JONAI, Dec 1 � Far from the sylvan plains of Kerala, rubber, widely considered a �money spinner�, has found its mooring in the hilly terrains along the Assam-Arunachal border of Dhemaji district.
Considering the rich potential of rubber cultivation in the foothills of border areas and consequent economic gains involved, the Rubber Board India (RBI) has implemented plantation projects in the area.
The RBI, Jorhat regional office, had stated that rubber plantations would be set up at the hilly terrains of Arunachal Pradesh along the Assam border and that plantation is in progress in the hills and foothills of Siang belt, including in Dhemaji district.
The RBI, under the Union Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which launched a rubber plantation project in the State border areas, achieved its first milestone by developing hundred hectares of plantation in Jonai subdivision.
Official sources informed that the performance has been achieved by involving 600 individual grower farmers and forming five growers� societies covering two Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh and Dhemaji.
Taking the success story of rubber cultivation in the hilly terrains of the region into account, the rubber growers of both States have set sights on rubber-based small scale industry in the region. They have been demanding a RBI regional office in East Siang district in order to ease the monitoring and commercialisation of the rubber products.
