Treat natural rubber as farm product, fix MSP: Dinesh Gundu Rao to Centre

Dinesh Gundu Rao, the in-charge Minister of Dakshina Kannada, on December 2 wrote to Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, requesting that immediate steps be taken to add natural rubber tothe list of mandated agricultural crops and that minimum support price (MSP) or Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) be fixed.

Mr. Rao said in the letter that Ramnath Thakur, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare replied in the Lok Sabha on July 30, 2024, that natural rubber cannot be treated as an agricultural product since it is exclusively used as a raw material for industrial purposes. This has resulted in farmers being dependent only on the market and any slight fluctuations result in grave adverse financial effects and distress to rubber growers.

He said that natural rubber has been kept out of the list of agriculture crops, for which the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission recommends the MSP. “Hence, there is no MSP for rubber in India even though commercial crops like jute and copra are included. This has exacerbated the situation for natural rubber farmers,” Mr. Rao added.

“It has to be submitted that even though the Department of Commerce had brought out the National Rubber Policy in March 2019, the results are not as desired and do not support growers owing to shortcomings in marketing, external trade, cheaper imports, lack of research, etc.,” the Minister for Health and Family Welfare said.

Little role of states

Mr. Rao said that owing to the provisions of the Rubber Act, 1947, the rubber industry, including its cultivation, is under the control of the Union government. Since the Rubber Board of India is also under the Centre, States cannot interfere in the industry. Hence, only the Union government can address the matter of fixing MSP for rubber.

It may be mentioned here that rubber growers of Karnataka at a conference in Ujire on November 29 demanded that the Karnataka government fix ₹258 per k.g. as the MSP for natural rubber. They pointed out that the Kerala government has been providing a support price of ₹200 for natural rubber from November 1, 2025, under its Rubber Production Incentive Scheme.

Karnataka Rubber Belegarara Hitarakshana Vedike, Ujire, said that the Kerala High Court has declared that rubber plantations are agricultural lands under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFESI) Act, 2002. The court declared it in the case of K.P. Muhammed Basheer vs Deputy General Manager (Authorised Officer), Kannur District Cooperative Bank Ltd., in 2010. But governments have not brought rubber cultivation either under the Department of Agriculture or Horticulture.

Meanwhile, prices of natural rubber in Karnataka have fallen by 26.31% in the last 14 years, from ₹247 per k.g. in 2011 to ₹182 per k.g. in 2025.

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