Project INROAD (Indian Natural Rubber Operations for Assisted Development)

Why in the news?

The coverage of natural rubber plantations in the North-Eastern States under the Project INROAD for the Financial Year, 2025 has been completed recently.

What is Project INROAD?

• Project INROAD (Indian Natural Rubber Operations for Assisted Development) aims to develop 2 lakh hectares of Natural Rubber (NR) plantations in North East and West Bengal besides improving quality of processed forms of rubber.
• The duration of the projects is 5 years.
• Public Private Partnership – This collaborative project in Public Private Partnership mode involve tyre majors, Rubber Board and Government of India.
• ATMA and Rubber Board – Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA), a body of tyre manufacturers in the country, has collaborated with the Rubber Board for the project.
• Industry in plantation development – It is the first-of-its-kind in the world where the tyre industry directly invests in plantation development, transforming the region’s agricultural landscape.

What is the need for the project?

• Immense potential for rubber plantation – The North East (NE) region holds immense potential for rubber plantation in view of availability of land and suitable agro-climatic conditions.
• At present NE states account for about 23% of the area and 15.7% of the production.
• Tyre industry – being the major consumer of Natural Rubber in India as it utilizes over 70% of the total Natural Rubber produced in the country.
• Natural Rubber (NR) value chain – India is one of the few countries which has a complete NR value chain, since it produces NR as well as its value-added products.
• It is estimated that by 2030, the country will require about 20 Lakh tonnes of NR per year.
• NR demand & supply gap – To meet the increasing demand of the Natural Rubber (NR).

What are the components under the Project INROAD?

• Financial inclusion – Interest Subvention for loans availed by farmers and assistance in loan syndication.
• Training and capacity building – Creating infrastructure for training facilities and capacity building of sector stakeholders.
• Conducting training programmes for farmers, tappers, etc. practices and technologies.
• Quality and productivity – Enhancement of quality and productivity of rubber by taking appropriate initiatives in all rubber growing regions.
• Support for primary inputs – Supporting pre-planting operations (land preparation) and providing irrigation facilities.
• Providing good quality planting material and farm inputs (fertilizers, fungicide, pesticide and so on) to the farmers.
• Building water conservation pits, gully plugging, cover crop planting and so on.
• Quality improvement program – Creation of Model smoke houses and training of staff to manage smoke houses.
• Upgradation and repairs of the existing smoke house.
• Creation of crop weighing and related infrastructure.
• Project management support – Coordination with various agencies / partners.
• Physical and financial monitoring of the project.

The Rubber Board is a statutory body constituted by the Government of India, under the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country.

What are the benefits of the Project INROAD?

• Increased production – The project will lead to increased production of Natural Rubber for the industry.
• Generate direct employment – Around 825 person per hectare during immature phase and provide permanent job opportunity for 0.5 persons per hectare in matured phase.
• Development of nurseries – Production of other plantation inputs such as intercropping, more business or work for rubber dealers, processors and so on.
• Local small scale industry – Development of local small scale industry such as wood cutting & processing, furniture making and so on.
• Livelihood opportunities – Additional Income opportunities through other on farm activities like Bee keeping and so on.
• Infrastructure Development – Development of infrastructure including road infrastructure besides creation of Model smoke houses and creation of crop weighing infrastructure besides new practices.
• Tribal settlement – The project contribute towards tribal settlement.
• Green leguminous ground cover – Provides a green leguminous ground cover and green umbrella above the soil.
• Green Funding – Rubber tree has almost all the attributes of a forest species, carbon footprints and green Funding.
• Carbon sequestration – Purifies atmosphere through carbon sequestration.
• Improves soil properties – Through addition of organic matter, keeps the soil cool, enrich fertility, porosity and water intake capacity.

What are the impacts of the Project INROAD?

• Development of Nurseries – Over 3 crore trees have been planted so far under the project.
• The largest impact of INROAD project has been rejuvenation of nurseries in the region.
• Grass-root Level engagement - 2 lakh hectares will therefore directly benefit nearly 2.5 lakh farmers and their families.
• 1.4 Lakh beneficiaries – So far the project has benefitted nearly 1.4 Lakh beneficiaries across 94 districts in North-eastern states.
• Women Empowerment – An indirect benefit of the project has been the motivation to women for a better life for them and their children.
• The commitment being exhibited by women working in the fields has been infectious.
• Participating Member Companies (PMCs) – Have been personally and actively engaged in supervising the project through a series of delegations.

References

1. The Hindu Business line | INROAD Project
2. INROAD Website | About the project
3. ATMA Website | About ATMA
4. Rubber board website | About Rubber Board