 12, but they are commonly grown as
houseplants elsewhere. They are relatively problem-free, although an occasional pest
or disease may be bothersome.
Pests
Aphids, mealy bugs spider mites and scale insects are primary pests of rubber tree.
Aphids and mealy bugs are soft-bodied insects that pierce plant tissue and feed on
cell sap. Spider mites are tiny arachnids that also feed on cell sap. You may see
telltale signs of their presence by the delicate webs they spin before you notice the
mites. Sap feeders leave stippled or speckled leaves as they remove chlorophyll.

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 Scale insects are also sap feeders, but they often go unidentified because they live
underneath protective scales that they use as armor against predators. If you manage
these pests early, your plant may suffer minimal damage, but unchecked feeding
results in unattractive leaves that eventually drop from plants. Horticultural soaps or
liquid insecticides that you apply as a soil drench may be effective in treating these
pests when used according to label directions.

Diseases
Few diseases attack rubber tree. Overwatering plants so that the soil becomes
waterlogged favors pathogens that grow in soil. Root rot, which is caused by various
fungal pathogens, such as Phytophthora species, causes roots to decay and is often
signaled by yellowing leaves. Foliar nematodes (Aphelenchoides spp.), which are
microscopic roundworms, infect rubber trees' leaves as they feed and cause the areas
between leaf veins to turn yellow and die. Penn State Extension notes that there is no
control for this disease and you must discard infected plants.

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 Vasumitra Products
are special for
enhancing latex production

If you have Any Question ?

Please feel free to contact us

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 Dear Rubber Growing Farmers
Please feel free to contact
Vasumitra Life Energies Pvt.Ltd.
Plot No.21, Flat No.5, Bhagini Krupa, Mitramandal Housing Society, Parvati, Pune
411009.
Tel: 020-24428400 /9595014139
Cell : +91 90110 28474 , email : bhushan.jambhekar@vasumitra.in
Web: http://www.vasumitra.in/

For further Technical Assistance

Pl Contact

SPA Technical Advisor

B 801, Vastushree Pearl, Paud Road, Kothrud, Pune 411038. MS , India
email : psatechno@gmail.com
Cell / Whatsapp : 0091 9850242282 / 7588288204 / 9325202348
Website : http://www.spatechnicaladvisor.co.in

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on
 This Presentation is
Dedicated to all
Namaskar Hard Working

Farmers