Report on the socio-economic impact of Natural Rubber cultivation under the block planting scheme in Tripura

The study is a pioneering attempt to assess the socio-economic impact of the Block Planting Scheme (BPS) from the angle of the beneficiaries,implementing agencies and the policymakers.The report is based on the primary information gathered from 480 households drawn from Block Planting Units with mature (Mature BPUs)and immature (Immature BPUs) area under Natural Rubber (NR) as well as households attached to Group Processing Scheme (GPUs) with mature area under NR during the year 2008.The tripartite BPS involving the Rubber Board, the State Government of Tripura and the beneficiaries has been unique in its contents and mode of implementation since 1992.The average household income of mature BPUs was Rs.99168 compared to Rs.46824 of immature BPUs. Therefore, an annual income difference of Rs.52344 (112%) was observed between households with and without income from rubber (mature and immature BPUs).The compositions of income showed that rubber was the major source of income for GPUs (75%) and mature BPUs (66%). For immature BPUs,employment was the major source of income (77%).In the long-run, the concerned agencies of the state government may initiate skill oriented programmes for empowering the unemployed/underemployed youth along with improvements in the infrastructural facilities. Such policy initiatives will enable diversification of the sources of income and ensure sustainability of NR cultivation as observed in the case of Kerala and FELDA in Malaysia.