Commerce & Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Rubber Soil Information System (RubSIS).
RubSIS is an online system for application of appropriate mix of fertilizers to specific plantations of robber growers based on the soil nature.
It was launched in New Delhi on 23rd Jan 2017.
RubSIS has been developed by Rubber Research Institute of India, under the Rubber Board in partnership with three agencies namely:
- Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala
- National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, ICAR and
- National Remote Sensing Center, ISRO
The system brings soil data to the rubber growers and recommends the optimum mix and quantities of chemical fertilisers required by his holding.
It is a cost effective tool for scientific management of rubber growing soils.
It also promotes sustainability by preventing excessive use of chemical fertilisers and resulting soil degradation.
RubSIS will also lead to reduction in the cost of rubber production, increase in productivity and reduction of environmental pollution.
Scientific and user friendly, this tool has been launched in Kottayam, Kerala.
Kottayam is the largest rubber growing district of India.
The system will be extended to the entire rubber growing areas of Kerala and TN this year.
Rubber Plantations in India: Know More- First rubber plantations in India were set up in 1895 on the hill slopes of Kerala.
- However, rubber cultivation on a commercial scale was introduced in 1902.
- Kerala is the largest producer of natural rubber with Kottayam, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kozhikode districts being responsible for production.
- Tamil Nadu is the second largest producer of rubber but lags far behind Kerala.
- Nilgiri, Madurai, Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore and Salem are the chief rubber producing districts of Tamil Nadu.
- Karnataka's Chikmagalur and Kodagu are the main producing districts.
- Tripura and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also produce small quantities of rubber.
- In India, consumption of rubber is almost always higher than the production and the production.
