Rubber grows in 16 Indian states. Yet almost all of it comes from just one.
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Must Know
- Rubber is grown in 16 Indian states, but Kerala dominates production.
- Kerala accounts for about 90% of India’s total natural rubber output.
- It also holds about 88% of the total area under rubber cultivation.
- More than 80% of Kerala’s rubber area is made up of small landholdings.
Good to Know
- In 2020-21, India’s total area under rubber cultivation was about 6.93 lakh hectares.
- That land produced nearly 7.15 lakh tonnes of natural rubber.
- The automotive tyre and tube industry is India’s single largest consumer of natural rubber.
- Tyre manufacturing alone accounts for about 75% of all rubber consumed in India.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- The Rubber Board oversees India’s rubber sector.
- It was set up in 1947, under the Rubber Act of the same year.
- Its headquarters are in Kottayam, Kerala.
- It works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, supporting research, training, marketing, and labour welfare for the sector.
- The Rubber Board is now working with the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association on a project to expand cultivation into the North-Eastern states.
- The goal is to reduce India’s heavy dependence on a single state for its entire rubber supply.
Global Rubber: Production & Distribution
Who produces rubber and where
Rubber is a tropical crop, so global output concentrates in a narrow equatorial belt.
Asia dominates world production. Thailand leads, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.
These three together supply well over half of global natural rubber.
Malaysia, India and China are the other significant producers.
Africa contributes too, led by Cote d’Ivoire.
Why distribution is concentrated
The rubber tree thrives only where rainfall and temperature stay high year-round.
Good fast-draining soil and modest altitude also matter.
Most plantations sit in lowland Southeast Asia, where those conditions hold.
The Ecuador belt of South America is the crop’s natural home, but Asia now far out-paces it.
The major environmental issues
Expansion has come at a real environmental cost.
Deforestation is the clearest harm. Rainforest is cleared to plant rubber.
This destroys habitat and shrinks biodiversity.
Monoculture plantations replace rainforests of many species with a single tree type.
Soil degrades after repeated tapping and heavy rainfall on exposed ground.
Heavy fertiliser and pesticide use adds chemical run-off.
Clearing carbon-rich forest also releases stored carbon, worsening climate change.
Rubber in the Mains
UPSC CSM 2022 General Studies Paper I, Q15
Question: Describing the distribution of rubber producing countries, indicate the major environmental issues faced by them.
Your answer should map the geography, then pair each region to its environmental trade-off.
Underline that concentration enables income but concentrates environmental damage too.
Link deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil erosion and chemical use to the main producing belts.
Close with sustainable options such as mixed agroforestry and the EU deforestation-free rules.
View this question: UPSC CSM 2022 GS Paper I, Q15
Related answer page: Global Rubber Production and Distribution
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