Rubber plantations in Tripura affecting monkeys, vegetation, suggests paper

Subject :Geography

Context:

The conversion of tropical forests into monoculture plantations has a major effect on non-human primates and plant species. Turning the forests into natural rubber plantations in Tripura is negatively impacting non-human primate species and vegetation in the region.

Rubber plantation states:

States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu are traditionally rubber-growing regions in India.
Tripura, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobars Islands, Goa, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have non-traditional rubber plantation areas, according to Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Biosafety Portal, 2016.

Impact of rubber plantation on tropical forests:

Every year, about 140,000 square kilometres of forests have been lost.
A large proportion of primary forest in India has been converted into monoculture plantations like tea, oil palm, teak and natural rubber.
From 2011 to 2018, 21,529.71 hectares (ha) of primary forest and 127,239 ha of tree cover were lost in India.
Tripura had 74,335 ha of rubber plantation in 2015-16.
The number of monkeys in the rubber plantation area is much lower than in the nearby forests and the primates spend less time in rubber plantations.
Importance of these primates:
- They are human’s nearest biological relatives.
- These primates help in the pollination, seed dispersion and seed germination of many plants and they are essential seed predators in some ecosystems.
Threats to these primates:
- Their food choices are getting limited, which threatens their survival.
- Fewer shrubs and herbaceous plants grow in rubber plantation areas than in the forests.

What are the solutions?

Building eco-friendly rubber plantations.
growing fruiting plants in rubber plantation areas.
maintaining specified distance, so animals are more attracted to them.
The agroforestry system allows rubber plants, forest vegetation, edible and useful plants planted together and kept at proper intervals, which is economically suitable and also will help conserve biodiversity.

Rubber Plant:

Many plant species produce natural rubber. Considerations of quality and economics, however, limit the source of natural rubber to one species, namely Hevea brasiliensis.
It is a native of the Amazon basin and introduced from there to countries in the tropical belts of Asia and Africa during late 19th century.
It can be termed as the most far reaching and successful of introductions in plant history resulting in plantations over 9.3 million hectares, 95 per cent of it across the globe in Asia.
Hevea brasiliensis, also known as the Para rubber tree after the Brazilian port of Para, is a quick growing, fairly sturdy, perennial tree of a height of 25 to 30 metres.
It has a straight trunk and thick, somewhat soft, light brownish grey bark.
The rubber tree may live for a hundred years or even more. But its economic life period in plantations, on general considerations is, only around 32 years – 7 years of immature phase and 25 years of productive phase.
Commercial cultivation of rubber in India was started in 1902.

Rubber Growing Regions

The rubber growing regions in India can be classified under two major zones, traditional and non- traditional on the basis of agro-climatic conditions.
Traditional Regions:
- Rubber cultivation in India has been traditionally confined to the hinterlands of the southwest coast, mainly in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Non-traditional Regions
- Tripura, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobars Islands, Goa, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have non-traditional rubber plantation areas.

Geographical conditions:

Rubber is a tropical tree.
It requires high temperatures throughout the year – ranging between 20°-35°C or average monthly mean of 27°C.
- Less than 20°C temperature is detrimental.
Rubber also requires heavy rainfall.
- The annual average rainfall of not less than 200 cm is optimum. Rubber trees thrive well when the distribution of rainfall is uniformly high all over the year.
- Deep, friable, well-drained soils are ideal as they promote root development, and acidic soils are also suitable.
Thailand is the highest rubber producer in the world, which produced 31.29 per cent of world production. Indonesia is the second largest producer.
- In the world production of natural rubber, India ranks Fourth.
- Traditional rubber-growing states comprising Kerala and Tamil Nadu account for
- 81% of production.